Home-made electrical motor not running

[artis]

@Averagesupernova wow I like your motor, the dusty looks of it and the wooden shaft it just seems like a museum example from the time of Nikola Tesla. It almost has that feel that it was found by archeologists.
#Iron age electronics
Was that a school project from long ago?

Switching polarity through the contacts has no discernible effect. The magnets will vibrate slightly and the motor will get hot. That’s it.

If this type of motor does that - vibrates without ever turning a single rotation then it can only be because you applied AC instead of DC to it. Check whether your power supply that you mentioned is DC output or AC.

 

[Averagesupernova]

@Averagesupernova wow I like your motor, the dusty looks of it and the wooden shaft it just seems like a museum example from the time of Nikola Tesla. It almost has that feel that it was found by archeologists.
#Iron age electronics
Was that a school project from long ago?

I've felt 'old' for a while now, but your comment makes me feel really old. Lol. I was very interested in electricity as a kid and it was just a project I wanted to do. I modified several world book encyclopedia projects and this is the result.

 

[artis]

I've felt 'old' for a while now, but your comment makes me feel really old. Lol. I was very interested in electricity as a kid and it was just a project I wanted to do. I modified several world book encyclopedia projects and this is the result.

I'm sorry for making you feel old, I meant just a nice humor, but hey don't worry we all will get there.
Anyway the wooden shaft probably made the whole thing vibrate like an "earthquake machine"

 

[Averagesupernova]

I'm sorry for making you feel old, I meant just a nice humor, but hey don't worry we all will get there.
Anyway the wooden shaft probably made the whole thing vibrate like an "earthquake machine"

Don't worry about making me feel old. Every now and then we all need a reminder. It didn't move across the table as it ran but the small nails driven into the ends of the shaft are a concern for loosening up when it gets up to speed.

 

[Shane Kennedy]

Summary:: For school, I am trying to make an electric motor. When I try to apply power across the commutator however, it will either twitch a little bit or do nothing at all.

Here are the details. I started with a nut and bolt, and drilled a hole down the center of it. I inverted and glued into place a carbon fiber rod in the hole. I glued a bit on the end of the bolt. I wrapped magnet wire around the bolt on each side of the rod 400 times. I made a commutator using brass, and soldered one end of the wire to each side. The separation in the commutator is lined up the the bolt head and nut.

For magnets, I am using two small (but strong) magnets per side.

For power, I am using a 9-volt battery with copper wires connected to it. I’m touching the copper wires against the commutator 180 degrees apart.

The structure is made out of aluminum, if that matters.

What am I doing wrong? Am I missing anything obvious?

let me know if you want more info or pictures.

View attachment 291165
View attachment 291166View attachment 291167

 

[sophiecentaur]

I expect the cheapest soft iron bolt

I wouldn't have a clue where to get hold of one of them. The only soft iron you can get hold of easily is the laminations in a transformer kit and real horse shoe nails, which are extremely bendy (from craft shops as well as farriers, I think). Mild steel is what hardware and DIY shops sell and will do just as well so the OP needn't be chasing all over to get Iron.

It's staggering what problems that 'beginners' projects present when wound components are involved. It's so often either down to open or short circuits. It wasn't a problem in my childhood when the available wire was cotton covered.

I remember when I was teaching secondary Science, there were some truly horrible 'Electric Motor Kits' which the kids were expected to wind, assemble and run. A real nightmare and it used to involve me leaning over each group of kids and manually holding wires to a naff commutator arrangement to get each motor to turn. I bet other UK teachers will recognise my experience with those pesky motor kits.

 

[StandardsGuy]

Summary:: For school, I am trying to make an electric motor. When I try to apply power across the commutator however, it will either twitch a little bit or do nothing at all.

Here are the details. I started with a nut and bolt, and drilled a hole down the center of it. I inverted and glued into place a carbon fiber rod in the hole. I glued a bit on the end of the bolt. I wrapped magnet wire around the bolt on each side of the rod 400 times. I made a commutator using brass, and soldered one end of the wire to each side. The separation in the commutator is lined up the the bolt head and nut.

For magnets, I am using two small (but strong) magnets per side.

For power, I am using a 9-volt battery with copper wires connected to it. I’m touching the copper wires against the commutator 180 degrees apart.

The structure is made out of aluminum, if that matters.

What am I doing wrong? Am I missing anything obvious?

let me know if you want more info or pictures.

View attachment 291165
View attachment 291166View attachment 291167

I don't see any brush contacts. You haven't finished it yet.

 

[Baluncore]

Mild steel is what hardware and DIY shops sell and will do just as well so the OP needn't be chasing all over to get Iron.

One manufacturer who wanted to make the best electromagnets purchased 100 tonne of electrical steel for the first production run. Their first magnets would not turn off because of hysteresis in the steel. When they used the much cheaper (and easier to machine) mild steel, (as originally specified), the problem was resolved. That was a good example of management thinking more expensive material would be better, when the converse was true.

In the case for this OP motor, the 304 stainless steel bolt seemed like a good idea at the time. At least it was easier to drill the hole through the shank than it would have been with a 316 SS bolt. But a mild steel bolt would have been easier still. Unfortunately the cheapest black bolts are no longer available in hardware stores, they are all plated with zinc, which is conductive, reduces AC magnet efficiency, and slows the magnetisation. Maybe experiment later with a dip in an acid (such as rust converter), to remove the zinc, might make a difference.

Horseshoe nails were once cut with a cold chisel from wrought iron, which was the closest thing to pure iron. Wrought iron could be forge welded with a hammer, but was more expensive than mild steel. Now that electric welding is used for fabrication, wrought iron has faded into history, and cheaper mild steel products are stronger for the same weight. Electric welding also replaced soft iron rivets in about 1940, doing away with another source of magnet core.

It's staggering what problems that 'beginners' projects present when wound components are involved. It's so often either down to open or short circuits. It wasn't a problem in my childhood when the available wire was cotton covered.

It was for me. I wound my first unsuccessful electromagnet with double strength button thread, because it was the closest I could find to DCC. Later I met a technician who, while following the same book, had done exactly the same thing.

 

[sophiecentaur]

It was for me. I wound my first unsuccessful electromagnet with double strength button thread, because it was the closest I could find to DCC. Later I met a technician who, while following the same book, had done exactly the same thing.

It's amazing how this sort of error is not always spotted by people who should know better. I used to find that my fellow (by no means dumb) Science teachers were really rubbish at fault finding and getting experiments to work. At least we had two Lab Techs who could usually dig them out.