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Showing posts with label DIY. Show all posts
Showing posts with label DIY. Show all posts

Saturday, 31 August 2013

How to make a Generator at Home ???


Lesson to put electricity to work. Just a simple wind powered generator you can make with spare wire from an electric motor. This is  intended this to be just a prototype for a much larger unit you would like to build. The magnet rotor is separate for the coils to make repairs or upgrades easier. This unit is not intended for high speed winds. When you pass a magnet by a wire it should generate electricity. That is what we are going to try to prove here. Furthermore we can use wind energy to do all the work.

You Will Need :

  • 12 small round magnets
  • 6 beefy diodes
  • 1/2 inch pvc pipe
  • Lots of magnet or motor wire
  • Poster board
  • Glue
  • Tape
  • Jig to wrap coils

Tools:

  • Cheap Dollar store magnetic compass.
  • Voltmeter
  • A diagram of the generator to be made.
  • Drawing Compass
  • Plastic knife
  • 12 inch ruler

Process :

Each student is to take the materials and then put together a wind generator. They will need to use a bit of geometry to make the plates. By testing the coils with a compass they can see how magnetism works.  They will also see the force of wind can be put to work. They will get some experience at putting a project together as an engineer might do with a prototype. Lastly see the unit they have built create electricity. For younger students the soil and magnet platform could be pre-made.


Each coil is about 1 1/2 inches, so I need a circle at least 12 *1 1/2 round or 18 inches.
You can not easily draw a circle of 18 inches.
Circumference is 2 Pi r or the radius is 18 / ( 2 * 3.14) or about 3 inches.
You can draw a circle with a compass set at 3 inches.
Now to place the magnets and coils we need to know where to place them.
A circle = 360 degrees. 360 degrees / 12 magnets = 30 degrees per magnet.
You will need to draw 6 diameters to get the points where to place them.

Now make a second board the same way.


I recommend only doing one or two at a time or you will never get the magnets to set. Drop a little glue on a couple of points on the board. Add a magnet so that the center of the magnet is on the circle or half way in or out of the circle so to speak (n-s n-s n-s etc order). Once you have those magnets glued down and dried, add the rest of the magnets a couple at a time till you get them all done.



Cut a half inch or so of 1/2 inch pvc pipe. insert that into the wiring jig, bend the end of the wire that you will hold on to till the wire is wrapped. Caution: you must wrap all the coils in the same direction or your generator either will not work or perform not at it's best.  Place the coils with the wire all going in the same direction around the circle like you did the magnets.
Note: you can add a battery to the coll and see how the compass reacts to the coil make sure all the coils are in the same direction.  You may have to scrape off of the enameled ends to get a good contact with the battery.
Secure the coils to the base.






We will have 3 sets of wire for 3 phase or three outputs from 4 coils each. by doing this the power pulses will be segregated and the power output will be more even. Three of the lines will be tied (soldered) together and the opposite lines will go into the diode

Though the signal should all be dc, you could add a bridge to make sure. You also need to regulate the voltage, especially if you are recharging a battery. .

coils > diodes > voltage regulator > fuse and switch > item to be powered

We sill use 4 cups made of Styrofoam to keep the weight down.  You will want to cut a window on one side of the cup. Do not cut all the way to the bottom or all the way to the top. That way they will be easier to attach and have a totally stronger frame.

Note You could add a second level with 4 more cups at a 45 degree angle from the lower level cups.



Glue the two cup levels together making sure the long bolt will fit thought them easily.First level and second level should be if forty-five degree off so the wind will catch all the cups at different times.  Let dry.
Put the long bolt through the unit and attach to the frame.

How to make hot ice..

All you need are two common kitchen ingredients to make hot ice - a non-toxic chemical that crystallizes when you touch it into a material that looks like ice except it gives off heat. See how to make hot ice and get ideas for fun hot ice activities.


