Introduction: Electrostatic Motor
3D printed electrostatic motor
Goal: No ball bearings, easy mounting, new different design with low power requirements
Requires:
1x 3mm screw about 10mm long e.g. unused screw from old PC hardware
1x 50 mm wire ~0.5-1mm e.g. paperclip
1x aluminium foil or copper foil e.g. self-adhesive aluminum tape for sealing or plain foil to glue
1x HV power source e.g. Wimshurst, Van-de-Graaff, Flyback Transformers
3D printed parts:
558.384 base.stl
58.984 electrode.stl - you need at least two printed
287.884 rotor.stl
258.384 screw_top.stl - to fix the wire for the rotor
All files netfabb checked
Step 1: Assembly
Print the parts on your 3D printer - i used 100% infill and only standard settings, no support required
Electrode.stl has to be printed twice. But you can use up to four electrodes with this design
First add the copper or aluminium foil to the rotor and the electrodes as shown in the picture
The electrodes have a sharp edge at one side which will only fit in one direction to the base - towards the rotor blades. The rotor blades need also be covered with foil because it will receive the charge from the electrodes.
When you have glued or used self-adhesive foil for the eight motor blades and at least two electrodes you
can add a piece of wire ~ 50 mm long e.g. the bigger paper clips. The wire has to be strong enough to hold the rotor in place and goes into the middle hole of the base. It will not fall through - just put it in and then take the screw_top.stl (alias the nut) printed part and screw (press fit by closing the screw) it together with the base to fix the wire.
Put the rotor on the wire so the small cylinder of the rotor is on the top side and the wire goes through
Cut the wire just above it is visible from the rotor and then add the 3mm screw to adust the height about the base.
Finally clip the electrodes into the slot you want e.g. 180° opposite from picture or 90° works too.
Attach your HV power source to the electrodes.

Runner Up in the
3D Printing Contest
3 People Made This Project!
- JonathanZhu made it!
- JoshW44 made it!
- radiovan made it!
34 Comments
6 years ago
now i have question about my neon sign transformer - i use it for Jacobs ladder no problem, so i know it puts out the 12kV, but its AC - do i need to use HVDC (like your other example with the flyback transformer and the FET?)
7 years ago on Introduction
great...........
Bt we have no 3d printer . :(
Reply 6 years ago
Print it in a fablab! (or create a fablab in your city!)
Reply 7 years ago on Introduction
Print with 3D Hubs!
Reply 6 years ago
:D
6 years ago on Introduction
Very cool project!
6 years ago on Introduction
Hello Nice project!
Cold anyone be kind enough to provide a link to a webshop where i can buy a PSU that is suitable for this project? I have no experience what so ever with this kind of PSUs
7 years ago on Introduction
What voltage did you supply to get the motor to start turning?
Reply 6 years ago on Introduction
Have not tried to figure out the lowest voltage level yet.
Reply 6 years ago on Introduction
The soda bottle motor described below by Marciot runs at 5kV dc.
Reply 6 years ago on Introduction
Thanks!
Reply 7 years ago
That's not a voltage. did you use 1kV? 10kV? Could you give me an estimate of what voltage range you used or give me a link to the specific power supply that you had?
Reply 7 years ago on Introduction
High voltage DC
7 years ago on Introduction
I'm having trouble understanding how this could work with a DC voltage - say from a Van der Graaf. I can see it might work with a high voltage AC source like a neon sign transformer or a fly-back transformer, although I can't see where the torque comes from. What power supply did you use in the demo video?
Reply 7 years ago on Introduction
I was puzzled too. This is a variant of a soda bottle motor. Here is a good explanation: http://amasci.com/emotor/emot1.html
Reply 6 years ago on Introduction
Thanks, That was a very good explanation. This design does not seem to have the brushes to put the charge on the rotor, though. I guess there must be corona or sparking between the stator and rotor, followed by electrostatic repulsion. BTW the minimum supply voltage for the bottle motor was 5kV DC.
Reply 7 years ago on Introduction
It uses DC.
Charges of equal sign e.g. two negative charges will repulse each other.
Positive and negative charge will attract. The rotor is first used as dielectric part in a
capacitor. Then through the rotor blade conductor material configuration the electric field is forced backward against the stator electrode.
7 years ago
I love it. I wasn't going to comment, but feel I need to cast a vote of pure appreciation and adoration. Months ago my brother and I started to recreate an electric motor that we built in our youth. We planned on 3D printing it and making an instructable, but we stalled out on making our design work again. We know what you made here and we applaud it.
Reply 6 years ago on Introduction
Many thanks! I'm not doing this to win anything, it's only a small step for something different and a lot of fun. Building a new type of machine is a great challenge ;)
I once did for example
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:480057
which only had the small side effect - to be potentially dangerous ...
7 years ago
I believe it can only work if the electrodes and motor parts are close enough that elections can jump across. A very sharp pointed edge will probably allow that. Without any electron transfer I don't think will work at all