Challenges with My Motor

If you have ever attempted to build something you are well aware that problems could arise. Especially when building something for the first time. When I built my motor I had three problems: creating successful brushes, attaching the copper contacts, and wrapping the copper magnet wire on the armature.

Copper Contacts
When I was building my motor, I chose to use a cork as the base on which to attach the copper contacts. I first tried taping them down with clear tape - it didn't stick. Then I attempted taping the copper down using heavy duty electrical tape - the copper stuck but this caused the gap between the two pieces of copper to become too big. I eventually tried hot gluing but the hot glue would not stick. Finally I decided to staple the pieces of copper to the cork.

Brushes

Brushes  

The brushes were by far the hardest component of the motor to get right. I ended up using the thin black lamp wire on the left of the photo for both of the brushes. When the brushes were made of the copper wire on the right they would always catch and stop the motor. By putting the thin black wire through the top they gently touched the motor and allowed it to spin.








Wrapping Copper Magnet Wire
For your motor to work the magnet wire must be wrapped nearly perfectly on the armature. It took three tries to wrap the armature perfectly. I ended up putting a thin layer of clear tape in between the first and second layer of wire to prevent cross-overs.