You Will Need :

  • White Vinegar
  • Backing Soda

Process :

          Mix one liter of vinegar with 4 tablespoons of baking soda. These chemicals react to form nontoxic sodium acetate or hot ice in water. You need to boil off most of the water, so heat the solution until it is boiling and keep applying low heat until you see a crystal skin start to form on the surface of the liquid. Remove the hot ice solution from heat, pour it into a new container and refrigerate the solution until it is chilled.

          When the hot ice has cooled, you can get it to instantly crystallize simply by touching it. You can try crystallizing the hot ice as you pour it, too. Either way, the solution will give off heat as it crystallizes.

          You can re-dissolve and reheat the hot ice to play with it again or you can throw it away when you are finished. 

          I hope you've enjoyed making hot ice.

How to make a Small Wind Powered Generator at home ?


In this i will show you how to make a wind generator that produces electricity! I will only walk you through making the generator but it is up to you to figure out what you want to do with the electricity it produces! i havent gotten that far yet but i am planning on making a charge circuit so follow me if you want to see the outcome of that in the near future :) ok lets get started. first off id like to say that The amount of electricty it generates depends on what kind of steper motor you used.

Types :

  • Horizontal Wings
  • Vertical Wings

Horizontal Wings :

You Will Need :

  • Soldering Iron
  • Wire Strippers
  • Empty Bottles (2 liter)
  • Bottle Caps
  • Magic Joining Gum
  • Super Glue
  • Thin Light Pieces of Metal
  • Stepper Motor

Process :

In this part you will be making the wind catchers, its the part that catches the wind and turns the motor. first cut the tops off 8 pop bottles like so. I cut where the lable ended and i later painted them red (that part is optional). once you have 8 all cut off move on to the next step.


I like to call this part the coupler because to connects two pop bottle tops, alls you do is simple use magic joining gum to combine pop bottle caps together. combine two caps back by back like this, in the end you will have four pop bottle couplers. for added security i wrapped electrical tape around each set.




This step is fairly easy all you do is make an X shape using two pieces of thin light metal (about a foot and a half long  and one inch wide) then after that part is done you secure the couplers at the end using epoxy. I havent figured out what to call this piece so for now the "fan part" will have to do. let the epoxy harden then move on. 




This step is very easy, alls you do is screw the pop bottle tops into the couplers. 


After the "fan part" is completed you have to attach the stepper motor to it. what i did was i combined the two using magic joining gum and secured the edges with hot glue. 


After the stepper motor is attached you have to make a stand for it. the way you make your stand is based on how your motor works, i had to make mine in a weird way due to the way the motor works but the stand is fairly easy, i used a piece of wood (close to a 2x4) and a rectangle piece of wood as the base. after the stand is done you have to attach the fan part with the motor to the stand, to do that you simply use epoxy to combine the two. as i said my motor is weird so i had to add a piece of wood and drill a hole through it and let the motor rest through there and i used epoxy to secure it. after all that is done and all the magic joining gum has set go out on a windy day and test the output with a multimeter, I would recommend testing your motor before you start this just to get an idea of how much power it outputs. 


This is as far as i will take you, it is up to you to figure out what you want to power with the electricity. I will be making a circuit for it real soon so if you would like to see that just follow me other than that the wind generator is complete! :) please vote for me if you liked this project i would really appreciate it :) also i will be adding small solar powered motors to help spin the generator but again that will happen in the near future so subscribe to see that add on aswell. please if you have any questions or comments just post them or message me.

Friday, 30 August 2013

How to make a Cheapy Lighter Laser Burner ???


Here is the world's first BIC style laser lighter! Butane is outdated. Time to use blue burning lasers!

WARNING: This kind of laser can cause permanent damage to eyesight in less than a second. NEVER look into the beam or reflection of ANY laser including this one.



