Hey Matthias, Just wanted to say you're by far my favorite content creator of any sort. I've been watching your videos for years, and I leave them on in the background all the time while I'm working on something. Despite how long I've been watching your videos and how frequently I rewatch them, you're still the only person who's new content I consume without fail. Thanks for all the great videos!
brilliant Matthias, once again demonstrating why you're my most anticipated video every week. the use of the electrical connector as a cam was my favourite.
Matthias, you are very versatile, I am a professional of electricity and I really like wood, metal, stone, etc and everything related to craftsmanship, I am very happy every time I watch your videos, especially the quality of the image, the realization of the video and the cleaning of the environment in which you record. Thanks and waiting for the next one.
I had to chuckle when you say: "As an electric motor it is not very practical...," but I must say Matthias, as a learning tool for many of us, who may not be well versed in electrical devices, it is an excellent lesson and a fun project to follow, as you guide us through your assembly.
Greetings Matthias Wendel sir, i am so grateful for your channel. Your work gives me such courage to try to make things. This Electric reciprocating engine, is both beautiful and simple. I have slowly been preparing to create my first work bench. This engine I wish to try first. Blessings, pierre from New Mexico
My Father has a box full of projects like this from High school.They were intriguing as a boy.His were all hand wound magnets of different function.I was the only ten year old who knew how an electric motor worked.
I subscribe to 2 channels, yours and Jeremy Schmidt's. Building projects from stuff in my garage and an occasional trip to Lowe's is what life's all about! I cant get enough of the electrical connectors you make using bent wire!
Matthias. Lots of comments so you may not see this one. Excellent build!!! Would be fun to see and old flat leather belt running from the flywheel to something that needs spinning? Perhaps a miniature saw mill blade?
+Matthias Wandel Not to really cut wood (tiny logs). Just a display or model. Well, if it didn't really cut wood, you probably wouldn't want to build it - haha. Plus it would probably remind you of all the work you had to do at your Fathers sawmill.
Thanks for always presenting a broad and interesting range of subjects. Please consider making a scissor lift. Many makers have reduced capacity to lift and move heavy objects. Many might find such a project challenging and helpful around the shop. Thanks again.
We had to make one of these in my electricity class in High school.We had to make the coil,and all the parts,and the better it worked the higher the grade.I really enjoyed this project back then.
I've always loved solenoid motors :D! I've been meaning to build one for ages now from parts of an old harddrive, plus I have some hall sensors from an even older VCR :P
nightcoremixer1 Thank you. Well, if they're not into '70s music and they're addicted to the LATEST&NEWEST, last year Ciara made a nice cover of "Paint It, Black".
I loved this, thank you. I must make the wooden air enging I got plans for if I can find them after 3 computer changes. They are spread all over an external hard drive so it'll be a bit of a detective story. Best Wishes, Brendan.
Cool! I build one of these with a big solenoid from a copy machine and Meccano (Erector). After touching the "distributer wheel" once and felt pain I also installed a diode.
Got some solenoids from one old multifunctional printer. Now I know what to do with them. Thank you. Now I need to find some use for all the stepper motors. :D
So this is how woodworkers get into model enginebuilding eyh? Nice project! Would love to see a follow-up with something like a 5 solenoid radial engine. That should give a lot more oomph too! Thanks for sharing Mr Wandel!
Very nice work! I'm curious how long you are able to run this continuously? In my experience typical solenoids have overheating issues when they are rapid cycled like this.
The only real power losses on this engine except the obvious mechanical and resistive losses on the coil are induced currents in the rod and loss of magnetic energy when the switch opens. The first can be eliminated by using a ferrite rod instead of a metal rod and the second if you use a small electronic circuit to redirect the magnetic energy to the source (or store it to a capacitor until the next cycle). Resistive losses can be reduced by carefully timing the on and off time of the coil to have it active only the time that it does the most work. Mechanical losses can be reduced by using bearings. After all that the final motor will actually be very energy efficient.
Interrupting that coil like that must produce an unholy amount of back emf. A flyback diode might be a good idea. Great engine though, it's hypnotic like a steam engine.
A diode with a resistor in series (or a zener diode with a normal diode) will still collapse the magnetic field fast, yet they will reduce the back EMF to a predictable reasonable level. It will still dissipate the energy though. A little more complex circuit would be required to regenerate the energy.
