# Mendocino Motor - The Build Continues



## George_Race (Jun 26, 2012)

Here is the latest update on my Mendocino Motor exploration. I though it would be better to start a new thread rather than continue with the old one that is over 4 pages long. 

You probably remember the "Pink Foam" armature from the previous posts. This is the continuing story of my build from that point on.

First a reminder of what the Pink Foam armature core looked like, in comparison to the new Nylon core I am now working with. I initially cut the nylon to size on my circular table saw. I also took the 45 degree corner cuts and the slot for the windings on the table saw as well. Just set the blade to 45 degrees and used the fence to make all the same. Seemed to work out really well.






There were a lot of things wrong with using the foam. The only good thing is that it was very light weight. I looked at several different materials and ended up choosing Nylon as it is available at a reasonable cost, and is really easy to cut and machine.

Here is a picture of my milling setup for the nylon block.





Another picture of the milling in progress.





The next process was to hold the milled nylon block in my 4 jaw chuck. Only takes a couple of minutes to get it all centered up really well. Then turn off the end, just to smooth it out. Next use a center to start the shaft hole. Using a #63 drill, I then drilled the hole that was to be threaded. Turned the block around and did the same on the other end. The holes actually met in the middle of the block!

As I adjusted the Solar Cell opening size to make it a tighter fit, here is a pictures of one of the cells setting in it's new home to be in a day or two.





I also cut the center deeper opening in all four sides to 0.5 inches deep. Took a lot of weight out of the block. Still need to drill the thru holes for wiring as well as end holes to run the wire into the recessed wiring area.

One of the problems with the Pink Foam block was holding the brass shaft securely in place in the foam. With the new nylon block, I simply threaded both sides of the block, then threaded the 0.125 brass rod with a 6-32 thread. Here is a pictures of the threading process using my mini lathe to turn the material in the die.





I made different length of rod for each end, rounding the one that floats in air and grinding a point on the opposite end rod. I only threaded the nylon about 0.5 inches in. My threaded portions were longer so they "self thread" after the first one half inch or so. Here is a picture of the 6 shafts ready to be threaded in to the nylon blocks.





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As I did not want to rough up the brass rod, I use a small Jacob Chuck to hold the shaft and was able to easily hand screw the shaft's into place.





Here are three finished with the shafts in place.





Next step was to slip on the magnets and the holding rings and check rotation and levitation. I did need to go back to the narrower spacing of the two sets of holding magnets on the base, due to the extra weight of the nylon armature core. I may need to made another adjustment of their spacing, after the windings and solar cells are in place.
Here is how they look after testing them on the base.





And here is how the nylon core looks when levitation over the base stand.





The overall balance of just the nylon core is very good. When spun they will rotate for quite a long time. it is evident that there is a small amount of unbalance in the rotation, but it is very slight. I will deal with balancing after the wiring and solar cells are in place.

Next step will be to wind the 150 turns of wire in each coil, add the solar cells, balance, and sit back and enjoy the finished project. Sounds easy, but there are a lot of steps yet to do as I work toward completion of the project. More information as I get further in the process.


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## Don1966 (Jun 26, 2012)

George I have a motor that I had purchased. The motor was made from plexiglass panel .125 thick by making a square panel for both ends and passing a shaft through both. What they did was drill and tap holes in the edge of each plexiglass panel and photcell to secure them with. The photocells are the horizontal structures and the plexiglass are the end caps. The grove for the windings were cut on each corner then the windings wound onto it. Just though I would give you some info, please do not take this wrong. by the way you have done a superb job on the motor.

Best regards Don


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## rustyknife (Jul 2, 2012)

My first failed attempt was foam also haha. I had a second failed attempt as well, which was alot cooler looking. Third worked great, finished it back in January or so....I'm finally about ready to make another....I've been cutting out a few of the pieces


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## ericjsg (Jan 21, 2013)

George, I'm new here, I'm doing mendocino motor to faculty, I'm having problem with the base. Do you have drawing of base on AutoCad? you can sent to me, please?
My email, [email protected]


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## d-m (Jan 22, 2013)

Keep the up dates coming plz I have been playing with carbon fiber sheet and epoxying them into a box not real happy with the end product. I like the nylon wish I had thought of it lol. 
Dave


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## ericjsg (Jan 28, 2013)

Someone know how calculate the coil of mendocino motor
I'd like know the formula


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## canadianhorsepower (Jan 28, 2013)

ericjsg said:


> Someone know how calculate the coil of mendocino motor
> I'd like know the formula


go here and enjoy

http://www.chessplayingrobot.com/id4.html


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## ericjsg (Jan 28, 2013)

thank my friend


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## steli (Feb 7, 2013)

Hi everyone


  I want to built a mendocino engine (ideal ll be to work in low light) and I want to buy 4 solar cells (with soldering points ) 10*3 cm 4v/ 65 ma (want the engine to be a little bigger)
 I don t know what magnets to buy I found ring magnet ::
outer diameter,hole thickness::all in mm
15/5/5 or 20/5/5 or 20/5/10 or 15/5/ 10 (neodim magnets)
Bigger magnets are stronger but more expensive .I heard with stronger magnets the rotor stay higher suspended (look more cool )
Don t know if size that i told is much different in strength ,believe the  rotor will not be so heavy.
  Because of the length of the rotor coils 10 cm need a big magnet for stator that is very expensive ,I want to use instead 3 ring magnets identical with rotor magnets IS IT OK ??
for building the rotor i want to use lime wood, hope to be ok 
If is heavy try to make some hols
i ll appreciate every comment ,help ,suggestion and thanks for reading


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## aarggh (Feb 7, 2013)

Looking forward to seeing how you go with this George, Mendocino motors are pretty cool!

cheers, Ian


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