Thanks for your thoughts Flux,
Like you said, "it's too early in the morning", same problem here searching and/ or grasping the "End Windings" and "full cols and consequent poles" but it will give me some good subjects to look up and ponder when I wake up more and have some time.
Since I'm still at a stage where I'm juggling ideas around and have no immediate need to get to building something I'll use the time and freedom to wander outside the box a bit to see what I come up with.
If I can arrive at a suitable design, I'd love to make a small radial, however, there are good reasons that most people build the axial. Axials are, of course, better suited for a durable, easy to build machine using the great assortment of neodymium magnets, water jet cut rotors and easy mounting bearing assemblies available today.
I always thought that, apart from the inherent difficulties in construction, it made a lot of sense to utilize the higher speed at the perimeter of a revolving disk or drum to get the most out of each revolution. Now the F&P and Seeley revolve the magnets around a stationary stator core ... but I rather like the concept of making a stationary outer ring of windings with a revolving magnetic core (armature). A conversion is a nice shortcut to go this route but I've been thinking along the lines of a more compact design using, for example, a small diameter brake rotor (armature) with incorporated hub (blade mount). These two units would turn freely on the axle as an assembly. 28 slots could be cut around the perimeter of the steel rotor to capture the neos. Mounted outside of this would be a ring of coils (stator) that is held stationary, in position using stand-offs from a backing plate.
A plastic ring with slotted holes around the inner diameter would be easy to make but I see the major flaw here. There is no path to return the lines of flux (no continuity).
A stack of laminated rings with slotted holes around the inside diameter would be the answer but how to make these with a suitable material is probably beyond my capabilities. If they could be cut from sheet metal, I could probably stack, clamp and cut them out using a jig saw then drill the slotted holes.
LOTS OF WORK and little way of knowing what the results might be. This would not be something I would try unless I knew a lot more about materials and how they conduct flux (galvanized sheet metal is probably not the best material to use for this.)
Well, back to the drawing board, thinking outside the box is fine but doesn't ALWAYS lend itself to coming up with a better mousetrap. I'll hit the search button some more and see what else I can find to narrow things down.
As always, thanks for your generous input.
It's appreciated!
arc