I had an assignment once to build an electric motor. I tried to build a reciprocating solenoid engine, as well. The main difference between yours and mine is that yours works and mine failed unspectacularly due to half-assery on my part.
Very cool, I'd love to see you attempt some wooden kinetic sculpture, something weight driven. I've been experimenting with axles using skateboard wheel bearings and dowels, they spin nicely and are really inexpensive. The bearings from roller blade wheels are good too, and are smaller. Both the skateboard and roller blade bearings can be friction fit into your frame.
it would need to have another funktion. just turning is a little boring. we do built bells with electric magnets and diy bells from sheets of copper though. the solenoid engine would work as a bell... you could make it hit the bell when it is pulling the shaft in.
I made something similiar out of an old hard drive. I used the r/w head actuator as a solenoid and platter as a flywheel. It worked okay, but not nearly as well as yours due to the problems with triggering the solenoid.
The same reason it needs a flywheel to run. There's a part in the cycle that the "engine" has to coast through. If there isn't enough rotational energy in the flywheel for that, it won't get to the next turn.
Ya, since the motor only has one cylinder is relies on the momentum from the flywheel to keep it going, and needs an initial kick to get going each time. I also presume that this engine could likely run in reverse if the kick was applied in the opposite direction.
I'd like to suggest a collaboration with Cody of Cody's Lab. With your mechanical/woodworking skills and his chemical/explosives skills, you two could do some astounding things, I'm sure. Maybe a subterranean marble track, using his mine? Or... ?
From what I've read so far, I guess it stores kinetic/rotational energy by basically getting a big heavy wheel to rotate. Now imagine turning the engine off, the flywheel will continue to spin for a while, so it has a lot of stored energy. And I guess when running normally, that energy is also continuously used. Interesting!
Main purpose is to keep the thing moving after the solenoid turns off. When that happens there is no force on the cam but the solenoid must be pushed back in before it can fire again. In order to do that the heavy flywheel is there to keep the shaft turning so that it comes around for a new cycle. Pretty similar to why internal combustion engines use flywheels. The flywheel there stores the energy produced by the power stoke where the explosion happens and gives off the energy in the next cycle to compress the air mixture again so that it can be fired again.
Very Cool!!! I love all your creations and gadgets. I think it would be really awesome if you built a working steam engine, like with a hot plate or build it and place it on your stove to make steam. Just a thought.
Make a train and power it with the flywheel :) that would be an interesting series, making the track and points for your homemade locomotive. Great vid btw
Hi Matthias, Have you thought of building plans for a "tiny house". FYI, I think your combination of skills and practical minded point of view would make for a solid solution for many of us in the USA who are looking for a nice little home. Thank you for the channel--and best regards! Wil Machinist and longtime subscriber
Thanks, I found an old solenoid in a parking lot, and it's been collecting dust and I haven't found anything to do with it. Might make for a fun project.
Хобби
You should teach. Kids would love the way you explain stuff.
If I did that, I wouldn't have time to make videos, and you would have nothing to watch.
Matthias Wandel
You could just film the lessons. Make a neat TV show out of it, and have volunteers or staff edit the episodes down for youtube videos
Bob Y how to use a solenoid on a pocket hole jig
My 6 year old’s favorite channel ever since he was 3.
This would make a fantastic project for schools to create and learn how electric solenoids work.
Hey Matthias,
Just wanted to say you're by far my favorite content creator of any sort. I've been watching your videos for years, and I leave them on in the background all the time while I'm working on something. Despite how long I've been watching your videos and how frequently I rewatch them, you're still the only person who's new content I consume without fail.
Thanks for all the great videos!
You always manage to create something that blows my mind, thanks Matthias.
brilliant Matthias, once again demonstrating why you're my most anticipated video every week. the use of the electrical connector as a cam was my favourite.
The most impressive thing about this video is saying "pull this e-clip off without losing it" and then you didn't lose it!!
I was waiting for that to fall across the room
e clip = jesus clip when it shoots of "jesus f#*k crist
Fun fact: the "e" stands for "escape."
the evil clip from e corp
My dad always called them that because he said when the flew off you looked upwards and asked "Jesus, where did it go?"
