DIY DC Motor

You can create a motor just like the ones that power your washing machine!

This project will help you understand how a motor actually works by creating a very small scale brush less DC motor. This is an extremely hard project to do so only do this if you have basic knowledge of electronics or you have someone smart (like your parent) to help you complete this project.

Materials:

There are a lot so make sure you read them all!

1 magnet (The stronger the better)

(Neodymium magnets work the best) also you cannot use horseshoe magnets

2 Metal paper clips

They need to be bare metal (no plastic or paint) or they won't work

1 Spool of Magnet wire (Or coated copper wire)

(This is a special type of wire, please search it up on google to see what it is)

Here are some spools of wire you can buy that you will need (if you do not have some):

https://rb.gy/1ppz3e

1 9 Volt battery (You can use any battery but a 9V is better)

1 Hot glue gun (Or duct tape to hold the paper clips in place)

1 roll of electrical tape

(This is a special kind of tape so don't use the wrong type!)

Sandpaper

Steps:

Before we begin, here is a picture of what this DC motor should look like at the end:

1. Take the spool of magnet wire and wrap it around to make a circle shape, do this around 15-25 times

2. Take the ends of the magnet wire and wrap it around either end of the circle, as shown in the picture above

3. Use sandpaper to sand off the coated (red) part of the wire on either ends of the circle

4. Take the paper clips and straighten them

5. Bend the tops of the paper clips so that you can fit the ends of the circle through them

6. Use hot glue or duct tape to fix the paper clips onto a solid surface

7. Take the spool of Magnet wire and cut 6 inches worth of it

8. Repeat step 7 for another piece of Magnet wire

9. Use the sandpaper to sand both ends of both of the pieces of magnet wire

10. Wrap one piece of the sanded magnet wire to the positive end of the battery and the other end of the same piece to one of the two paper clips

11. Wrap one piece of the other sanded magnet wire to the negative end of the battery and the other end of the same piece to the other paper clip (the one that doesn't already have a sanded magnet wire attached to it)

12. To keep the sanded magnet wire pieces connected to the 9 Volt battery, use electrical tape to hold the magnet wire to their respective terminals (positive and negative)

13. Assemble everything like shown in the image above

14. Spin the circle and watch it start spinning on its own afterwards!

(If it doesn't spin one way, try spinning it the other way)

If you need a more visual demonstration on how to make different types of DIY DC motors, please look at this video:

Explanation/Summary

How the DC motor you made really spins is because of a combination of very advanced physics and math, but we will give you a simple explanation. The magnet you put on the bottom of your DC motor is what ultimately spins the copper wire when connected to a battery. This is because when copper wire is connected to a battery, it becomes an electromagnet (which is basically a magnet that needs electricity to work). We all know that when the positive side of one magnet and the positive side of another magnet (or both the negative sides) come close together, the two magnets repel each other (they don't want to be close to each other). The same thing is happening in your DC motor but we made it so that the pushes and pulls of the magnets cause the copper wire to turn around!