The goal of the summer research program was to develop an electric motor lab to be used in the course "Science and Technology in Everyday Life." This course was designed for the non-science major to help him or her get a grasp of the underlying scientific principles of the technological devices that are used daily. The motor lab that needed to be developed had to not only be feasible for the non-scientist, but it also needed to be reliable, durable and inexpensive.

The course had previously utilized an electric motor lab based on a commercially available kit. The students could complete the kit and they were able to understand the concept of the electric motor. The problem was that the kit did not work very well. It was fairly difficult to make the brushes contact the commutator. The brush would either not touch the commutator and thus not complete the circuit , or the brushes would press too hard on the commutator and the friction would stop the shaft rotation. If the students were able to get the motor running it would most often stop after a short time.

The preliminary work done to design this lab was to read as much literature on the electric motor as possible. Numerous books were found that contained chapters on the workings of the electric motor. These chapters were very helpful in gaining the knowledge of how the motor worked. The directions of commercially produced kits and of other electric motor labs were read. This helped to develop ideas to use in a new design.

The next step was to look at and try some original designs. Many of the original designs done previously were of primitive type materials, i.e. nails, dowels, paperclips. Using the gained knowledge, a four armature electric motor was created. This motor worked but had many flaws. It was quite bulky, slow and expensive. The battery needed to drive this design was more expensive than the entire lab was allowed to cost. This idea was quickly put aside.

The next idea was to try and improve the already existing lab. Changing the commutator was the first idea tried. It was thought that if there was more surface area for the brush to connect with then the motor would be less likely to not run. This was changed by sliding a dowel onto the motor shaft and connecting the commutator wires to strips of aluminum on the dowel. This idea did not work very well. The increased commutator size created more friction by the brushes and the motor shaft would not spin.

The next step was to try to change the brushes. Strips of thin brass replaced the thin wire brushes. This brass was connected at one end at the base and was made to lean against the commutator. The brass increased the surface area of the point of contact with commutator wires. It also created very little friction. The motor worked much better. It was found, however, that the initial strip of brass used was too thin. After some tests were made using brass of different thickness it was found that the ideal thickness would be 0.004inches.

The final step was to optimize the performance of the motor. A switch was designed so as to make the motor easier to turn on and off. Also, it was found that soldering the wires to the battery clips greatly improved the connection. This in turn improved the performance of the motor.