Matthias, you are very versatile, I am a professional of electricity and I really like wood, metal, stone, etc and everything related to craftsmanship, I am very happy every time I watch your videos, especially the quality of the image, the realization of the video and the cleaning of the environment in which you record.
Thanks and waiting for the next one.
Mathius, your videos never cease to amaze me. Nice work on this simple engine.
I really like when Matthias does electrical projects, I hope he does more in the future!
If DiResta talked and explained what he was doing in his videos... this is what it would look like. Great video!
I had to chuckle when you say: "As an electric motor it is not very practical...," but I must say Matthias, as a learning tool for many of us, who may not be well versed in electrical devices, it is an excellent lesson and a fun project to follow, as you guide us through your assembly.
It's the joy of making it work, well done!
Greetings Matthias Wendel sir, i am so grateful for your channel. Your work gives me such courage to try to make things. This Electric reciprocating engine, is both beautiful and simple. I have slowly been preparing to create my first work bench. This engine I wish to try first. Blessings, pierre from New Mexico
Your woodworking skills are very good. I am terrible working wood. I've always been a metal guy. Thanks for the info, much appreciated. Sam.
As a fellow engineer am so impressed with all you do. keep it up :-)
My Father has a box full of projects like this from High school.They were intriguing as a boy.His were all hand wound magnets of different function.I was the only ten year old who knew how an electric motor worked.
I like that you're not a slave to measuring everything.
I subscribe to 2 channels, yours and Jeremy Schmidt's. Building projects from stuff in my garage and an occasional trip to Lowe's is what life's all about! I cant get enough of the electrical connectors you make using bent wire!
I love your projects you are so good at coming up with a way to make everything by hand so simply. I love it
Matthias. Lots of comments so you may not see this one. Excellent build!!!
Would be fun to see and old flat leather belt running from the flywheel to something that needs spinning? Perhaps a miniature saw mill blade?
The engine isn't nearly powerful enough for that
+Matthias Wandel Not to really cut wood (tiny logs). Just a display or model. Well, if it didn't really cut wood, you probably wouldn't want to build it - haha. Plus it would probably remind you of all the work you had to do at your Fathers sawmill.
"on the next episode, i'll be turning this into a table saw."
might have enough power for a light duty scroll saw
to cut paper, maybe
It's like 0.0001 HP
Never said it would be a big tablesaw.
it's amazing how good you are by explaining complicated stuff like this. great work as usual! You have the best RUclips woodworking channel by far!
Thanks for always presenting a broad and interesting range of subjects. Please consider making a scissor lift. Many makers have reduced capacity to lift and move heavy objects. Many might find such a project challenging and helpful around the shop. Thanks again.
i play these while i am falling asleep and pretend it's my dad spending time with me
same.
very sad... :(
/r/meirl
Ow. That struck close to home
I'm a father of a 2yr old daughter. I want to be such a father that spent time together and "play&learn(teach)"
We had to make one of these in my electricity class in High school.We had to make the coil,and all the parts,and the better it worked the higher the grade.I really enjoyed this project back then.
I've always loved solenoid motors :D! I've been meaning to build one for ages now from parts of an old harddrive, plus I have some hall sensors from an even older VCR :P
Paint it green!
"I see a red door,
I want it painted bl.... green!"
your reffrence is perfect but i doubt many will get it sadly in this day and age
nightcoremixer1
Thank you.
Well, if they're not into '70s music and they're addicted to the LATEST&NEWEST, last year Ciara made a nice cover of "Paint It, Black".
I got it! 30yro
The use of Lignum vitae for the bearing blocks is a very nice touch!
Love those ONE-EPISODE videos. ! Thanks
I know right? Some youtubers would milk this by making the engine in a 17 video series with 10 minutes of rambling in each one....
wranglerstar?
why such hate-comment? respect each other,what you don't want to see; don't watch it
jeah, i think your right. Although i would not leave such comment.. but thats me
Yep
James Watt is smiling in his grave. He would definitely like it...
A great man! Thanks for the reminder.
hole - 1st drill press channel !jhk
You mean Nikola Watt.
Ficou perfeito este motor solenoide. Parabéns! Rio de Janeiro RJ Brasil
I envy your mind so much Mr. Wandel. I hope I can be half the engineer you are.
