My Electric Motor

Making the Motor:

***You may have to cut these materials in order to get the dimensions right

Step 1: Gather the Materials

For the base:

• A water bottle
• Alligator clips
• Wire staples

• 

  Twist cap to secure the wires

  

  14 gauge single strand solid copper wire

  7 inch wide and 15 inch long piece of wood
• 29 inch piece of metal

For the base coil:

• 14 gauge single strand solid copper wire
• One 14 ¾ long strip of metal
• A twist cap

For the Axle:

• 3/8th wide steel rod
• A film canister for the spool

Copper wire

For the Armature:

• 22 gauge copper wire
• Steel nails (2)

For the Brushes

• Speaker wire 20 gauge
• 19.5 piece of metal

For the Commutator:

• 28 gauge copper sheet
• 5 inch long canister

For the Switch:

• Electric Switch: Moroso 74126 Toggle Switch on/off Short Handle 20 AMP

Hot Glue Gun We Used

Soldering Iron We used

Other:

• Connectors
• Metal washers
• Soldering Iron
• Hot Glue Gun

Step 2: Making the Axle Frame:

Take the 29 inch piece of metal and bend it into a u-shape. The two sides should each be 8 ½ inches tall and the bottom should be 12 inches across. Keep in mind that the bottom should be as flat as possible.

If you need to, measure 4 ¼ inches down from each side of the axle frame and mark it. Then drill two holes into it.

Step 3: Making the Base Coil

Take a piece of metal and bend it into a u-shape. The two sides should be about 5 inches tall and the bottom 4 ¾ inches across. Keep in mind that the bottom should be as flat as possible.

Take the 14 gauge single strand solid copper wire and burn the end. Take off the enamel (you should see just the copper wire). Take the end of the wire (the side you’ve burned) and start wrapping it around the bottom of the wire. Remember to leave some wire out before you start so that it can connect to the battery. Wrap it up, down, and up again. To get a stronger magnet, try to keep it as uniformly parallel as possible and not to cross the wire.  

Step 4: Making the Axle:

Step 1: Making the Armature

For the axle, take the 3/8th wide rod and cut it so that it is 15 ½ inches. Be sure to sand the end (when you saw metal, you can get sharp ends).

Take the steel nails and cut it to 4 inches (cut off the ends). Take the two nails and put them together. Make sure that the head of a nail is with the tail of the other.

Then, take the metal rod and put it between the two nails and in the center. Take electric tape and wrap it around the entire body, securing both the nails and rod as much as possible. However be careful you don’t use too much tape and make it too heavy. We wrapped it around twice. When using electric tape make sure to stretch the tape and then secure it to get a better and smoother result.

Get the 22 gauge copper wire. Measure out 1 ft of wire and mark it with tape, then measure out another 9 ft of wire and mark it with tape, then measure out another 9 ft of wire and mark it with tape, and lastly measure out one more foot of wire. In the end you should have 20 ft of wire. Sandpaper the ends of the wire and then at the 1 ft mark, begin to wrap it on the right side. Make sure that you wrap it in a clockwise direction (away from you). Go up and down twice, using 9 feet of the wire. When you get to the mark of tape in the middle, cross over to the other side and do the same thing. You should have 1 ft of wire left on each side of the armature.

Step 2: Making the Commutator

Take the 5 inch long canister and drill it in the center. Keep in mind that the hole has to be centered in order for the commutator to be a uniform when rotating.

Take the 28 gauge copper sheet and cut two 2 inch wide and 5 inch long sheets. Take the two sheets and sandpaper the copper side. Then get the 5 inch long film canister and the hot glue gun. Hot glue a sheet to the canister, hammering it lightly to get it smooth. On the other side, do the same thing, but make sure that it is even on both sides. Then, hot glue the top and bottom of the sheets to secure it completely.

Hot glue the spaces in between the copper sheets, then once it has dried, cut it down so that it is even with the copper sheets. This is so that the canister is perfectly uniform so the brushes won’t catch.

Step 3: Attaching everything

Take the armature and the commutator. Take the ends of the wire from the armature coil and solder it to the commutator. Make sure that the wires are directly opposite from each other.

Take the plastic tube and cut a 5 inch long piece and put it in the hole of the film canister. Make sure that the piece of plastic stays within the canister and push it onto the axle. The plastic tube should be enough to keep the commutator from moving left or right or to spin. Place it about 3 ⅛ inches away from the right end of the axle. The armature should be about 3 ¼ inches away on the other side.

Now cut another piece of the plastic tube and place it within the hole of the film canister. Place the film canister 2 ½ inches away to the left of the armature, making it 1 ¾ inch away from the left end of the axle. The film canister is going to be the spool for the string.

Step 5: Making the Brushes

Take the stereo wire and cut two pieces of wire, one about a foot long and one about 22 inches long and one about 32 inches long. Burn off the ends and take off the covering so you should just see the ends. Now the wires should be about 10 inches, 20 inches, and 30 inches long.

