I actually intend to build a smaller hobby mill at some point and if I get enough of the kinks worked out of fabrication, I may move to a much larger scale. I would like to minimize price wherever possible and I'm trying to figure out either cheap ways to obtain mags or better ways to transmit flux in the system to increase output with smaller mags.
Also - why is there such a lack of using ferrite cores in the windings? If you can decrease distance between mags with a laminated ferrite core, wouldn't you need smaller mags overall in order to produce the same flux and thus produce the same amount of output power? Couldn't you also produce more power with the same mags in a lammed core setup if you compensated by winding thicker wire for the higher amperage and reinforced the stators to compensate for the additional pull force? [Edit] - oh yeah - and of course larger blades to overcome the added cogging of the system.
With the HD mags, I'll have to take another look at the one I peeled from the steel backing. I thought that one was through the length, but maybe that was the one still on the steel backing. I'm pretty sure it was 1 piece though.