Very Cool! Love to see how you reuse or make do with what you have...problem solving and experimentation at its finest!
Excellent, I love watching you work
Matthias :)
Awesome build and a good explanation as well. Thank you!
Nice demo of linear motion to cylindrical. Thanks Matthias.
Beautifully made and works great. Thank you
I love when you tinker around. This looks like ti was a fun little project - just because you can. Scott
Matthias you are the coolest dude on the planet. Keep up the awesome work!
I loved this, thank you. I must make the wooden air enging I got plans for if I can find them after 3 computer changes. They are spread all over an external hard drive so it'll be a bit of a detective story.
Best Wishes, Brendan.
Cool! I build one of these with a big solenoid from a copy machine and Meccano (Erector). After touching the "distributer wheel" once and felt pain I also installed a diode.
doing things for fun is the best motive! Another great vid, thanks.
Got some solenoids from one old multifunctional printer. Now I know what to do with them. Thank you. Now I need to find some use for all the stepper motors. :D
These are fun to make . I used a flywheel from an old VCR which are polished aluminum and perfectly balanced already.
I am very impressed with your business you are really creative I'm from Iraq, a good observer you
My Friday is now complete! Thanks Matthias ;)
Mr. Wendel sir, I also like that you did not add a reed switch. pierre
So satisfying to watch, well done
maybe not practical but ingenius and fascinating to watch you fabricate everything you needed to do it. great video. 👍👍
cool...I really like the sound of it .
So this is how woodworkers get into model enginebuilding eyh? Nice project! Would love to see a follow-up with something like a 5 solenoid radial engine. That should give a lot more oomph too! Thanks for sharing Mr Wandel!
Dude, you should be working for the Canadian Space Agency. Brilliant!
I really enjoyed this video, thanks Matthias.
Excellent video, that was a very nice project.
What hand exercises do you use to swing mallets and hammers so quickly?
Maybe for your next project you could make a reciprocating saw. That's something I've never seen among your collection of machines and tools.
I really like the lignum vitae bearings. Classic!
You have done it again again!
Lavoro professionale. Molto bello. Complimenti
Did you have to adjust the timing of the contact or did it came right at the first try? looks great
I love the sound that it makes.
Very nice work! I'm curious how long you are able to run this continuously? In my experience typical solenoids have overheating issues when they are rapid cycled like this.
I ran it for about 10 minutes. Average current at 12 volts is 100 miliamperes. Its a very efficient solenoid, so it only gets warm
The only real power losses on this engine except the obvious mechanical and resistive losses on the coil are induced currents in the rod and loss of magnetic energy when the switch opens. The first can be eliminated by
using a ferrite rod instead of a metal rod and the second if you use a small electronic circuit to redirect the magnetic energy to the source (or store it to a capacitor until the next cycle). Resistive losses can be reduced by carefully timing the on and off time of the coil to have it active only the time that it does the most work. Mechanical losses can be reduced by using bearings. After all that the final motor will actually be very energy efficient.
Es una genialidad !!! muy buen proyecto . Matthias
Interrupting that coil like that must produce an unholy amount of back emf. A flyback diode might be a good idea. Great engine though, it's hypnotic like a steam engine.
A flyback diode would delay the collapse of the magnetic field, which would slow it down. So far, no issues with the contacts.
If it was causing an arc across the contacts, then some form of snubber would help, but as for now, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. 👱🏻
A diode with a resistor in series (or a zener diode with a normal diode) will still collapse the magnetic field fast, yet they will reduce the back EMF to a predictable reasonable level. It will still dissipate the energy though. A little more complex circuit would be required to regenerate the energy.
Pretty cool build!
Nice bit of reinventing the wheel :)
I had an assignment once to build an electric motor. I tried to build a reciprocating solenoid engine, as well. The main difference between yours and mine is that yours works and mine failed unspectacularly due to half-assery on my part.
Awesome mathias! Please make more videoes like this
You say that is nor practical, I say who cares, it is beautiful. Thank you once again. pierre
that's really cool. might have to try that one myself
by attaching a motor to the fly wheel you can use this mechine in reverse to operate in a linear action. And that could prove quite useful.
