It took me a while, but I got my Wimshurst up and running. It's a bit rough but, once I added the Leyden jars, it sparked on the first try. I should have checked the motors' direction of rotation before installing them—they got in the way of the neutralizers. I replaced the neutralizers with AWG 20 stranded copper, which I then routed around the motors. It's not pretty, but it works. I don't know whether it reduces the output.
Sewing machine motors were 17.50 USD on Amazon, and included bracket, speed controller, belt, extra brushes and springs, and other spare parts. I had planned to use one motor with a complicated system of pulleys to run a single belt with no crossing, but decided to use a motor on each side with the included belt.
I'm thinking of building an improved machine using what I learned from making this one, and documenting the build, including what worked and, more importantly, what didn't. This is my third Wimshurst. The first didn't work, the second was built from the AstroMedia kit. I thought beginners might find my plans useful.
Dr. Antonio Queiroz' machines are beautiful, but they're all hand-cranked. I want my hands free to perform experiments. Dr. Jefimenko's machine (in his appendix to Electrostatic Experiments) is good, but the appendix is somewhat lacking in mechanical details. R.A. Ford's machine (Homemade Lightning) and Jake von Slatt's (published in Make magazine and also on his web site: http://steampunkworkshop.com/how-build-wimshurst.../ ) were both very specific, but seemed to use expensive parts, mostly as a matter of style.
What do you think? Would detailed plans for a robust and economical motor-driven machine be useful to the beginner, or would that be reinventing the wheel?
