The Unofficial Mamod and Other Steam Forum

SillyBilly · Guest

Hello,
Having been totally disgusted at the prices of Mamod & Wilesco generators on eBay I've decided to experiment with building my own, using a motor as in reverse as a generator. I'm not keeping them, I'm building them for a friend & his friend as they make cheap tools for mamods. The raw materials and costs for a single generator and lamp setup should be as below:

Motor 3V 8,00rpm £0.95
Motor Mount £0.65
Mini Pulley 18mm dia £0.31
MES Batten Holder £0.45
Wooden Base £0.00
Total £2.36

Plus a pack of 5 MES 2.5V bulbs @ £1.45

All the prices are from the Squires 2008 Catalogue, which is a great read.

So can I do it?????

Steve_S · Posted: Wed Sep 26, 2007 6:22 pm Post subject:

I'm sure you can!

Question is, will that motor light that bulb?

IndianaRog · Posted: Wed Sep 26, 2007 7:18 pm Post subject:

Will...it is great fun to experiment and I applaud you for giving it a go. Three things will dictate your success however from my experience:

1) will the engine you plan to lash the generator up to provide enough torque and rpms to overcome the drag of the generator and produce the desired voltage and amperage

2) the voltage of the bulb you try to light

3) the amperage of the bulb you try to light

============

You have probably seen lots of discussion about those stepper motor generators that crank out some serious DC voltage/amperage. What you appear to be planning to use is the type of motor inside the little black meccano casings...a fine one for making a DC generator, but you will have to match the bulb and amperage of bulb to get the most out of it.

Put another way...you could have a 3V generator output feeding a 2.3 volt bult and get poor light...reason being that bulb might be rated to a higher amperage than the generator can deliver.

Honestly, the way I optimized my generator and light was to buy about 10 separate bulbs of various voltage/amperage combinations. Eventually I found the perfect one...but it was perfect for THAT generator. I'm sure someone more electrically savvy than me could take the tested output of your generator lashed to engine X...then determine what bulb will work best for it.

Off the top of my head...a small motor like that will probably work with a GE 352X bulb if you can find it.

BTW...a variable speed Dremel tool makes a great engine substitute to drive a pulley (use rotary metal brush)...easier to fire up the Dremel than the engine each time you want to make a test.

Good luck with it...look forward to your reports.

cheers,
Rog
_________________
Visit IndianaRog and The Temple of Steam: www.indianarog.com

rangerssteamtoys · Posted: Wed Sep 26, 2007 9:11 pm Post subject:

Sounds like a good project, the meccano generator that I use for a generator has nearly no load and lights up a good 2.2 dc light

seen here in this video, its a bit older video so dont get confused with the old fleschimann boiler as a condenser.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=v1846wCWiFw&mode=user&search=
_________________
Best Regards, Ranger Moore

MooseMan · Posted: Wed Sep 26, 2007 9:49 pm Post subject:

SB, I did exactly the same thing, but used high intensity LEDs - it'll happily power three or four.
_________________
Stands the glass half empty,
Or stands the glass half full?
Blast your Buddhist mantra, man,
I'll take another pull.

oldstuff · Posted: Sat Sep 29, 2007 12:27 pm Post subject:

Sounds like a good project, SB. Looking forward to the updates!

_________________
-Chuck

Twin-cylinder, CSE-3

"Put that in your Dremel!"

steamyjim · Posted: Tue Oct 30, 2007 8:03 pm Post subject:

Any progress Will?
_________________
Land Of Hope and Glory,
Mother of the free,
How shall we extol thee?
Who are born of thee?

Andy · Posted: Tue Oct 30, 2007 8:18 pm Post subject:

lookin forword to the finshed product

SillyBilly · Guest

Well, I pu 'em together, and Rog was most definatley correct, because they don't make enough volts, so I'll have to wait till the begining of December, so I can get some more bulbs at Warley.

rangerssteamtoys · Posted: Tue Oct 30, 2007 9:28 pm Post subject:

SillyBilly · Guest

Yeh, sadly I'd placed the order when Rog suggested it!

IndianaRog · Posted: Tue Oct 30, 2007 11:26 pm Post subject:

Will...sorry it didn't work YET...but experiment with lower voltage/amperage bulbs and/or LED's and I'm certain you will hit on something that does work. Again...bulb I would recommend is a GE352X if you can find it...low voltage and low amperage requirements.

Don't give up!!!

Rog
_________________
Visit IndianaRog and The Temple of Steam: www.indianarog.com

H2o vapour · Junior Member Joined: 16 Feb 2007 Posts: 282

Hi,

A couple of points,

1) Keep going!!!

2) I have an interest in this subject and was thinking of getting a large model motor - Graupner 700 BB Turbo or a small car blower motor and try with that, see what happens

3) I was going to try, just to keep the experiment going, in stead of steaming all the time, use another small electric motor to test the rig you build, to guestimate the possibel outcome -

H20