Success

After talking with Jeff about capacitors and RC timer, I am trying to build the RC timer circuit and understand it with Arduino. Since the time for capacitor to charge up to 67% of its energy can be calculated by multiplying resistance and capacitance, I code in arduino to check if this formula works for me. It turns out to be very well.

However, I am going through more failure when doing my second and third motor.

failure one

I am trying to build a DC motor with wood.
It took me a lot of effort to make the fabrication because I think it would be romantic to make a well fabricated wood to rotate itself.
I cut the 2 rod.

draw the sketch and cut it with hand saw.

My favorite Mortise and tenon joint structure.

looks nice right?

Would not work! I wind the coil, I put it and mount them roughly to see if it works but it wouldn’t! The wood is too heavy and the motor cannot support the force to compensate the friction caused by its weight. Also, the conductive tape is eaily to be worn out by friction. I learned a lot of lesson from that.
However, I am also trying to save it by buying bearings and shaft to reduce the friction. I am waiting for the shipping and if it still not work, I would give up on this idea.

Maybe I should be a Candide

Maybe I should start from the most Basic motor and try to build it.
I 3D model and print the basic structure for holding the coil. this part is easy.

However, I think the most difficult part for building a motor is it commutator. It took me a lot of effort to make it.
I do not have any metal sheet material So I cut the metal from a stepper motor. I think this must be the most stupiest way for building a commutator. I also use the J-B weld to shape the part for holding these 3 metal pieces.

And in the end it looks like this. I haven’t test if it would work though.
I start to admire the fabrication of the hobby motor I have.

#### stepper motor is interesting I think the structure of a stepper motor is super interesting and brilliant. So I am trying to find out if I could make a stepper motor. Then I discover that I should first have a compass.
I try to make a compass using magnet I have and a 6mm shaft and its bearing. It would only respond to my huge super magnet. I think friction and torque is always my biggest enemy in making motors.

Then I want to borrow the central part inside a stepper motor and see if it would work.

This is its coil for the stepper motor.

One thing I really do not understand is why this stepper motor coil is wrapped around the magnet. From my understanding, this coil would generate a magnetic field whose direction along the shaft that would not rotate the rotor. I use a switch to make the coil connected to ground or 5V. Every time I trigger the switch, it would generate a pulse and make the magnet move.

Also, when I put a self made coil or a super strong magnet around the rotor, the rotor will not move. I do not know why. Interesting. I am also buying some compasses to make my life easier to make stepper motor.

What to do next

I would try to do a DC and stepper motor and I have no confidence. However, during the exploration I learned a lot and the biggest lesson I learned is that do not try to self-made motor for your project.