Look Who it Was Random video

My Minimalist Electric Motor

1,481 views · Published 26 January 2013 · 1:53 · Indexed 25 September 2026

Channel: GrandadIsAnOldMan · 2013 · Howto & Style

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Having tried a few of these I decided to see what the minimum number of parts was I could use and limited myself to easily available items.

NOTE: Technically this should not work because the coil is powered continuously, but I think that it loses connection as it bounces when it rotates giving a commutator effect. I have seen other YouTube videos carefully scraping insulation off one side of the wire only to ensure the coil is charged over half cycles only, but as you will see, my coil works regardless. No doubt if I took more care in the preparation it would not work but a casual approach seems to be the success story here.

Component List
1 AA Battery
2 Safety Pins
1 length of insulated wire
  (I stripped out a length of old telephone cable)
  (I coiled it round my finger and stripped the ends)
1 magnet 
   (I used a magnetic door catch in this demo)

I just held the safety pins to the ends of the battery so they transfer the electricity from the battery to the coil. That makes the coil create a magnetic field that is repelled or attracted to the magnet. 
In my example here as the coil spins the wire loses contact with the safety pin briefly and the magnetic field stops long enough for the coil to spin far enough for the reverse side of the coil to be attracted or repelled when the circuit is restored when the wire makes contact again. A more reliable way would be to use paint as an insulator on some of the wire to ensure the circuit is broken. I was surprised my method worked but it does due to it's 'sloppy' construction.

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