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Toy motor kit

Years ago my dad returned from a trip with a gift for me. I think
that he went to Detroit and possibly got it at the Henry Ford Museum.
It was a small box, about the size that checks come in. The parts
made a simple DC motor. The lid of the box was the base of the
motor. I had to wind the armature and fasten the brushes and make the
commutator. It worked too! Pretty cool stuff for a 7 year old.
Anything like that still available?
Bob
Reply to
Bob
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It is 'way cooler to do it yourself, yes?
Can you locate a couple of safety pins, some copper wire and a magnet?
--Winston
Reply to
Winston
Yes, I've seen them for sale in the past year or two.. maybe at a museum gift shop or something like that. Here are a couple:
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How about a Stirling?
Best regards, Spehro Pefhany
Reply to
Spehro Pefhany
Here's a couple sources for similar kits
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Some of their electric motor kits:
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Also:
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RogerN
Reply to
RogerN
--Here's another fun place to shop for that sort of thing:
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Reply to
steamer
(...)
I bought a couple of these a few years ago from Solar Engines / PM Research.
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I don't see the motors on their new website but both went together easily and they run flawlessly.
--Winston
Reply to
Winston
A web search on "educational motor kit" came up with a flood of likely-looking links. I build this one with #1 son, years ago:
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The one on the right here:
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is a marvel. You can build one of these with two paper clips, a magnet, and some wire (the secret is that you scrape off a half-turn of insulation from each side of the coil leads -- get the phasing right, and it'll make torque any time they come into contact with the paper clips). It's the least number of parts I've ever seen make a motor -- at least a motor that can spin itself.
Reply to
Tim Wescott
Thanks Guys. I think that the demise of my motor was when I hooked it up to my Lionel train transformer. AC and 20 volts were not good for long life.
Bob
Reply to
Bob
I remember those back in the late '40s, but it was more fun and educational starting with nails, wood, a strip cut from a tin can, eithe a horse shoe magnet from a telephone magneto and about fifty feet of copper wire. One other option was to wind the field magnets if you didn't have the magneto magnet. Gerry :-)} London, Canada
Reply to
Gerald Miller
--Here's another one for ya:
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--There's an even simpler one but I can't find a photo; basically a battery sitting on a piece of tinfoil and topped with a bent wire that connects top to foil; rotation due to left hand rule or some such.
Reply to
steamer
An even simpler motor---a piece of wire bent to shape, a battery, a magnet:
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Not terribly useful though.
As a kid I was fascinated by electricity in general, and electric motors and electromagnets in particular. Tried to make a cork-and-pin motor using the instructions from my brother's 7th grade science book. Failed miserably. The electromagnets I made worked, though! (Of course my parents were ticked off because every battery in every flashlight in the house was quickly dead, in my pursuit of knowledge and fun.) -- Best -- Terry
Reply to
Terry
OH MY GOD!!!
That is just too cool. Now I want to know the theory behind it...
You know, I don't remember ever being without a battery to run down in the pursuit of Science. But then, my dad felt strongly that the way to educate a child was to give them plenty of building material and stay out of the way.
Reply to
Tim Wescott
There's something we have in common.
My dad was a trainman and he always seemed to have a gently-used lantern battery that he would give me for my experiments.
Reply to
Jim Stewart
========== Not a kit but take a look at Cloth-Harper's Electricity Book For Boys 22075 $26.95 Electrical Things Boys Like to Make 23241 $11.95 Mod Elec-Crystal Set 23276 $6.95
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Website is
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in catalog [free] but some not on website.
more advance but may be of interest
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-- Unka George (George McDuffee) .............................. The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there. L. P. Hartley (1895-1972), British author. The Go-Between, Prologue (1953).
Reply to
F. George McDuffee
--Oh yeah here it is:
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Reply to
steamer
Radio Shack had come nice electronic kits. WIreless mike, and some other ones that I built. Came in a clear/red split box that became the circuit board and base. I learned soldering, identifying resistors, transistors and caps from these. They worked too, well so- so.
Kept me busy for days as a kid. Probably about 10 or so at the time. Good stuff.
Bob
Reply to
Bob
Known as 'P-Box' kits.
Reply to
Michael A. Terrell
A friend of mine sent this. The video starts out something about making fishing rods, but then at about 45 seconds he shows re-calibrating his dial caliper. I wouldn't have thought of this myself, but I'm going to give it a go
ps...Thanks Arno. Good tip!!
Reply to
Brian Lawson
HA-HA! I share his sympathies.
Reply to
Ed Huntress
hahahah
I use a similar technique with any device that can cause more loss or damage than it costs to replace or fix correctly.
Reply to
Cydrome Leader

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