A Levitating Motor

The Mendocino motor is a solar-powered, magnetically levitating electric motor. It isn’t particularly useful as it cannot really drive anything, but it makes for a cool gadget.

On the Internet, you can find kits to build a Mendocino motor with and amaze your friends and family. We got one and assembled it. Here are our experiences and a few practical tips to make things easier for you.

Bring Some Glue

The Mendocino motor kit contains almost all the parts you need: a laser-cut acrylic frame, magnets, a shaft, nuts and bolts and a barrel clad with solar cells. You will also need some transparent adhesive tape and liquid superglue. These two items are not included.

We built the motor without having a manual, and so we figured things out while going along.

In the end, we found that if we had taken the time to understand what we were going to build, it would have been easier, and the result would have been better.

So, What Is a Mendocino Motor?

In this video, we first explain what a Mendocino motor is. Then we present our experiences together with a few practical tips to make assembling such a kit easier for you.