Introduction: Battery Powered Car With Motor
My project is a small car, powered by a mini electric motor. It is about 6 inches long by 3 inches wide and made up of thin oak wood.
Materials:
Step 1: Connect Wires to Motor
In order to get the motor to work, it is important to find a battery that can power it. I bought a simple wire that connected to an on and off switch and had a place to put in four AA Batteries. Once I put the batteries into their holder, I connected the end of the wire to the metal part of the motor. After this I flipped the on and off switch (which was connected to the wire) and the motor functioned perfectly.
Step 2: Make the Base of the Car
It is also important to find a light, but strong enough base to the car. In order to create the base of this car, I carved a 3 by 6 inch piece of a thin slab of oak wood, which was strong enough to withstand the weight of the motor. I did this using a using a saw with the help of someone else.
Step 3: Adding Wheels to the Base
Next, I added wheels to the base using hot glue and large popsicle sticks. First, I hot glued the 2 popsicle sticks to each end of the base. It was important to make sure I added a large amount of hot glue, so I could insert the wheels in next. After hot gluing the popsicle sticks, I slowly put the nail connected to the pinwheel inside the space where the hot glue was connected to the popsicle stick. I had to do this quickly or else the hot glue would dry. I repeated this four times with two wheels on each side of the car.
Step 4: Add to the Base of the Car
In order to put the motor to a level where the propeller would not hit the ground, I heightened it by stacking 7 popsicle sticks on top of one and other, which ultimately allowed the propeller to move without hitting the surface. After gluing all of the popsicle sticks together I glued the motor to the top of the highest popsicle stick and subsequently added a iPhone fan as the propeller, which allowed the car to move.
Step 5: Additional Accessories
In order to make the car more useful, I added a couple of additional elements. In the body of the car, I added a storage compartment, which was made out of small popsicle sticks. In order to make the compartment, I cut each small popsicle stick half. Then I put four together to form a square and hot glued all four of them to the base of the car. After that, I repeated this process three more times to ensure that no item would fall out of the storage area. This storage compartment can be used for storing paper clips, erasers, and other small items of use. In addition, I added a miniature flashlight to the back of the car, which could be used to see where the car is located in the dark. All I did was simply glue the flashlight to the way back of the car. The small flashlight functioned normal and it also could projected flashing lights, which could be used as a warning sign.