Now take shortest and longest wires, for those will be the two brushes (the third wire we will use to connect the circuit to the switch). Take the short one (the first brush) and flatten the wire on one end, creating the actual brush. The wires should be spread out and flat. Now take the longest wire (the second brush) and flatten the wire on one end, creating the second brush. Leave the other end and the third wire alone for now.

Step 7: Making the Brush Frame

To make the frame of the brushes take the 19 ½ inch piece of metal and bend it:

Step 1: Measure out 2 ½ inches from the end of the piece of metal

Step 2: Bend it to a 90 degree angle

Step 3: Measure another 4 inches from the corner you just made

Step 4: Bend it at a 90 degree angle

Step 5: Measure another 6 ½ inches from the corner you just made

Step 6: Bend it at a 90 degree angle

Step 7: Measure out another 4 inches

Step 8: Bend it at a 90 degree angle

Step 9: Make sure that there is 2 ½ inches at the end

You will end up with what looks like a rectangle with a gap at the top. The bottom should be as flat as possible. Check to make sure that the bottom is 6 ½ inches across, the two sides are 4 inches tall, and the top is 2 ½ inches on each side.

Step 5:  Assembling the Motor

Cut up the water bottle so that you have two strips of plastic, long enough that they will go over the base coil. Flatten the strips so that they are smooth and completely flat.

Take the axle frame and nail the two ends of the bottom to the piece of wood. Then take the base coil and place it on top of the axle frame. If you look at it from a bird’s eye view, the bottom part of the frame should be right in the middle of the bottom of the base coil. If you look at it from the side (horizontally), the base coil itself should be situated about 4 inches away from the left end of the axle frame. Then take the two plastic strips and put them over the ends of the base coil until you have two tails on either side. Take one and flatten the sides against the wood and make sure that it is tight against the coil. Then take two nails and hammer the strip of plastic it into the piece of wood. Do that to the other strip as well.

The Final Motor

After securing the base coil, take the brush frame and place it over the axle frame. If you look at it from a bird’s eye view, the bottom part of the frame should be right in the middle of the bottom of the base coil. If you look at it from the side (horizontally), the base coil itself should be situated about 2 ¼ inches away from the the end of the right side of the axle frame. Take 4 nails and hammer in two right outside the axle frame’s bottom strip, and the other two hammer in at the ends of the bottom of the brush frame.

Now take the brushes. Take the shortest one (the first brush) and hold it by the side that has the flattened wire. On the far side of the brush frame, run the wire along the top and down the sides, securing it with tape. Only a little bit of flattened wire should be showing at the top of the brush frame.

Take the longest one (the second brush) and hold it by the side that has the flattened wire. On the far side of the brush frame, run the wire along the top and down the sides, securing it with tape. Only a little bit of flattened wire should be showing at the top of the brush frame. Take the other end of the wire and twist it up with the end of the base coil that is closest.

Now take the second longest wire and run it through the switch and secure the switch to the right side of the axle frame. Take the other end of that wire and twist it with the 2nd brush (longest wire) and the base coil wire. Now when it’s connected to the battery turning on the switch will now complete the circuit and turning it off will break it.

There should be extra wire from the brushes and the connecting wire. Take the extra wire and run it along the sides of the wood. Keep it down and in place with the wire staples.

Now fit the axle in the axle frame. Put it into the axle frame holes, the commutator connecting with the brushes & the armature in between the two base coil sides (the bar magnets). Now take a metal washer and cut a piece of the plastic tube. Put the metal washer on the end of the axle first and then follow it by the plastic tube to secure it. Do the same to the other end. On the left side, wrap the end in tape just in case it’s too loose.

Testing the Motor:

To get the motor to actually work, you need to connect it to the battery. Take the two connectors and attach one end to the base coil (the one that isn’t capped) and the other end to the battery. Take the other connector and attach one end to the first brush (the short one) and the other end to the battery. Be wary that one side is  positive and one side is negative. I recommend labeling the wires with tape.

Make sure that the brushes are going the opposite way before you turn the motor on.

My Motor Working:

Problems I Had:

I had issues with the commutator and the brushes.

At first, we tried soldering the wires from the armature to the commutator. However it didn’t work. What we didn’t know was that the soldering iron wasn’t strong enough. We tried taping it and it worked. Later on, we got a stronger soldering iron and the motor worked better.

The brushes were difficult because they had to be spread out, flat, and in the right positions. The first set of brushes we used were too thin and not spread out enough. The second time, they were not strong enough. Most of the brushes had to be touching the commutator, but you couldn’t put too much pressure on the commutator otherwise it would slow it. The commutator also had to be a uniform circle all the way around, otherwise the brushes would catch and it would either slow the motor down or stop it completely.

We experimented with a lot of different armatures, brushes, base coil, & commutator:

Another Model Working:

It broke.

There were several other models that we took apart that we didn’t get a picture of.

***Sorry there weren’t a lot of pictures, we made so many models it became pointless after a while so we just waited until we finished to take pictures