I Need Help

[JohnDB]

OK.
For those who don't know,
I am heading off to Slovakia this summer. My wife is the head teacher for an English camp for middle school kids.

What they want from me is for me to have an introductory workshop on electricity fundamentals.

So....after showing them model pics of molecules...
And explaining how we Electricians use algebra and trigonometry all day long (without going too deep into this stuff)
I was going to show how it all is just a bunch of magnetism that makes most things work. (Except lights which is a long lesson way beyond their capacity for understanding)

But

I was thinking that the kids could conceivably make a real model motor.

Maybe show them how a generator works and have a simple one that makes some LEDs burn bright. Maybe even a simple transformer.

Soooo
This presents some issues.
I can get neodymium magnets cheap and some magnet wire cheap.
Pack it in my luggage easily enough.

But the other materials probably need to come from Europe. Batteries probably won't be an issue...but I need ideas as to how to make 40 kid's motors without torturing everyone to death for construction.

The simple coil with the end wires stripped bare on two paperclips probably is going to be too fragile for these kids to manage. I am needing some good ideas of stuff to pick up in Austria that can assist me for the kids.

Sooooo

Probably soda cans are out.....aluminum is an American metal. (They make great motor and generator stators.).

Gotta be lightweight and have something for an axle.

Whatcha know or think?

 

[reba]

IT will be easier to moderate the A&T

 

[jasonc]

OK.
For those who don't know,
I am heading off to Slovakia this summer. My wife is the head teacher for an English camp for middle school kids.

What they want from me is for me to have an introductory workshop on electricity fundamentals.

So....after showing them model pics of molecules...
And explaining how we Electricians use algebra and trigonometry all day long (without going too deep into this stuff)
I was going to show how it all is just a bunch of magnetism that makes most things work. (Except lights which is a long lesson way beyond their capacity for understanding)

But

I was thinking that the kids could conceivably make a real model motor.

Maybe show them how a generator works and have a simple one that makes some LEDs burn bright. Maybe even a simple transformer.

Soooo
This presents some issues.
I can get neodymium magnets cheap and some magnet wire cheap.
Pack it in my luggage easily enough.

But the other materials probably need to come from Europe. Batteries probably won't be an issue...but I need ideas as to how to make 40 kid's motors without torturing everyone to death for construction.

The simple coil with the end wires stripped bare on two paperclips probably is going to be too fragile for these kids to manage. I am needing some good ideas of stuff to pick up in Austria that can assist me for the kids.

Sooooo

Probably soda cans are out.....aluminum is an American metal. (They make great motor and generator stators.).

Gotta be lightweight and have something for an axle.

Whatcha know or think?

Scrap yard,I used a fan and air compressor to shoe how an alternator works.

 

[JohnDB]

IT will be easier to moderate the A&T

Thanks...you are making this sooooo much easier.



I have seen some paper drink boxes that are round...but I don't know if they are going to be in Austria or not.
I haven't been to Europe before...don't know what I am going to find there.
But disks, dowels and tubes are what I need...as well as some easy way to suspend them up in the air...and hold two to three magnets around the "gizmo". .

 

[JohnDB]

Scrap yard,I used a fan and air compressor to shoe how an alternator works.

OK...
probably not going to be a possibility of "on the tour".
A hardware store...maybe. going to be really limited on my travelling. Walking is going to be the best once I get to slovakia. power tools are not going to be an option either probably.

 

[jasonc]

OK...
probably not going to be a possibility of "on the tour".
A hardware store...maybe. going to be really limited on my travelling. Walking is going to be the best once I get to slovakia. power tools are not going to be an option either probably.

Copper?

 

[JohnDB]

Copper?

I am going to bring the "magnet wire" with me. I can get a 1000ft for around $30...

Link

 

[jasonc]

I am going to bring the "magnet wire" with me. I can get a 1000ft for around $30...

You can make electro magnets or plan to there,right?

 

[reba]

so you, are making a bomb for the flight?

 

[JohnDB]

You can make electro magnets or plan to there,right?

Correct...thats how a motor works...I need the stator (main part of the center of the motor which has the coils on it) and a way to make the "housing" for the motor there to mount the permanent magnets on.

so you, are making a bomb for the flight?

and that is why I am dumping all wire and stuff leftover there in slovakia...I am taking a 4 day layover in Israel on my way back. The IDF takes bits of wire and things of that nature very seriously.

 

[jasonc]

Ah, gut a motor. Go to a junkyard and take apart a radiator fan or window motor. Finding brushes, and or a growler to see if either stator or rotor is bad might be a problem.

 

[jasonc]

so you, are making a bomb for the flight?

