Dan,
Many thanks for the kind words and your perspective on the issues.
I certainly agree that other viewpoints should be aired for all to examine and ponder.
I have no doubt that from your perspective, having made dozens, the cast stator is a simple process that you could almost do in your sleep. I'm not so sure however, that many first-timers would find it so. Personally, I find making cut-outs in a piece of rigid FRP and bonding in coils a much simpler process.
I do disagree with some of your points but picking nits is not on the agenda today.
I guess my main thrust in all of this is that I don't feel comfortable going into the ball game with one strike against me, which is how I feel about the cast stator. Having the additional temperature safety margin, whatever it is, afforded by an open stator is a degree of insurance I welcome to help combat the vagaries of the wind and perhaps, the results of a less than perfectly matched design.
We all can probably agree that there is room for improvement on the current design of the axial flux alternator. I find striving to find some of these a challenging and fun endeavor.
Good luck to us all in finding better machines. I hope the search never stops.
