Electric "Engine" Build

[IronHorse]

Usually I don't do much machining in the summer, but their was a lot of cold and rainy days this summer. So I did manage to build one engine. I saw this MESCO motor somewhere, maybe this site, and I thought it was an interesting design. The single lever controls both direction and speed. Later I found the patent for the original design. I scaled the diagram up to size on a photocopier and took all measurements from that.

MESCO Motor

The Patent

Here is a early mock-up, I could of milled the whole frame out of one chunk but my wife hates that! :-X(noise) So I hacked it out from some 1/4" Ali plate.

Testing and working out the bugs.

In this picture you can see the cam and 2 "brushes". I used some brass for the first ones, but they wore away after a while. The new ones where made from some 0.010" freeler gauge material (Stainless?)

All polished-up and painted, ready for assembly. I used some VHT Caliper Enamel, It is very hard and resistant to most nasty motor stuff.

The finished motor.

And of course the Video, I found out after I filmed this, it will self-reverse if I crank up the voltage a bit.


IronHorse

 

[cfellows]

Great Build! I love these old electric engine designs. What kind of voltage are you powering it with?

Chuck

 

[IronHorse]

I am running 10-12v at 2 Amps. I think I will re-wind the coils with some thinner wire. The original MESCO ran off 1.5v


IronHorse

 

[zeeprogrammer]

Very nice! Beautiful polish. Thanks for the post.
(I'd self reverse too if my voltage got cranked up. ;D)

 

[black85vette]

I did an electric in a scotch yoke configuration using solenoids. Was also thinking about doing one as a beam configuration with two solenoids.

Mine was not a model of a real device like yours and no where near as nice of finish as yours has. Nice job!

 

[BobWarfield]

That's very cool!

I hadn't seen one of these solenoid sorta engines before.

Best,

BW

 

[ttrikalin]

beautiful motor. First one i've ever seen.

 

[rcplanebuilder]

Wait til my son see this.... You'll have a new best friend. .... 8)

 

[Russel]

Wow, that is gorgeous! I love the black and gold! The flywheel looks great. Did you sandblast the spokes?

Russ

 

[firebird]

Hi

I really like that. I built one some years ago when I was messing around winding my own coils. Not a good as yours though.

http://www.homemodelenginemachinist.com/index.php?topic=1824.0

Cheers

Rich

 

[gbritnell]

Very nicely done. The finish on it sure makes it stand out.
gbritnell

 

[Deanofid]

That's very nice! A pretty motor, and quiet too.
Good job, and looks like an interesting project.
What voltage is used? Do you know the minimum voltage it will run on?

Dean

 

[Bluechip]

There appear to be some (original) motors on this site.

Look a fair bit more 'used' than the example here

http://www.patented-antiques.com/Backpages/Office/motors.htm

Dave BC

 

[Powder keg]

Great job!!! Thanks for sharing. I've been interested in making one of those.

Wes