Very cool, I'd love to see you attempt some wooden kinetic sculpture, something weight driven. I've been experimenting with axles using skateboard wheel bearings and dowels, they spin nicely and are really inexpensive. The bearings from roller blade wheels are good too, and are smaller. Both the skateboard and roller blade bearings can be friction fit into your frame.
That would be a great project for someone to make, for a school science or electrical class!
it would need to have another funktion. just turning is a little boring. we do built bells with electric magnets and diy bells from sheets of copper though. the solenoid engine would work as a bell... you could make it hit the bell when it is pulling the shaft in.
I made something similiar out of an old hard drive. I used the r/w head actuator as a solenoid and platter as a flywheel. It worked okay, but not nearly as well as yours due to the problems with triggering the solenoid.
Lovely little project. Triple-like!
What a fun project! Nicely done.
He should write a project book for young teen nerds.
Why is the end result so hilarious!
oddly enough I love these videos fro some reason I think it's because I love making things and doing projects
Nice. Why did you have to give it that little push in order to start?
Probably to activate the solenoid, afterwards it moves along and activates itself.
Position of the crank and the solenoid not being strong enough.
Thanks to both
The same reason it needs a flywheel to run. There's a part in the cycle that the "engine" has to coast through. If there isn't enough rotational energy in the flywheel for that, it won't get to the next turn.
Ya, since the motor only has one cylinder is relies on the momentum from the flywheel to keep it going, and needs an initial kick to get going each time. I also presume that this engine could likely run in reverse if the kick was applied in the opposite direction.
I'd like to suggest a collaboration with Cody of Cody's Lab. With your mechanical/woodworking skills and his chemical/explosives skills, you two could do some astounding things, I'm sure. Maybe a subterranean marble track, using his mine? Or... ?
thanks,nice little project. Enjoyed as always
Hey Matthias! Here's a fan of your videos saying "Hello" :D
I thought you said "Hey" ?
One of my favorite quick videos you've done, Matthias. What is a flywheel for, specifically? To balance it and keep it stable?
I think it's to give it momentum... but I could be completely wrong!
From what I've read so far, I guess it stores kinetic/rotational energy by basically getting a big heavy wheel to rotate. Now imagine turning the engine off, the flywheel will continue to spin for a while, so it has a lot of stored energy. And I guess when running normally, that energy is also continuously used. Interesting!
Also for the point when the contact is open to spin the whole thing through a cycle until the contact closes again.
Main purpose is to keep the thing moving after the solenoid turns off. When that happens there is no force on the cam but the solenoid must be pushed back in before it can fire again. In order to do that the heavy flywheel is there to keep the shaft turning so that it comes around for a new cycle.
Pretty similar to why internal combustion engines use flywheels. The flywheel there stores the energy produced by the power stoke where the explosion happens and gives off the energy in the next cycle to compress the air mixture again so that it can be fired again.
It's for inertia, without the flywheel it wouldn't turn constantly.
Very Cool!!! I love all your creations and gadgets. I think it would be really awesome if you built a working steam engine, like with a hot plate or build it and place it on your stove to make steam. Just a thought.
That does look like fun!
very nice
Great project and video - just like the others. Thanks
Any idea what device that solenoid was originally scavenged from? Awesome video!
Hello Matthias-
Great little motor you have there. The simplicity is wonderful. What is the solenoid out of may I ask?
Wow, that's really cool! Would be awesome at a fair as some sort of model or something!
Make a train and power it with the flywheel :) that would be an interesting series, making the track and points for your homemade locomotive. Great vid btw
Hi Matthias,
Have you thought of building plans for a "tiny house". FYI, I think your combination of skills and practical minded point of view would make for a solid solution for many of us in the USA who are looking for a nice little home.
Thank you for the channel--and best regards!
Wil
Machinist and longtime subscriber
i luv this been wanting to make one for a little wile now
Love the croc clips
So cool! Very small device for turning linear motion in rotational motion.
Thanks, I found an old solenoid in a parking lot, and it's been collecting dust and I haven't found anything to do with it. Might make for a fun project.
Hi, thanks for posting such useful video, just wonder any test has been done on accuracy or squareness of the table? that'd be much appreciated. Best!
This is probably the cutest motor I've ever seen. I really want to build one now. What did you get that solenoid out of?
Really cool project!
Having kids will make you build the darndest things!
Wheely cute work, Matthias. :)