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How to Build a Universal AC Motor

You can build a simple AC motor using $10 worth of supplies from a hardware store or electronics outlet. Your motor will be universal in that, while technically AC in design, it's also capable of running on DC power. Your motor is technically AC because its stator, or the stationary part of the motor, is an electromagnet rather than a permanent magnet. The motor is also outfitted with permanent magnets that allow the motor to run on DC current.

Things You'll Need

Plastic cup
Clothespin
2 paperclips
1 spool copper magnet wire
Alligator clips
9-volt battery
Rubber bands
2 permanent ceramic disc magnets
Glue

Instructions

- 1
  Cut a 12-foot length of copper magnet wire from your spool. Shape this length of wire into a "box" with tips of wire pointing outward to the left and right to serve as electrodes. Do this by making a sharp bend in the wire approximately three inches from one end, then wrapping the wire around a square object, such as your 9-volt battery, until you have a perfectly square box-shaped loop with two 3-inch poles.
- 2
  Remove the wire spring from your clothespin and separate the two halves. Place these halves on either side of the plastic cup so that they stick up like goal posts, and snap the rubber bands around the cup to hold the halves in place. Glue the ceramic disc magnets to the insides of the clothespin halves so that they point inwards toward the center of the cup.
- 3
  Unbend the ends of each paperclip so that they point downwards, forming two metal "ears." Insert the unbent ends of the clips into the rubber bands around the cup so that the clips are facing each other across the center of the cup. A line between the paperclips should be perpendicular to a line between the clothespin halves.
- 4
  Insert the box-shaped wire piece into the paperclips so that the three-inch protrusions on either end rest inside of the paperclips. Attach one end of each alligator clip to the unbent ends of the paperclips, and contact the other end of the wires to the terminals on the battery. The wire piece in the center should spin when power is supplied by the 9-volt battery.

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