In art class my teacher has a large motorized eraser and it comes in very handy when trying to get smudges and other marks of a project or paper. Since I take my projects home a lot I needed a way to have one of those as well, and I just wanted to have one. So instead of buying one I decided to make my own!

Here is a video of the final product:

Step 1: My Idea

The hardest part, to me, of any project is what to use and how to make it. For this electric eraser I needed a small motor as well as a AA battery because that's all I have. So I decided to use a thick sharpie highlighter as the enclosure for everything. I took it apart and added everything in and it turned out just like I wanted.

Step 2: Materials and Tools

The needed materials for this project are the following:

- 1 large sharpie highlighter(or other brand)
- 1 very small motor (I got mine from an old RC helicopter.
- 1 small tactile switch
- 1 AA battery
- stranded wire that will work with your motor

The tools needed are:

- Hot glue gun
- Soldering Iron
- Needle Nose Pliers
- Wire cutter
- Wire stripper
- Electrical Tape
- You might also want a helping hand tool to make soldering easier.

Step 3: The Highlighter

The first thing that I had to do was make sure I had all of the parts that I needed, and that they would all fit into the highlighter. To do this You have to take everything out of the highlighter case. First you take off the cap. Then grab some pliers and pull the tip out. Then flip it over and take out the bottom cap. When I pulled the ink out it made a mess so do it over a garbage can and try not to squeeze it too hard. Once everything is out there is just enough room for a AA battery and all of the other components. The small motor that I used I took off of an old RC helicopter. It doesn't fit into the tip of the highlighter because of the many grooves so I cut off the tip and the motor fit perfectly.

Step 4: The Circuit

The circuit for this is really simple. All it is is a batter connected to a button which is connected to the motor. First you'll want to add solder to the leads of all of the pieces that you'll be using. Take the wire from the motor, either one will work it just changes the direction the motor spins, and solder it to one of the leads of the button. Then take another wire and solder it to the diagonal opposite of the lead on the push button and it will be used to connect the anode of the the battery to the motor. Then the unused wire on the motor needs to be taped to ground on the battery. And the unused wire of the push button needs to be taped to the positive side of the battery. Then test it out to make sure it all works.

Step 5: Putting It All Together

To finish it all up all you have to do is put everything into the highlighter. Put the motor in first and once it's out of the end glue it in the desired position. Then push the battery to the bottom, be careful not to get it stuck because I did. Finally you can glue the push button to the opening at the bottom. And then you're all done with it all you have to do is get a small eraser and push it onto the motor shaft and use it to erase. It's not perfect but it works pretty well considering the little motor being used.