Hi all, long time forum reader, first time poster.
I am sharing this info regarding my recent replication of a Newman Motor/Generator. I made a small table top model out of an old Advil PM bottle. The coil is 26awg enameled copper wire. I estimate about a half pound of wire was used in the coil, though I didn't count turns since I coiled it by hand. The axle is a (coated?) steel bolt. I used two ceramic disc magnets and two rectangular ceramic magnets in unison as my core magnet rotor. For a commutator I found using a taped section to inhibit current flow was far too problematic. Instead I used a paperclip bent into an arc which I attached to the axle. Once a rotation the paperclip contacts a wire brush which i ripped form an old extension cord, which completes the circut via sparks. I am using a 6v lantern battery as my power source. Negative terminal connected to coil, other end of coil connected to axle. Positive terminal of battery connected to wire brush, which contacts the paper clip commutator during rotation as stated above. Paper clip attached to axle.
It runs fairly well, and I've already blown a couple fuses trying to take readings with my multimeter. I've had it running non stop for about 2 hours now, from an initial charge of 5.8v and it's down to 5.6v. Granted, my coil is small, with very low ohmic resistance. I measured about 4 ohms in the coil. I've read that a much larger resistance is needed to induce the back flow to recharge the battery. On my next larger model I will attempt to wind a lot more wire into a more resistive coil.
I uploaded a video to metacafe which you can view at the link here as soon as it goes live. It takes some time for them to process the videos, but the file was too large to upload here.
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/756038/newman_motor_tabletop_generator/
It should be available for download on the metacafe site as well. Feel free to share it and post any questions/comments. Good luck in all of your experiments.
-Dissident
Hi Dissident,
Thanks for posting the video and comments. It has helped me get a better idea of how to build a Newman motor.
C