You Will Need :


  • BIC lighter (Non Electric)
  • Blue Laser diode and mini-housing
  • Mini-driver circuit
  • 1.5V button cell batteries
  • Mini Momentary switch
  • 4 to 4.3 ohm resistor
  • Small magnets
  • Assorted wire

Tools :

  • Dremel cutoff wheel and small Grinding Stone or a similar tool.
  • Needle nose pliers, small screwdrivers, snips, X-acto knife.
  • A small pin or paper clip
  • Soldering iron and solder
  • Heatshrink tubing
  • Small drill bits
  • Multi-meter

Process :

Disclaimer for those that don't know lighters are 'dangerous': Lighters contain butane, a flammable liquid that can catch fire, explode, burn you or your cat. And, lasers are also dangerous. Don't ever point any laser at yourself or any living thing.

Remove the flint wheel by prying it out at the edges. DO NOT BREAK THE BRACKETS. Once you release it a spring and flint (and other small stuff) will pop out and fly across the room. Go get them. Keep the flint wheel. Remove the shiny shield by prying it out at the edges. DO NOT BREAK THE BRACKETS. Keep it. Flip the lighter over and take it to a safe place. Putting on safety glasses never hurts. Stick a small pin or paper clip in the hole and it should contact the metal valve in the base of the lighter. Gently tap it with something to release the butane. You may need to tip it over to make sure all the butane is gone. You should hear something small rattling inside. That's the valve. Remove the red button that releases the butane. Keep it.



The entire inside of the lighter needs to be gutted out. There are probably many ways this could be done but I found the best is as follows:

Using a Dremel cutting wheel, make two small slits in the white cover on the bottom of the lighter. Careful not to nick up or cut the housing or it will look crappy. Use snips, pliers, X-Acto or whatever you need to remove most of the plastic on the white cover. (The cover is sonically welded to the housing so it cannot just be pulled out.). Use a sanding tool or dremel attachment to completely remove all of the white base from the housing. This is time consuming if you want to do it right. Remove all of the inside of the housing as far into the lighter as you can to make room for the mini-diode housing. This is a painstaking process and you may have to resort to burning the plastic away with your soldering iron. Don't inhale the smoke or get it in our eyes. Burning plastic is no fun.


There are two main holes at the top of the lighter. 

One is the where the red button you removed earlier makes contact with a valve to release the butane and on the other side where the flame exits. 

Both of these holes need to be drilled out to accommodate the switch and the mini-diode housing. Use drill bits and CAREFULLY drill the holes out. (A small bit will be needed to drill out the little valve.) Don't worry about the center area where there is another hole. Stay away from the brackets in the middle because you will need those to reattach the red button later.



NOTE: This requires an experienced solderer and a real good soldering iron with small tip

Wire the driver according to the following picture. The second picture is the flip side of the driver.
Be sure to add the resistor and the switch as show in the the final wiring pic.

Using a multimeter set to check milliamps, put the leads between the end of the resistor and the diode. Power it with no more than 3 volts and adjust the pot on the driver to no more than 170 mA. I used 2 button cells, taped together on the sides, harvested from an Energizer 12V 123 battery I also used two small magnets to attach the (+) positive and (-) negative leads from driver.




After confirming that everything is wired correctly, it's time to put everything inside the lighter housing. The diode goes on the former flame side and the switch is pushed in to the side where the red button switch was (See the next step for details). I used hot glue to secure the switch and diode after lining up the diode so the beam cleared all areas of the housing.


Cut the original red button in half leaving just the two small tabs that are secured in the housing holes.
You will have to play around with the exact height of the switch in relation to to the red button. Re attach the flame shield. After I shot the video I found a small rubber stopper and cut it in half, then pushed it inside the base of the lighter to make sure the driver and batteries stayed put. .


Your Cheapy Laser Lighter Burner is complete!


Use responsibly! Lasers of all types should never be pointed at your self or any living thing. This kind of laser can cause permanent damage to eyesight in less than a second. NEVER look into the beam or reflection of ANY laser including this one.