Custom Motor

Step 1

Starting with an idea, I did hand calculations and did magnetic simulations in FEMM for a custom motor design. The goal was continuous torque >= 1 Nm

Step 3

I had my design cut from silicon steel, but this cutting job was far from perfect.

Step 2

Post processing and bonding the laminations presented some unique challenges, such as bonding the stack, deburring the laminations, and insulating the layers.

Step 4

I felt in my element machining out the parts needed for the motor. I turned both the housing and the rotor on a manual lathe, and then use jigging and adhesives to apply the magnets.

Step 5

Winding the motor was by far the most tedious part of the process, not helped by often having to rewind after the motor shorted.

The results:

To finish the design, I 3D printed some endcaps and installed some bearings. After re-winding the motor once I successfully got the motor spinning! Testing and validation is currently ongoing.