Model Engine Maker

Engines => Your Own Design => Topic started by: George_Race on July 25, 2012, 07:34:06 PM

Title: Mendocino Motor Under Construction
Post by: George_Race on July 25, 2012, 07:34:06 PM
About a year ago I got interested in Mendocino Motors.  If you have never seen one, it is quite a novel little motor.  It uses magnets to levitate the armature.  the rotation is provided by light energy and it requires absolutely no external power to spin for hours on end.

Here is a link to a lot of information and the  build I started sometime ago.  I will continue to add further information here as I do some additional design changes and additions on the project.

http://bbs.homeshopmachinist.net/threads/54434-Mendocino-Motor-Magnet-Spacing

Here are a couple of pictures to get you interested.

This is the initial model I designed to do the testing of a bunch of ideas.

(http://www.mrrace.com/Race_Pictures/Levitation.jpg)

This part of the project finished up with a running Mendocino Motor

Here it is running under my work bench lights.
This was the finished "proof of concept" model that I made.  A bit different from the initial design shown above.

(http://www.mrrace.com/Race_Pictures/LastRun.jpt.jpg)

As always, comments and questions are welcomed,
George




Title: Re: Mendocino Motor Under Construction
Post by: Bogstandard on July 25, 2012, 09:54:58 PM
You go ahead and show us how to do it George.

This engine had me fascinated.

John
Title: Re: Mendocino Motor Under Construction
Post by: AussieJimG on July 25, 2012, 09:59:54 PM
I have the magnets and the solar cells, all I need is to finish one or more of the current projects and I can start on this one. I will be following with great interest. I am sure you will guide me around a lot of mistakes.  :cheers:
Jim
Title: Re: Mendocino Motor Under Construction
Post by: lazylathe on July 25, 2012, 11:59:22 PM
I have the magnets but not the solar cells...
Finding the right ones is a bit confusing!

Are you still thinking of making these available in kit form??

Andrew
Title: Re: Mendocino Motor Under Construction
Post by: George_Race on July 26, 2012, 01:02:32 AM
Hi Andrew, yes I am still considering doing a kit of parts for builders.  Possibly the metal framework, and the armature core with the center shaft ready to be wound and finished.

I will be posting same new work on the overall design that I have been doing, possibly later this evening.

The solar cells are from ebay.  If you can't find them I can give you a link to their location.  They are 1 X 3 inches, high current output.

George
Title: Re: Mendocino Motor Under Construction
Post by: George_Race on July 26, 2012, 02:16:27 AM
Having had success with my Pink Foam armature, I looked for something that would be a lot more rugged to work with.  My local Alro surplus outlet has quite a few different types of "drops" of various plastic type materials.  I first tried some nice black nylon.  What a disaster that was!  That stuff is just to soft and sticky to work with.  Even my circular saw did not like to work with it.  Ended up cleaning up my blade, tooth by tooth after trying to cut a block of it.

I next tried some other kind of Acrylic, much harder and very slippery feeling.  it is a bit lighter than Nylon, and really machines great.  Cuts with my saw, and my mill really goes to town on it as well.

So, I made a few armatures to see just how easy it would be to machine.
Here is a pictures of my results.
(http://www.mrrace.com/Race_Pictures/FromFoamToNylon.jpg)
The pink foam one is done, the white ones are trimmed to size, and have the corners cut to hold the windings.  I did all that on my circular saw by setting the blade at 45 degrees and simply rotating the piece and passing it over the bairly exposed blade.

Next I setup the mill to make the side cutouts to fit the solar cells, and a deeper area to remove some of the weight and make a place to do the internal wiring.

Here are a couple of pictures of that process.

(http://www.mrrace.com/Race_Pictures/MillingSetup.jpg)
(http://www.mrrace.com/Race_Pictures/MillingTheBlock.jpg)

I wanted to have the 1 X 3 inch solar cell just fall into the mounting area.  I will be using rubber cement to hold them in place in the finished armature, after all the wiring and final balance is done.

Here is how the solar cell looks, just laying in it's new home.

