This isn't simple, but I believe it could be greatly simplified given all the room your working with. Keep in mind that this mechanism had to be compact at only 5 or so inches in diameter to be marketable...Alex Simmons said:Yes please
It need to be a simple mechanism, easy to craft up from something and keeping the cost down.
The left side shows highest resistance, right is low resistance. The red band is driven off the barrel which in turn is driven by the tire.
I am seeing a possible(?) problem with trying to do the eddy current braking in a solid disk - compared to a limited conductive path (ie Wire, thin Band, Ring etc.) there's plenty of room for the electrons to simply avoid the traffic jam created by the eddys. Hopefully I'm wrong
But if it proves true, then maybe a thin aluminum ring insulated/spaced off the disk with magnets on either side? (I doubt you need them evenly spaced around the circumference, just spaced enough to get the modulating effect.)
Anyways, hope this helps!