120,000 Volt Van De Graaff Generator

Step 3 The motive system

The motive system consists of a roller made of pvc pipe attached to a 540 size motor. To build the roller carefully drill a hole smaller than the motor shaft diameter through the center of each end cap. Heat the motor shaft with a lighter and press one end cap onto the motor shaft squarely. Now cut a short length of pipe and assemble the roller. The bearing for the end opposite the motor is made from a piece of hardened steel rod epoxied to the head of a bolt. The top roller is made similarly to the bottom roller only it rides on simple brass bolts and is covered in aluminum tape.

Comments

[emeraldamber]

hi, so batteries are the main source of power for this one? can't it make hair on head stand? what should be done to make hair on head stand? :D how much did this all cost?

[Tool Using Animal]

Cost? it came from my junk box, so I don't know. TO small and leaky to make hair stand on end, increase size, minimize corona leakage. Batteries spin the motor, and yes, technically they do the work of chage separation, Tesla published a wonderful article on the subject in Scientific American in the '30's.

[mujeebmurtaza95]

how many volts is a 540 motor .. i hav a 9volts motor will it wrk/???nd wat happens if we touch the top(the orb kinda thing) with our bare hands??? will our hair stnd up or sumthng?

[Tool Using Animal]

A 540 is 6-12 volts, touching it will give you a nice fat spark, it was only powerful enough to make the hair on my arms stand up, not on my head.

[nguyenalexandert]

would a 550 motor work? that's the closest thing i can find in a nearby rc shop about 25$, could anyone get to me on this? i need to ask some questions reguarding it too =/ the pictures don't seem to be so clear TT_TT msg me at [e-mail] mind telling me how much this is all ganna cost in total? so far the closet flange seems to be $8~20, the motor is 25(550) or if i can gather the parts from things around the house

[Tool Using Animal]

Hey there, I wonder where you live, yes a 550 size motor will work fine, but you can order them off the internet for a few dollars, no need to spend $25. My flange was probably $3, you could just use angle brackets instead.

[mman6277482]

Im still confused on powering the motor. How do you make it turn? If you just connect it to a battery it wont simply start turning will it? i need lots of help.

[Tool Using Animal]

Yes connecting a battery to a motor will make it turn.

[mman6277482]

how do you connect it to a drill battery? and right when you connect it to the battery it will start turning? dont you need to press a button or something?

[Tool Using Animal]

I touched the twowires to the battery contacts, that was all. you could just use D cells if you like.

[mman6277482]

could i replace the motor and create a crank so i could hand turn it?

[Tool Using Animal]

Yes a hand crank works fine, it also is a good demonstrator of where the work is coming from, you'll find the crank get's slightly harder to turn and the shere charges.

[mman6277482]

where is the motor located then? it is kind of hard to tell from the photo.

[Tool Using Animal]

it's inside the bucket that makes the bottom and located lined up with the 3" tube

[mman6277482]

do you think you could make a video of yourself making the van de graaff generator?

[triggernum5]

A good rule of thumb may be that if you can't make a motor turn, you've got alot of work to do before you're ready for high voltage..

[Tool Using Animal]

good lord no. it's already been recycled for parts.

[Kryptonite]

What!?! Sacrilage!

[mman6277482]

where can you get a 540 motor? do you thing I could "disect" one from a remote control car? would that work? and do you think i could get this down in under 13 days?

[Kryptonite]

A 540 motor is not necesary, any motor here would work, as long as it's got enough oomf. I've got some really good silver cam motors, But they'd probably be too fast for this, oh well, I can always work a geared hand crank.