(http://www.mrrace.com/Race_Pictures/SolarCellPerfectFit.jpg)

Rather than pass a .125 brass shaft through the block, I decided I wanted to thread some brass rod and screw it into the armature core.  Here is how I used my lathe to thread the brass rod.  I really like the way my little HF Lathe chuck can turn so slowly.  Makes a great threading device!

(http://www.mrrace.com/Race_Pictures/ThreadingShaft.jpg)

Here are enough of them to build all the armatures I am making.

(http://www.mrrace.com/Race_Pictures/6ThreadedShafts.jpg)

To drill the hole in the armature core, I put my 4 jaw chuck on the lathe, and very carefully centered the block by turning the chuck round and round, using a cutting tool in the holder to indicate at the corners of the block.  It was really quite easy to get them running very evenly. 
Being that the material is much softer than metal, I first center drilled the block, and then dirilled an undersize hole into the block.  I figured that the threaded brass rod would thread itself into the acrylic material very easily.

Not wanting to scar up the brass rods, I used a small Jacobs chuck, I have for my mill, to hold the rod making it easy to screw in by hand.  Length sticking out of the core is critical, so I marked each with a stop point, before screwing them into the armature core.

Here is how the looks having the shaft screwed in carefully by hand.

(http://www.mrrace.com/Race_Pictures/JacobsHoldingShaft.jpg)

Here they are ready to spin and check for initial balance.

(http://www.mrrace.com/Race_Pictures/3ReadyToWind.jpg)

And finally, here is one of them on the magnetic frame piece.  I am pleased that they all hand spin very nicely.   Not a wobble in the group!  Guess my holes must be very close to center, the holes drilled very straight into the armature cores.

(http://www.mrrace.com/Race_Pictures/SettingOnMagnets.jpg)

It is really something, you spin it between your fingers and it will rotate for a full minute or more.  Barely any friction at all on the support end.

Next I am going to d rill through the center pieces, making a wire-way to run the winding connections between sides and the ends of the armature core.  This will be done very carefully and as symmetrical as possible to keep balance problems down the road to a minimum.

My Magnetic Clock build has been keeping me away from this project, but it looks like I now have some time to make some more progress.

As always, your comments and questions are always welcome,
George





Title: Re: Mendocino Motor Under Construction
Post by: chuck foster on July 26, 2012, 02:22:30 AM
george, i will be watching this build very close.

thanks for the pictures and write up.

chuck
Title: Re: Mendocino Motor Under Construction
Post by: boatmadman on August 16, 2012, 05:12:01 PM
Here is a pic of my version of one of these
Title: Re: Mendocino Motor Under Construction
Post by: George_Race on August 16, 2012, 11:06:43 PM
I really like the look of the clear plastic for the frame work and armature.
Looks like a good runner as well.
Nice job,
George
Title: Re: Mendocino Motor Under Construction
Post by: boatmadman on August 16, 2012, 11:41:44 PM
Yeah, the clear plastic really puzzles people who arent technically minded, the usual comment is - 'Where's the battery?'  :ROFL:
Title: Re: Mendocino Motor Under Construction
Post by: lazylathe on September 04, 2012, 12:04:25 PM
Hi George,

If you could send me the link to the high powered cells that would be awesome! :ThumbsUp:
I kind of forgot about this thread, home renovations have removed me from the man cave for the whole summer...
Roll on winter!!! :ROFL: (ps i really hate winter....)

Andrew

Boatmadman - i really like the clear plexiglass version you have built!
Title: Re: Mendocino Motor Under Construction
Post by: Arbalest on September 04, 2012, 04:20:58 PM
I really like the look of the clear plastic for the frame work and armature.
Looks like a good runner as well.
Nice job,
George

+ 1  :ThumbsUp:
Title: Re: Mendocino Motor Under Construction
Post by: George_Race on September 06, 2012, 01:47:40 PM
Here is the eBay link to the solar cells that I am using.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/45-1-x-3-solar-cells-5-V-x-5-A-9-watt-panel-using-36-GREAT-MINI-PANEL-/180803698979?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2a18bd8123

He actually sends you 50 for the price.  All nicely packed, arrived unbroken.
By the time you add shipping they will cost you about $0.50 each.  Not too bad!

His cells are actually a bit thicker than some of the earlier ones that I tired.

George
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