Before I even begin to build, I need to figure out how to power the sails for Watson Mill. The mechanical setup will determine how much I alter the open back to disguise the power source.
As I mentioned, this tutorial from Bruce Hirst used a motor from Micromark. The main reason I did not go with the Micromark motor is the fact that it has a large cord attached. This is useful in that you have to do no wiring, but hiding a cord of that size with an on/off switch and plug would have been difficult. It would have required large holes or notches in the building and landscaping board. Addressing any possible problems in the future would be difficult as well.
I also wasn’t sure I would have the room or the need for the Lego gears shown in the tutorial. The space needed for these would also mean closing up even more of the back. Therefore, I might be connecting the sail shaft directly to the motor to limit the space needed from top to bottom on the back wall.
So, I chose this motor (this link might no longer be accurate as of 2024) from Winbell’s Store on aliexpress. It runs slightly faster at 5RPM vs the 2.5RPM in the tutorial but it is also 1 5/8″ in diameter as opposed to 2″ in diameter for the Micromark motor.
Being AC instead of DC (no, don’t ask me to explain the difference just accept that there is one), the motor will run on a separate line from the dollhouse 12V DC system. I bought this transformer to power the motor (as an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases). All that will be required is to splice on some length of wire and add forked spade connectors to the ends. You can spin the wire directly to the transformer, but the connectors just make for a cleaner and more secure assembly.
Here I’ve added a paper cutout just to show that the motor does spin and in which direction.
A quick video. :]
Seeing that this motor turns counterclockwise makes a difference in how the sails will be built. Even though the wind won’t power them, I want the sails to be built to correctly correspond to direction. Here is clockwise, and here is counterclockwise. You can see the difference in the lead edges and angles. Bruce Hirst has the correct configuration for clockwise sails, but I will be building mine opposite to suit the spin of my motor.
I’ll need to build the sail structure first to make sure my motor can handle the work before starting the mill itself…a bit of reverse engineering. :] I don’t want to do all the work just to find out I need a different motor in the end. Let the engineering begin!
