DIY Renewable Energy Projects - Hard Drive Magnet DIY Alternator - Part 1/title> <meta name="description" content="DIY project to build an alternator from hard drive magnets, recycled copper wire and basic tools" /> <meta name="language" content="english,EN"> <meta name="keywords" content="diy alternator, hard drive magnets" /> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" media="screen,projection,print" href="./css/setup.css" /> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" media="screen,projection,print" href="./css/text.css" /> <link rel="icon" type="image/x-icon" href="./img/favicon.ico" /> <link rel="stylesheet" href="./css/lightbox.css" type="text/css" media="screen" /> <script type="text/javascript" src="js/prototype.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="js/scriptaculous.js?load=effects,builder"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="js/lightbox.js"></script> </head>  <body> <div class="page-container"> <div class="header"> <div class="header-top"> <a class="sitelogo" href="index.html" title="Micro Green Start page"></a> <div class="sitename"> <div id="sitetitle"><a href="http://www.microgreen.co.uk/" title="Go to homepage">Micro Green</a></div> <div id="sitesubtitle">DIY Alternators</div> </div> <div class="nav1"> <ul> <li><a href="index.html" title="Go to Start page">Home</a></li> <li><a href="about-us.html" title="Get to know who we are">About</a></li> <li><a href="contact-us.html" title="Get in touch with us">Contact</a></li> <li><a href="sitemap.html" title="Get an overview of website">Sitemap</a></li> </ul> </div> </div> <div class="header-middle"> <div class="sitemessage"> <div id="sitemessagetop">Reduce • Re-use • Recycle</div> <div id="sitemessagelower">Its all about the little things<br /> making a big difference<br /> </div> </div> </div> <div class="header-breadcrumbs"> <ul> <li><a href="index.html">Home</a></li> <li><a href="diy-renewable-energy-projects.html">DIY Renewable Energy Projects</a></li> <li>DIY Hard Drive Magnet Alternator - Part 1</li> </ul> </div> </div> <div class="main"> <div class="main-navigation"> <div class="round-border-topright"></div> <div id="menutitle">Menu</div> <dl class="nav3-grid"> <dt><a href="index.html">Home</a></dt> <dt><a href="microgreen-blog.html">Blog</a></dt> <dt><a href="wind-power.html">Wind power</a></dt> <dt><a href="solar-power.html">Solar Power</a></dt> <dt><a href="diy-renewable-energy-projects.html">DIY RE Projects</a></dt> <dd><a class="selected" href="hdd1-diy-alternator-p1.html">DIY Alternator HDD1</a></dd> <dt><a href="environmental-resources.html">Resources</a></dt> </dl> </div> <div class="main-content"> <h1 class="pagetitle">HDD1 DIY Alternator - Part 1</h1> <div class="column1-unit"> <h2>Introduction</h2> <p>We wanted to build a micro alternator using low cost easily available materials and basic tools. The magnets and copper wire are the most expensive parts of the build so we will be using magnets salvaged from old computer hard drives and copper wire salvaged from the coils of old electric motors.</p> <a href="./img/ie-security-message-medium.jpg" rel="lightbox" title="If you are reading this text then the lightbox is working correctly!"> <img class="right" src="./img/ie-security-message-small.jpg" width="140" height="105" alt="ie security warnings" title="ie security warnings" /> </a> <p>The images on this page use lightbox JS v2 by <a href="http://www.lokeshdhakar.com">Lokesh Dakar</a>, just click on any of the images to see larger version. Some of the images will be one of a series of photos so look out for the 'next and 'prev' buttons. You will need to have JavaScript enabled for this to work correctly. Many modern web browsers will disable JavaScript, look out for the yellow bar at the top of the page.</p> <h2 >Hard Drive Magnets</h2> <a href="./img/harddrive-1-medium.jpg" rel="lightbox[harddrive]" title="Two old hard drives waiting to be taken apart. Notice that the one on the right has cross head screws and will be easier to get apart. The one on the left has torx screws and will be harder to open if you don't have a set of torx drivers."> <img class="right" src="./img/harddrive-1-small.jpg" width="140" height="105" alt="hard drives" title="hard drives" /> </a> <p>Each computer hard drive typically contains 2 neodymium iron boron (NIB) magnets, these are often referred to as "rare earth" or "neodymium" magnets. Neodymium magnets are <strong>very powerfull</strong> and can be <strong>dangerous</strong> if not handled correctly, they can snap together very easily and pinch fingers, or they can shatter sending out sharp fragments. The magnets in the hard drive are used to move the actuator which in turn moves the read/write head across the disk. </p> <a href="./img/harddrive-2-medium.jpg" rel="lightbox[harddrive]" title="The cross heads screws have been removed from the drive on the left. The drive on the right has had the sticker peeled off to reveal the torx head screws underneath"> <img class="right" src="./img/harddrive-2-small.jpg" width="140" height="105" alt="hard drives" title="hard drives" /> </a> <a href="./img/harddrive-3-medium.jpg" rel="lightbox[harddrive]" title="The drive on the left has had the cross head screws removed (circled in green), note that there is also a central screw on this drive (circled in pink). The drive on the right has torx type screws (circled in red)"> </a> <a href="./img/harddrive-4-medium.jpg" rel="lightbox[harddrive]" title="This drive was plastered in warning stickers. Be a rebel, ignore the warnings and rip those stickers off!"