Creating a simple motor powered battery for use in clothing

Hello all, just stumbled upon this forum and need some help with a project I'm working on! Im a fashion designer by trade and have had an idea to fashion a rotating magnet on some of my most recent pieces, let me explain.

My idea is to design a self contained motor that will slowly rotate two magnets in a circular motion. That device will be attached to the inside of a jacket while, on the outside, a sealed pouch of ferrofluid suspended in mineral oil will be stitched to the front side.

The whole machine will be made for a white jacket, giving a striking contrast between the black moving ferrofluid and solid white background.

I have a background in manufacturing and Im already talking to some fabricators so I can get the custom plastic housings made. I would appreciate so much if someone could just help me with a list of the parts and simple schematic of something they think would work. I have a soldering gun and have friends that could help me out with constructing the first samples.

I appreciate anything anyone can help me with! Trying to keep this post short and simple because I know how annoying newbies can be in your field :lol: attached I have a simple sketch of what im thinking of. Let me know if anyone would like any more information.

**broken link removed**

**broken link removed**

https://imgur.com/a/aiURwht

Thanks!
-Ben

You probably want to use a continuous-rotation servo, but that requires some electronics to drive it (a pulse-train, at the minimum). Ordinary motors don't like to run at really low speed, which is what you actually want.

Maybe something like this: https://www.parallax.com/product/900-00008

Welcome to the edaboard!

Coming to your idea ,
since you want the motor to rotate slowly a geared Dc motor will suit your requirement. (other motors like stepper , servo etc can be used but with associated electronics circuitry)

DC motor of low voltage can be used and you can check with chinese motors available for the required output speed.

Then you can attach the magnets and move the ferrofluid ...

I think a geared DC motor would work easier for myself seeing as I have little to no experience with attempting to make something like this. Would you mind linking me what you think would work, and maybe a parts list so I can get started with the first build? Any other info is greatly appreciated! Thanks again

As for the motor, you may want to look for one which is flat, or thin. It would be less bulky than an everyday cylindrical-shaped motor.

Gearing is an obvious solution to reduce your platter's rpm. Aother way to drive it is by rim drive (similar to old-fashioned record turntables). The small shaft if the motor rotates while it presses against the edge of a large diameter platter.

one that you can consider is:


for the slow speed dc geared motor
you can search amazon also.

That little one looks perfect. What type of power source/ other parts should I buy? Im going to get them shipped and start work on this! Thanks

The listing states 3V for the motor, which suggests a power source made of two cells. Nevertheless I suspect you could still get it to turn at 1.5v, at reduced speed (10 rpm) and reduced torque. So it might run for a couple hours on a single AA cell.