Awesome Motors

LEGO machine builder Dr. Engine wanted to see how fast he could spin a Minifigure, so he rigged up multiple Technic motors and gears with a goal of spinning the little guy at up to 10,000 RPM. If Minifigs could lose their LEGO lunch, this here would do it.

A hovercraft might sound like a complicated piece of equipment to build from scratch, but Project Air shows us how it’s possible to build one at home using wood, foam board, a plastic tarp, and duct tape. The key to the build is the powerful lift motors. He also had some help from his dad and fellow maker Matt from DIY Perks.

Rapidly spinning objects can result in some cool, Spirograph-like patterns. LEGO mechanical builder Yoshihito Isogawa shows how different arrangements of LEGO Technic gears create different geometric patterns when spun in front of a camera’s lens. It would be interesting to see some larger and more complicated designs.

A Roomba has a top speed of about 1.1 mph. Electrosync knew he could do better. After cleaning out the dirt and dust from a Roomba’s vacuuming duties, gutted the robotic vacuum and installed two high-performance RC car motors. The two-wheeler can spin incredibly quickly, but how fast is it in a straight line?

A 32-piece orchestra needs need a pretty big stage for all of those musicians and their instruments. Jonathan Kayne has solved this problem by replacing those pesky humans with stepper motors. The members of his band never talk back, and they play everything from All-Star to Piano Man to The Mandalorian theme.

The motors used in electric-powered bicycles are usually pretty heavy. Engineer Tom Stanton wanted to see if it would be possible to rig up a tiny but strong 1kW motor from a drone to propel a bike. The trick was creating a series of gears and belts to reduce the motor’s high rotational speed while increasing its torque.

Today’s most satisfying video comes in the form of this clip from the Brick Experiment Channel. Their goal? Create the longest possible chain of 1×1 LEGO Technic gears while retaining the same gear ratio from start to finish. We’re impressed that a single motor can drive that many gears.

Supercapacitors have one big advantage over batteries – they charge much faster. But they also discharge energy more quickly, limiting operating range. This makes them suboptimal for EVs. Engineer Tom Stanton built a supercapacitor pack and drive unit for an E-bike to see just how it stacks up to battery power.

Maker Ivan Miranda lives in a beautiful place in Spain. But he hates when it rains there, and he doesn’t like carrying an umbrella. So he set about the task of engineering a motorized helmet that uses a powerful motor and a turbine to blow the rain away from his body. And yes, it works in real rain.

The PacMotor lets you enjoy kayaking without physical exertion. Its adjustable frame attaches to the rear of most kayaks, propelling a 7.5-foot kayak up to 6 mph. Its two motors steer with a waterproof remote joystick controller, and its props can be lifted out of the water when you want to paddle, or when getting close to land.

LEGO builder Mad Brick created a working replica of the block, crankshaft, and pistons of a V12 engine. Then he lubed it up and connected the engine to a powerful motor, which spun up to as much as 40,000 RPM. It worked great until the pistons started flying.

It doesn’t take too much to create a vortex in a bucket of water, but it’s still fun to see how just a couple of Technic motors and a few gears can be cobbled together can produce this popular physics demo. Those minifigs got to go for quite the ride when Brick Experiment Channel cranked things up to 11.

While we’re perplexed by Liberman’s musical selections, we are impressed with what he was able to construct on his workbench. Watch as he puts together a working model of a helicopter rotor from plywood, rulers, popsicle sticks, and off-the-shelf hardware. We love how it even can adjust the angle of its blades.

The What’s Inside? channel presents one of its more costly videos, as they rip apart open one of the powerful drive motors from a Tesla Model S to see all of the gears, goo, and other goodies inside. This particular rear motor dates back to 2012, and was purchased off of eBay.

Physicsfun presents a brief demonstration of one of the more interesting motors we’ve seen – the Mendocino motor uses magnets and a solar energy source to levitate as it spins. You can pick up a similar version for your own desk over on Amazon.

AmazingDIYProjects spent countless hours building this crazy loud electric flying contraption using dozens of drone motors. He captured footage of the marvelous machine’s maiden manned flight. Second flight starts at 15:30, and POV footage at 22:30. (Thanks Rob!)

Applied Science takes a look at an intriguing bit of tech that uses piezoelectric waves to move objects. This allows for low-profile, hubless, magnet-free motors and theoretically could create motors which aren’t round. The motor shown in the demo is from PCBMotors.