> </a> <p>Once you have collected enough hard drives it's time to open them up. Just a quick caution before you start, are you sure there's not any data on those drives that you might need? Once those drives have been opened up you will never recover the data unless you want pay lots of money to a specialist lab to recover them. As these are old hard drives we can ignore all of the "warranty void when broken" stickers and get to work with a screw driver. Its as well to peel all the of the stickers off as the screws are often hidden underneath. Most newer drives are held together with screws that have a torx type head. If your toolbox lacks a set of torx drivers you can either use and old flat edge screwdriver wedged into the heads or use a dremel/hacksaw to cut a slot into the head. Feel free to use brute force if needed to get the drives open, but please remember brute and force and sharp pointy tools often leads to painfull injuries!</p> <a href="./img/harddrive-5-medium.jpg" rel="lightbox[harddrive]" title="The two hard drives opened up to reveal their insides."> <img class="right" src="./img/harddrive-5-small.jpg" width="140" height="105" alt="hard drives" title="hard drives" /> </a> <a href="./img/harddrive-6-medium.jpg" rel="lightbox[harddrive]" title="The main platters, actuator and magnets labelled"> </a> <a href="./img/harddrive-7-medium.jpg" rel="lightbox[harddrive]" title="A close up of the drive, look at how perfect the reflection in the platters is!"> </a> <p>Once you have got the cases opened up you will be able to see the platters, the actuator arm, read/write head and best of all two rather nice neodymium magents. Notice that the platters have an amazingly perfect mirror finish. Most platters we came across were aluminium, but one drive we opened up had glass platters. The glass platters are easily broken and will send shards everywhere (we found this out the hard way). The two magnets are attached to metal plates, this is what you can see in the pictures. For the moment remove the magnets with the backing plates which we will remove later.</p> <a href="./img/neodymium-magnets-1-medium.jpg" rel="lightbox[magnets]" title="Nice shiny magnets!"> <img class="right" src="./img/neodymium-magnets-1-small.jpg" width="140" height="105" alt="neodymium magnets" title="neodymium magnets" /> </a> <p>A bit more work with the torx driver, or in our case the dremel and you will have a nice collection of shiny neodymium magnets. While they still have the backing plates on they are a bit easier to handle. The plates are fairly thick steel and they prevent most of the magnetic flux from passing out the other side and should the magnets become stuck together you have something to grab hold of to prise them apart. Find out what we did next in <a href="http://www.microgreen.co.uk/hdd1-diy-alternator-p2.html">Part 2</a>.</p> <div class="column3-unit-left"> <p></p> </div> <div class="column3-unit-middle"> <p><a href="http://www.microgreen.co.uk/hdd1-diy-alternator-p1.html">1 </a><a href="http://www.microgreen.co.uk/hdd1-diy-alternator-p2.html">2</a></p> </div> <div class="column3-unit-right"> <p><a href="http://www.microgreen.co.uk/hdd1-diy-alternator-p2.html">Next Page »</a></p> </div> </div> <hr class="clear-contentunit" /> <div class="column2-unit-left"> <script type="text/javascript"> </script> <script type="text/javascript"src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"></script> </div> <div class="column2-unit-right"> <script type="text/javascript"> </script> <script type="text/javascript"src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"></script> </div> <hr class="clear-contentunit" /> </div> </div> <div class="footer"> <p>Copyright © 2013 Micro Green | All Rights Reserved | <a href="privacy-policy.html">Privacy Policy</a></p> </div> </div> <script type="text/javascript"> var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www."); document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E")); </script> <script type="text/javascript"> try { var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker("UA-3599528-2"); pageTracker._trackPageview(); } catch(err) {}</script> </body> </html>