Cast aluminum flywheels?

G.W

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I've been looking at building up a few of my engines since I have some extra cash laying around currently. I decided to look for flywheels first and I've noticed the market is flooded with '10k rpm cast aluminum flywheels' and that doesn't really seem like a good option to me. Opinions?
 

Darren

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Cast iron is brittle and the resonance can shatter the flywheel, or the magnet can fly off. Cast Aluminium don't suffer from the resonance and I thought the magnets were in the casting?
Not heard of any ali flywheels failing. Problem with them is taper and magnet position.
 
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65ShelbyClone

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Die-cast aluminum is brittle too. The magnets are cast into the wheel and pinned on the back so it's unlikely that one would fly out unless some major failure happened.

Resonance isn't what makes an iron flywheel burst, it's centripetal forces that exceed the material strength. In other words, spinning it too fast. The only way to know if the aluminum ones are safe to the claimed RPM is to test them on a spin fixture or wait until lots of people are using them and see how many explode in the field. Keep in mind that Chinese sellers claim whatever they want because there's no way for you to sue them after a flywheel explodes and someone gets hurt.

I know it's not $25, but PVL flywheels are a known quantity that it suitable for high RPM engines.
 
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