This looks like a little steam engine but it actually uses a solenoid
and it runs on electricity A solenoid is just
a coil of wire that forms an electro-magnet,
and when it's energized, it pulls an iron core into it.
I think I'll use this one, because it looks the most
like an engine, and it also uses the least amount of power.
This one's got quite a long range of motion,
which means I can use a fairly large crank,
and this thing on here could be, like a connecting rod
except it's much too short, so I'll make a new connecting rod
out of this piece of metal.
Pry that e-clip off without losing it.
Now I think I want about 17 millimeters worth of crank throw
because that makes the best use of the range
where the solenoid actually pulls.
And, I'll make that crank out of some coat hanger wire.
So, I just bent this shape, now I need to bend it
straight on either side to get a crank of eight and a
half millimeters of throw, this much, so not
very much at all, so I'll just try to
free-hand, eyeball this, see if that works.
Just need to straighten that out a bit.
It's got about the right amount of throw to it.
Starting to look kind of straight.
There's always a burr on the other side that I
need to get rid of.
I still need some sort of cam shaft for activating when to
energize the solenoid, and for that I think I might use
the inside of this barrier stroke connector thingie.
This thing already looks like it could be a cam,
I just need to round it off a little bit.
I need some main bearings for the crank shaft,
and I'll make them out of this little piece of lignum vitae.
I also need a flywheel for this engine, and I'll make that
out of this piece of wood.
Now, because of this flywheel, I need to mount the shaft
a fair bit above the board, and I made these blocks
to hold the bearing blocks, except I made them too short,
which means now I need to dig out a bit of a hole
for the flywheel to dip into the base.
That should give me enough
room for everything.
Now, I've just screwed on this solenoid,
and I polished my crank shaft, and the next thing I need
is some spacers to go in here to keep that from sliding
side to side.
Now, I just need some electrical contacts
to activate off the cam here.
This copper wire rides on the cam and moves
up and down, and this one will contact the other wire
when it's in the upper position to close the circuit and
activate the solenoid.
So, I have to add this screw here, so I could have more force
on the contact, and still adjust the gap a little bit,
and now it's all done.
Really just for fun, because as an electric motor,
it's really not very practical.