Solar Powered Electric Motor

myminifactory

This motor won't win any prizes for speed, torque or efficiency - okay, maybe efficiency since it's solar powered - but it is an interesting project. A video of the prototype can be seen at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WQwBnIcQEs. Using electronics from a dollar store animated solar powered "devil" purchased for $1, 8 neodymium magnets measuring 12mm by 3mm acquired at a local hardware store and also available online, and a sewing needle with dimensions of 65mm by 1.6mm called a "yarn darner", this motor will operate as long as the light is shining, which makes printing it using glow-in-the-dark filament probably unnecessary. This motor was designed in Sketchup 8, the free version, and printed on a Makerbot Replicator 2 in PLA with Makerware 2.3.3.42 "Standard" settings. I drew inspiration from my dad who's no longer with us - we built non-solar versions of motors like this when I was much younger - as well as lidmotor (youtube) and magnetman2010 (youtube).