Mendocino Solar Motor Kit Assembly Guide

Kit Contents

• 1x Acrylic base plate
• 2x Acrylic bearing magnet holder
• 1x Acrylic end-stop
• 1x Acrylic end-stop spacer
• 1x Rotor barrel with 6 solar panels
• 12x Ring magnet
• 1x Stator magnet (20 mm diameter)
• 1x Shaft (12 cm)
• 2x 25 mm M3 screws
• 2x M3 nuts

Additional Material and Tools (not included)

• Transparent adhesive tape
• Liquid super glue
• Small Phillips screwdriver

Assembly Steps

1. Step 1

   Carefully stick the flat side of 1 ring magnet on the large stator magnet. Mark the opposite side of the stator magnet with a bit of transparent adhesive tape (or a pencil). Separate the two magnets and put the stator magnet at a safe distance so it won't interfere with the other magnets.

2. Step 2

   Remove the protective film from all the acrylic parts, including the film on the hexagonal sides of the rotor barrel. You should be able to see through the barrel. Also remove the protective film from the solar panels.

3. Step 3

   Divide the 12 ring magnets in 6 stacks of 2 magnets on top of each other. Place a magnet stack in each hole (4 in total) of the bearing magnet holders with the chamfered side up. The magnet stacks must all be oriented in the same way. The 2 remaining magnet stacks will be mounted on the shaft in Step 8; put them aside for now.

   Note: Be careful with the ring magnets. They may break if they fly out of your hand and hit the large magnet or another magnetic object.

4. Step 4

   Carefully glue the ring magnet stacks to the bearing supports with liquid super glue. Make sure not to glue everything to your bench or fingers.

   Note: Many glues can be dissolved with acetone. The acrylic support is insensitive to acetone so gluing mistakes can be corrected up to some level.

5. Step 5

   Use the 2 screws and 2 nuts to mount the acrylic end-stop separated by the spacer on one of the bearing assemblies on the side where the magnets are not chamfered. Tighten well without breaking anything.

6. Step 6

   Stick the 2 bearing assemblies in the base plate. The end-stop should be on the outside. The chamfered side of the magnets in the bearing supports must face each other. The bearing assemblies should repel each other.

7. Step 7

   Carefully stick the shaft through the rotor barrel without breaking any of the wires inside. The barrel needs to be somewhere in the middle of the shaft, but its position will be adjusted later (Step 10).

8. Step 8

   Thicken up the shaft ends with some transparent adhesive tape. Slide a magnet stack on each end of the shaft. Sliding must not be easy. If it is too easy, add some more adhesive tape. The magnets on the shaft must be oriented in the same way as the magnets in the bearing assemblies, i.e., the chamfered sides must face each other.

9. Step 9

   Carefully place the rotor assembly on the bearings. Let the magnetic field guide you. The pointed end of the shaft should touch the end-stop. Adjust the position of the shaft magnets so that the rotor assembly slightly pushes against the end-stop. This means that the magnets must be slightly misaligned with the magnets below them. The magnets at the end-stop side must be a bit closer to the end-stop than the magnets below it. The same is true for the magnets on the other end of the shaft.

10. Step 10

    When the rotor assembly levitates, adjust its horizontal level by sliding the rotor barrel left or right. The barrel should be centered above the large hole in the base plate.

11. Step 11

    Remove the rotor assembly. Insert the stator magnet in the hole in the base plate with its marked side down (see Step 1). The side facing upwards should repel both bearing assemblies. Carefully replace the rotor on its magnetic bearing. This is now a little bit more difficult as the stator magnet interacts with the other magnets.

12. Step 12

    When everything is in place, the motor is ready to spin. This works best in bright sunlight, but with a strong lamp it should work too. Kickstart the motor by carefully giving it a spin manually. If all is well, the motor continues spinning.

    Adjust the position of the rotor barrel if the rotor wobbles too much.

13. Step 13

    When you are satisfied with the way the rotor levitates and spins, you can glue the rotor magnets and the barrel to the shaft so they will stay in place. Also glue the bearing assemblies to the baseplate.

Well Done!

Enjoy your Mendocino solar motor.

Web Links

• Article: www.elektormagazine.com/news/assembling-the-mendocino-motor-kit
• Video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJ9VtTjN_vs