Enamelled Wire, Neodymium Magnet, M3 Tap (and handle), Aluminium Bar. Not shown: The rest of the 40 piece tapping set, book.
- Enamelled copper wire. .315mm diameter, 500g (which I estimate to be ~1000ft). £6 from wires.co.uk (the retail branch of The Scientific Wire Company). To be used for winding coils, which, when energised will effect motion in a magnet. I’ve never wound a coil before, so this will be difficult.
- Neodymium magnets (10 of). Part CYL0275, £0.67 each from supermagnetman.net. 2mm bore, which will hold an axle. The important thing here is that the poles are on the sides, rather than at the ends, which is what we need to achieve rotation around the axle. The magnets are very light and very… magnetic – I found that I could generate movement in one by wiggling another 9″ away, which is encouraging.
- M3 tap and handle. Part of a 40 piece set purchased on ebay for £15. The build quality is horrible, and I don’t hold out much hope for longevity, but aluminium is nice and soft so we should be ok.
- Aluminium bar. 304 x 63.5 x 6mm. I think the dimensions are such that this should actually be described as ‘aluminium plate’, but the internet tells otherwise. £6 from a very helpful man on ebay. This will ultimately be machined (by hand, because I can’t afford machines) into mounts for the coil, magnet, axle, based on a very nice design by Joey Hagedorn.
- ‘How the World Was One (Beyond the Global Village)’ by Arthur C. Clarke. As recommended by Neil Stephenson in his Wired article ‘Mother Earth Mother Board’. Nothing to do with this project, but documents the (darn frickin’ cool) process by which under-sea communications cables came into being.
More deliveries are anticipated.
