magnetic articulating wheel skirt

[miket]

I was thinking about a magnetic articulating front wheel skirt.

Four up/out rotating arms, two attached in front of the wheel and two behind. The skirt would be parallel with the body arcing out and up when the wheel turns more than an inch out.

Clamped to the spindle would be a pair of rods that bend around the front and back sides of the tire. They would have magnets on the end that would repel and push magnets on the skirt so theres no contact between the wheel and the skirt.

The magnets on the rods would be tall enough to allow for suspension movement. The lines of magnets on the skirt would be diagonal since the skirt moves up as the tire turns forward or back.

I wonder if too many expensive strong magnets would be needed or not.

[NeilBlanchard]

Sounds pretty complicated to me. If the skirts are fixed to the body, then why does the motion of the suspension come into it? If some of the magnets are on a frame that is bouncing up and down with the wheel, then that is a tough problem.

[BamZipPow]

Keep in mind that most magnets aren't rust proofed.

[miket]

Its not that complicated. I suppose i could eliminate the magnets and let the rod push/rub directly. Glueing magnets is easy. I guess it would come down to how many i would need. Neil the reason i would need to account for suspension movement in the height of the magnet Is because the skirt is fixed to the body. The spindle and tire is not fixed so there could be some misalignment between the two if that magnet was really small.

Rust proof magnets are available or could be rust proofed easily.

[NachtRitter]

I think this would work well, though I agree not with the magnets. Maybe something more like furniture sliders, where you have a fairly large surface area, using a material that is smooth but is OK with some hard impacts... similar to polyurethane suspension mounts

[miket]

I have to assume the sliders would be dirty so would eventually wear and need to be replaced, though probbably cheap. I could also use a tiny roller on the end of the rods. It would be tilted diagonal.

With magnets i would need a lline of them a foot long times four. Two for both front skirts. I have strong neo's that i cant push the repeling sides witin 1/4" of each other without using tools. However if i needed anywhere near that much repelling force I certainly couldnt afford enough of them lol.

I have another way to articulate it without contact but it would be alot more complicated to build .The skirt would be attached to two lazy tongs above the wheel and would extend straight out when the wheel turned. There would be a clamp on top of the spindle with a pair of cables attached to the lazy tongs so when the spindle turned it would pull on one one of the lazy tongs. To retract there would be a spring in one of the tongs since this doesnt go up gravity woudln't return it.


Edit: I should probably make it with slider pads and modify it later if i have a problem with them lol.

[miket]

If i had a problem with it articulating every time i hit bump i could use a magnet or two on the skirt to keep it from pulling away from the body so easily.

Edit: Should i use simple pins or should I use bushings on the arms?

[NachtRitter]

Originally Posted by miket

Edit: I should probably make it with slider pads and modify it later if i have a problem with them lol.

Ya, that's what I was getting at... it'd be a really simple solution, and while you are right that it might get dirty and eventually wear out, it would probably be a few years before it does.

[miket]

Speaking of dirty should i use bushings instead of drilling a hole and using a simple pin?