Problems with My Motor

Problems with my Motor

As you must know, Mr. Bostian, I had some issues with my motor working, so I will have no problem filling this post up!

Problem #1: The Armature

 The entire concept of the motor deals with electromagnets and electricity. My main problem with my motor was that, for a strange reason, my armature was not acting as an electromagnet even though I wrapped it in parallel lines, sanded the ends of the enamel off, and had a firm contact point with the copper. It turns out that since I had used aluminum as my metal for the center of the armature, it wasn't magnetic enough. It took quite a lot to realize that that was the issue, including multiple trips to your classroom and a lot of confused phone calls. I ended up rewrapping the armature twice before I knew that it was not my wrapping skills which were the problem, but the very core of the armature. After I replaced the aluminum rod with 4 inch penny nails, it was easier to make the motor move (as it was actually physically possible now).

Problem #2: The Brushes

The brushes play a key role in the motion of the motor. They switch the poles and conduct the electricity from the magnet to the commutator to the armature and back. The brushes, since they are flared out like paintbrushes (hence the name), also have a tendency to get caught in the copper and stop the entire motion of the motor. This took issue took a lot of playing around to deal with it. I first made my brushes vertically hanging down instead of rising up so they would get caught less. It then took a lot of playing around to get my brushes in the perfect position so that they wouldn't get caught on anything or touch the tape on the ends of my commutator. Once that was figured out, electricity could travel through the brushes without getting caught on the copper.

Problem #3: Excess Friction on the Axle

The holes that were pre-drilled in my metal strips were actually too large for the axle (the metal rod) that held my commutator, loom, and armature. It was banging around when it spun and creating excess friction that slowed down the motion. I solved this problem by putting a washer and two bolts on each side to lock it down. 

Conclusion

There were many more smaller issues when building the motor, such as buying the wrong wire (multi strand 14 gauge wire instead of single strand), the copper always falling off the cork (solved it by taping it down on the ends instead of underneath), and general crossing over of wires (when you rewrap each thing three or four times, you tend to be a bit lazy), but all of those were solved by the end of the building process. Problems with the motor were annoying, but it also was a learning experience on being more careful and learning how to problem solve efficiently to complete the task at hand.