A clock! Don't hate .

 

[JohnDB]

Ah, gut a motor. Go to a junkyard and take apart a radiator fan or window motor. Finding brushes, and or a growler to see if either stator or rotor is bad might be a problem.

See...this is going to be a problem.
I can probably afford a pound or two in my luggage but I can only have 50 lbs (US) worth of luggage and a backpack (of a particular size) when I travel. Now the backpack will be full of toiletries, medicines, and a change of clothes. I'll need more clothes in my luggage. And where you think that would leave me with plenty of weight...we got baseballs, gloves, candies, and other trinkets to bring for the kids for prizes and other things that they can't get there. (like pecans...I get all I want free here...in-laws have trees but there they are almost $20 per pound)

Most of the classroom materials will be on thumb drives or CDs...then printed off there when we get there. Some stuff will have to be packed to come with us for the kids. Its a week long English Camp...and my wife wants to pack so much stuff usually. But...yeah.
It is a daunting task. I can build most anything if I can find enough materials to do whatever...and I usually do. LOL...

I haven't ever actually dug and refined my own clay which I then throw and turn to fire up to make coffee cups...but lets just say that it is a possibility one day.

 

[JohnDB]

Here is one that I really like that I think that the kids can do...LINK



But again...materials for the housing and Stator are going to be tough once I get there.

 

[jasonc]

You could ship that in advanced,if you can afford it.

 

[JohnDB]

You could ship that in advanced,if you can afford it.

I am an electrician...not a stockbroker.
LOL...shipping stuff is very expensive to Europe.

 

[jasonc]

I am an electrician...not a stockbroker.
LOL...shipping stuff is very expensive to Europe.

Well a window motor isn't big.you could break it into two pieces and use zip lock bags, realistically you could use a golf cart battery or motor cycle battery with a switch and fuse and or a relay. They could just assemble all the parts back together as you explain them.I have used a toy electronic board for this and PowerPoint to explain dc circuits ,series and parrelel.diodes,switches ,leds,and resistors,zener diodes as well.

 

[JohnDB]

Well a window motor isn't big.you could break it into two pieces and use zip lock bags, realistically you could use a golf cart battery or motor cycle battery with a switch and fuse and or a relay. They could just assemble all the parts back together as you explain them.I have used a toy electronic board for this and PowerPoint to explain dc circuits ,series and parrelel.diodes,switches ,leds,and resistors,zener diodes as well.

OH...yeah...actually I thought about making a simple three phase motor/generator and a variable frequency drive to go with it so I can demonstrate the effect of frequency upon motors...but again thats kinda beyond the children's understanding.(at least that is what my wife says) BUT...I was looking for a motor that the kids could actually build and take home to their parents of what they learned in English that day. That way its hands on for the kids and they get a great lesson in it all.

I feel like drinking a slug of wine.

But an Idea did come to me just now...
They have a lot of wine and beer in Europe...
And with wine comes corks...
and the kids have pencils....

with some washers and some paperclips and some cardboard and glue...I think that I can make something happen...
gonna have to try this out here.

the big question is three or four corks in my mind now...

 

[jasonc]

OH...yeah...actually I thought about making a simple three phase motor/generator and a variable frequency drive to go with it so I can demonstrate the effect of frequency upon motors...but again thats kinda beyond the children's understanding.(at least that is what my wife says) BUT...I was looking for a motor that the kids could actually build and take home to their parents of what they learned in English that day. That way its hands on for the kids and they get a great lesson in it all.

I feel like drinking a slug of wine.

But an Idea did come to me just now...
They have a lot of wine and beer in Europe...
And with wine comes corks...
and the kids have pencils....

with some washers and some paperclips and some cardboard and glue...I think that I can make something happen...
gonna have to try this out here.

the big question is three or four corks in my mind now...

They sell kits.it has motors in it and explanation. Use dc.stop thinking in ac.that gets the idea.you used the terms of yours which in automotive world ,a stator and rotor is only for the alternator.the commutator,and stator is more common in a motor.even though the y are basically the same thing.

 

[Radagast]

I was thinking that the kids could conceivably make a real model motor.

Fantastic idea! The kids will love that!

The simple coil with the end wires stripped bare on two paperclips probably is going to be too fragile for these kids to manage.

Why? Doesn't that work with most kids?

Probably soda cans are out.....aluminum is an American metal.

Huh? Wan't the metal first produced in Europe (Denmark)? Perhaps you're confused by the fact that the rest of the world calls it aluminium. To the best of my knowledge, Slovakia exports millions of aluminium soda cans to other countries, from e.g. this plant.