Building an Electric Motor

On Thursday, our class was given the task of building an electric motor. We had previously decided to work in either pairs or to work alone. In preparation, my partner (Bojana) and I collected all the materials we would need for the task at hand: a piece of non compressed wood, 4x 4inch nails, smaller nails, thumb tacks, sand paper, a soda can, paper clips, a kebab stick and a cork. We were provided the power supply, magnets, copper wire, and tools. Another member was added to our group the day of (Emily).

We started by hammering the 4 4inch nails into the piece of non compressed wood, while other members hammered the two commutator pins on either side of the cork and slid the kebab stick through the centre. We twisted two paper clips into loops having to change the shape many times in order to allow the kebab stick enough space to freely spin when place with these loops. the paper clips were thumb- tacked to the wood. Then we cut our pop can to get two thin strips which we sanded on both sides, this would be our brush. 

                     

Next we took the copper wire we were provided and wrapped it in the same direction around the cork and the two commutator pins. the two ends of the wire were well sanded previously. Now that everything was in place, the brushes were thumb-tacked so that they would touch the commutator pins when spun. Our model was ready to be tested.

Unfortunately, our model could not be tested because of several factors, the nails happened to be two far apart and the brushes did not reach the pins when the axel was spun. The design overall was very unstable. My group decided to take our model home and fix it. 

Later that day, my partner and I met in hopes of fixing our model. We took out the 4inch nails and carefully hammered them back in according to the given measurements. We remodeled the paper clip bearings we had made so that they were equal and the axel could lay parallel. We hammered the commutator pins so that they were in not too far that the brushes couldn't reach them. The hardest part was getting the brushes just right. We cut and bent it many times before it finally appeared as if our model was perfect.

The next day, we were excited to test our model again. When the power supply was turned on... it did not work! we were surprised and didn't know what we had done wrong our how to fix it. Fortunately Mr. Chung figured out that it could be a problem with the wire and not the model. When he tested it again, our motor began to spin smoothly and continuously. We were so relieved! Our hard work the night before definitely payed off.