Beakman Motor
A super-simple electric motor. This project already won many school science projects. Useless but extremadely interesting. (7/8/2006)
I saw this project on 1991 on the "Beakman's world". I was fascinated how this motor works perfectly with only one battery, two clips and a copper coil. I built my own beakman motor the same day. I remember it worked perfectly for many hours, I didn't want to turn it off or dissasemble it.
Finally I had enough time this weekend to build the beakman motor again. I did a little reseach about this project and I can see many hobbist already built this project as science project at the school. This is a really interesting one, even a kid (with adult supervision) or an adult (with kid supervision) can build this motor.
Parts needed:
One AA battery.
Copper coil (enamel coated) #26
One magnet
Two paperclips
Tape and needlenose pliers to bend the clip.
First, I built the frame using two paper clips here are the steps to build the frame:
Repeat the steps for the other side of the frame. Use the picture as reference.
Second, attach the clips to the battery using some tape. Be sure to attach the right part to every side of the battery. Now is time to make the coil.
I used enamel-coated copper wire 26 awg, approximately 22" or 15 to 20 turns done on a pencil or pen. The two next pictures shows details about the finish of the coil. The enamel of the wire needs to be removed to allow the voltage to flow thru. Only part of the enamel must be removed.
Once the coil is ready, the motor is ready to be assembled. Just put the magnet attached to the battery between the clips and drop the coil into the clip frame.
If it doesn't work, maybe you need to remove more enamel or do some mechanical adjustments. Put the magnet closer.
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