Thinkfun Energy expansion set by AlBuys

Last crawled date: 3 years ago

This Thinkfun Maker Studio expansion set is designed to add energy to the existing sets: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:872140http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:871201 andhttp://www.thingiverse.com/thing:871205
Add LED lights to your build and use your imagination! Use the motor coupling and mount to add a small motor to your creation. You can also try to generate your own electricity by running the motor backwards to power the lights without batteries. Discover gear ratios with the existing sets and electrical principals with this expansion.
5mm LED's, alligator clips, (2xAA or AAA) batteries and a DC motor will need to be obtained.
The 3 printable items in this expansion are:
An LED bezel clip - To mount an LED into a connector hole or through another part of a build like the box in the racecar I made.
A motor coupling - To attach the motor shaft to a gear or connector. Here is the coupling used to connect the motor to the propeller https://youtu.be/KWbt5GXzB0o
A motor mount - To attach the rear of the motor to a hub cap or into a connector.
The wiring of the LED's can be tricky. A resistor is recommended. For general purposes a 1kΩ resistor should be fine. See here http://ledcalc.com/ to determine the resistor you need for your chosen LED as well as a wiring diagram.
I used blue LED's with 2xAAA batteries (total 3V) and 1000 Ω (1kΩ) resistors. Hide the wiring inside your build.
You may need to construct gearing to greatly increase the speed to the generator (motor) if you want to power the LED's. In my attempts I was not able to generate enough voltage. Maybe a geared or low speed motor would help. The reduction gear in the photo is ratio 16:1 using the large and small gears.
Have fun!