I certainly recall doing the same thing. I think there was even a kit
in a little red box that had the wire, etc. and an instruction sheet;
the box formed the base.

shoppa@trailing-edge.com wrote:

When I was a kid my dad and I built a homemade electric motor from
plans in a book or magazine.

Components were a frame made of a cut and bent tin can, an axle made
out of a nail, and windings made from magnet wire.

The wiring on the armature had a lot of scotch tape for some reason.

There were windings on both the motor and the tin-can frame, and
commutation was from brushes made out of little pieces of brass sheet.

Does anyone recognize this project, and know of a website or the title
of a book that will help me recreate it with my kids?

Tim.

I certainly recall doing the same thing. I think there was even a kit
in a little red box that had the wire, etc. and an instruction sheet;
the box formed the base.

Maybe something here would suffice:

http://scientificsonline.com/search.asp?t=ss&ss=motor&x=5&y=7

My son has his physics students make this simple motor in class:

http://www.physics.isu.edu/physdemos/electric/smplmtr.html

All you need is a D battery, paper clips, a small magnet, tape, and some
enameled wire (which can be scavenged from an old transformer).

This is totally refreshing. A nice, innocent request for information.
Tim, brace yourself for what the likes of Zick and Andocles and Uncle
Al will respond.

I don't know about this project, but I made an isomorphic one, it was
a telegraph, a nail pounded into a block of wood wrapped with copper
wire and a thin strip of metal coming out over it to form a receiver.
A block of wood with a thin strip nailed down at one end and free on
the other which can be pushed down to a contact for a sender, all
appropriate connections made with copper wire, and a battery in the
circuit, of course.

Hofstadter stated that his AHA! moment when he was young was to see 3
3's written out, forming self-reference, thus orienting himself towards
that subject for life. Here's an expanded version:

4 4 4 4 4 fours

3 3 3 3 threes

2 2 two twos

1 the most elegant case

How do you show zero zeroes??

My AHA moment was when I was around 3 and asked my Mom what caused day
and night, and she took a spherical pincusion she had and put it next
to an incandescent lamp, stuck a pin in it and rotated it, showing it
go in and out of the light. She only had a high-school education, but
she would have made a better teacher than 99.9999999999999999999% of
what supposedly passes for one out there now.

So anyway, the usual disclaimer stands. No replies will ever be looked
at to this post. While cheating myself out of the good ones, if any,
there are just too many Andocleses and Uncle Al's and Zicks infecting
this forum like rats out in our barn. What a shame. Might pay to read
the final few chapters of Hofstader's "Metamagical Themas" to see what
you jerks are cheating everybody out of.

Have a nice day. Address your issues. Please display only appropriate
behavior. Define "appropriate" yourself.

Toodle-Lewd-Wench-Sky

EOP

This site has two motors: one from 1938 and the other from a boy scout
manual. They both look like stuff I built in the '50s.
I also have my copy of the "Boy Mechanic" published in 1952 by Popular
Mechanics that has "5 Toy Motors" in it: a tin and nail, a synchronus,
an induction, series and mercury (yikes). If anyone is interested I
will gladly scan the book and foreward the section to you.

Richard