2 Pole DC Motor Kit

In this Instructable, you will be making a 2 pole electric motor. The way this works is the armature is turned into an electro magnet and it is attracted to 2 permanent magnets. When it reaches the magnets though, the polarity of the electromagnet is switched and it continues spinning around never reaching the magnets before the polarity gets swapped.

This kit requires many items and it is required that you have them all. The parts include a motor base, the armature, copper brushes, shaft supports, battery terminals, magnet holders, Hook-Up wires, an end cap, a shaft end cap, a fan, commutator segments, guard caps, Iron rods, and some enameled wire. You will need to sand the enameled wire so acquire a piece of sand paper as well. A soldering iron and hot glue are not necessary but are very useful. Also you need a way to power the motor. You can use a battery well and a D size battery, but even a AA would work. I personally used a power supply but it isn't necessary.

The pieces you need to acquire in order to assemble the armature are the armature itself, the 2 commutator segments, and an end cap, two guard caps, and 8 iron rods. The first thing you need to do is to get the 2 commutator segments, the end cap, and the armature. Then, on one of the skinnier sides of the armature, there are 2 notches on the top and bottom. Put the commutator segments on that side and slide the ends of them into the notches. Keeping them on there slide the end cap on to the front of both of the commutators to keep them on the armature. Make sure to not have them touching or the motor will not work.

Next acquire 8 iron rods and 2 guard caps. Put 6 iron rods into the center of the armature and then stick the 2 guard caps on either side. After that is done, take your two remaining iron rods and put them in each of the longer, skinnier ends of the armature. If you find it hard to keep the commutators on, you can also wrap a small portion of enameled wire around it to keep it on as long as it isn't sanded.

Take the enameled wire and sand 2 inches on one end. Then take the wire and wrap it around the armature, going from outside to the center. Make sure that it is wrapped counter clockwise. For good conductivity wrap it 100 times. Make sure to leave the end of the wire uncoiled to attach to the commutators later. After you have wrapped it 100 times cross the center of the armature and begin wrapping there. It is essential that you have it wrapping the same direction that the other side was wrapped. Wrap this side 100 times likewise.

After you have wrapped both sides, cut the enameled wire leaving 2-3 inches unwrapped. Then sand 2 inches off that end as you did with the other end. Before you attach the wires to the commutators take a meter out and switch it to continuity. Then put one tip on each commutators. If it doesn't beep then you are good, but if there is continuity you will need to readjust the commutators so they are not touching because if they are the motor will not work. Now attach each end of the wire separately to the 2 commutators by wrapping the coil around the notched part that sticks up. After you attach them test the 2 commutators again with a meter. It should show that they are connected, if not you probably didn't sand one end of the wire good enough.

Take the motor base, and 2 shaft end supports. Lay the motor base on a table and slide one of the shat ends in to place. Slide the iron rod on the end of the armature into the shaft end supporter and make sure that the commutators are on the right as in the picture. Now slide the other shaft end supporter into the other iron rod and into place on the motor base.

Obtain the 2 hook up wires, the red and the yellow, and take the ends off each one as shown in the pictures. Now acquire 2 copper brushes and wrap one hook up wire to each one around their tabs. For better conductivity solder them on to the copper brushes.

Take the copper brushes, which are now attached to the hook up wires, and also acquire the motor base. Slide the copper brushes into place on the motor base. They should be touching the commutators and if you had wrapped enameled wire around the commutators, make sure that it does not get in the way of the copper brushes.

After you put the copper brushes in place, obtain 2 magnets and 2 magnet holders. Put one magnet into each indentation of the magnet holders. They must each have a different polarity facing out. To test that put them next to each other and they should attract and not repel one another. After you have tested them slide them into place on the motor base as shown in the picture.

I did not use this battery well in my project but it is a good way to power the motor. If you do not wish to use the battery well, connect the hook up wires to some sort of other power. If you are using it, insert the battery terminals into the sides of the battery well. Then bend the top and the bottom in and insert a D sized battery. (The battery in the picture is a C battery). Solder the hook up wires to the Battery terminals and slit the battery well into the side of the motor base.

When your hook up wires are connected to a battery, all you need to do is to spin the armature to start it going. The more electricity that is going through the armature, the stronger the electromagnet it will become. The stronger the electromagnet the armature is, the faster the it will spin.

If you find that your motor is not working, there are a couple of probable reasons why. First thing you want to check is the copper brushes. They can sometimes get pushed back after the armature spins and stop providing electricity. If you keep having this problem then you should hot glue the brushes to the motor base. Secondly you should check if the commutators are touching, if they are, then re-adjust them so they aren't. If this is not the problem then check the magnets. Take them off the motor base and hold them to each other as when you were setting them up. They should attract each other but if they don't flip one of the magnets around. If this is not the case I would detach one of the magnets from the holders but still have current running through the armature. Now hold a magnet to it and test each side. If it doesn't repel the magnet when you test it out with both sides of the magnet, then the battery is dead. If both sides repel the same side of the magnet, then you wrapped the armature the wrong way and you will have to unwrap one side and wrap it the other way.