This Lego Vacuum-Powered Generator SUCKS!
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- Опубліковано 17 жов 2024
- Patreon: www.patreon.co...
See my latest experiments and behind-the-scenes footage!
Let's suck our way to generating electricity using Lego! In this video, we experiment with a few different 'Lego Vacuum Engines', and use a powerful turbine engine to drive a Lego generator made of large neodymium magnets and 3 coils of copper wire. This generator outputs a 3 phase signal, giving us a nice smooth signal at quite a high voltage. The current is limited, but this gives me great hope for an upgraded version with beefier coils!
Now it's not lost on me that we're using a 620 watt hoover to generate only a small amount of power. But this sure has been a fun experiment using a vacuum to drive our turbine, and then using this to drive our generator.
"Yo bro can you charge my phone?"
"Sure let me just get my vacuum."
😂
Lol
charging phone using lego ? i gotta get some lego like right now
@@JamiesBrickJamsyoo I have an idea for a continuation title for dis. -sucks dick
"what"(concerned) lol
I'm happy to see that I'm not alone in using my tongue to measure voltage.
Best measuring method out there for lower voltages 😋
Human Voltmeter
Same but I almost died
I used my fingers to know if electric model train tracks are conducive.
@@JamiesBrickJamsvoltage gives a delicious taste 😋😋. No need for sambal or any spice. Voltage is spicy enough
Awesome! I appreciate that you’re getting into lego air-flow based things now! Both vacuum engines and pneumatic engines.
ayy hi there
Cheers! I hadn't messed around with vacuums until now, but it was a lot of fun, so will definitely explore this a little more 😉
Bros fr in here nice
I like how because the vacuum is plugged into the wall, and that's powering the turbine, and that's powerful the generator, in a really roundabout way you've basically plugged the LEDs into the wall
World's most inefficient USB adaptor 😁
6:32 while 10000 RPM is of course a ridiculously high speed, the faster the spinning is, the higher the flux will be. And as the flux is directly proportional to the induction voltage, the higher your RPM is the more voltage you will generate. Anyways, love to see these physics applied in lego builds, it's really cool!
Yeah I'm almost tempted to see just how fast it could spin if I connected the magnets directly to the turbine without any gear reduction. But I'd be pretty worried about something flying off or creating a speed wobble. Perhaps in a future experiment!
but vaccum engines have less torque than a nitro engine
@@JamiesBrickJamsdo it, no balls
@@sammyboy2007 on it already 😉
@@JamiesBrickJams eeyyy my man
You must say "Full Bridge Rectifier" more! We must spawn Electroboom
edit: Thanks for 447 likes!
Agreed
Definitely - perhaps one day we'll be graced with his presence 😊
@@JamiesBrickJams i wish you meet him
No, don’t we don’t need him going. crazy again.
As electroboom always says ThefullBrigerectifi and there is no free energy
Most people who are into Lego vacuum engines lubricate their axles and turbine blades with olive oil to achieve even higher RPM. Veggie oil works too :)
I considered that, but didn't want to get my hands all oily 😅 Surprisingly, there wasn't much wear and tear even after running this engine quite a bit. But for a future experiment I'll consider some oil to see how far we can push it!
@@JamiesBrickJams A Q-Tip / cotton swab works pretty well and keeps your hands pretty clean. Cheers!
@@JamiesBrickJams You should honestly use something like silicone grease or oil instead. Vegetable oils tend to oxidize and are hygroscopic, which means they will gum up and actually increase friction after a while.
Are you saying that olive oil is not a veggie oil? 😂
@@SonoIlFactotum They are different I dunno what you are on about ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
surprised this guy does not have more than 100k. You definitely deserve more than 100k for your work.
Aw well appreciate your kind words ☺️ Maybe one day!
Views or subs?
Subs
i like how it sounds like a 4 cylinder sportbike
A piston vacumm engine sounds better i think
I love that it sounds like a rotary, which makes sense given it’s moving air past 3 blades, just as a rotary does, even if it’s not a blade
March 2025: This Lego Jet Engine Blows!
🤔
@@JamiesBrickJams yo what happens if you put oil at the spinny spinny turbines, does it get faster?
@@D9fjg I'd imagine using some lubricant would make it run just a little faster. Probably not too much though. I believe lubricant would make a bigger difference with a piston engine
@@JamiesBrickJams future video idea?
11:00 the loudest lab bench power supply
Want alot of power? Make a lego vacuum v12 engine!
Powered by 4 vacuums!
@@JamiesBrickJams YES!
Actually a vaccuum v12 will be far weaker than even a vaccuum 1 cylinder. The reason is because the vaccuum will need to spend more power to move 12 entire pistons instead of just 1. The axle will also have more rotational inerta in the v12.
@@LemonJuice_ Exactly
What about 12 vacuums 👀
when i relized you ran those 3 12 volts on just one coil you kinda blew my mind. pretty awesome. now make one for a small steam of water
I’ve seen vacuum turbines my friends making hitting like 20k plus rpm. We usually use an oil like olive oil as lubricant when making engines and stuff, if not the axles start sheering cuz of the friction. You def need it for bigger engines like if you make realistic engines with cylinders and start messing with dohc valves systems and stuff.
Cool video btw, keep up the work. 😁
That's awesome! Looks like I'm gonna have to lube this thing up to get more performance in an updated version
you should design a clutch for the hand crank thing attached to the red door, it should act like an E-Stop where the door closes and the engine stops
0:45 the LED actually flashes TWICE per passing of the magnet, once when the coil approaches, an extremely short interrupt at the center as everything is balanced out, then once more when it moves away.
lol no, when the magnet moves away from the coil, the output voltage has the polarity reversed, and since LEDs require the right polarity, they only blink once per pass
Cool! I’d love to see more vacuum based projects in the future
Thanks! I'm pretty new to vacuum engines, but I had a lot of fun, so will definitely be experimenting more here 😉
hey jamie, i’ve almost been building these engines for a year on tiktok, but i’d recommend trying to port the housing a little more to optimize airflow, and definitely lube it (veg oil works fine, but i prefer wd-40 if you don’t care abt maybe damaging bricks more). I think it would also be cool to add a supercharger on top for fun (contact me if you’d like any help on that). Have a good one
Slightly new here but just want to say that I love your work. Nothing more nothing less. I truly enjoy your content
Keep your little light shining.
What a lovely comment, thanks so much for that, and for the encouragement! 😊
You plug the vacuum into the wall, then plug the vacuum into a generator, then plug the generator into a light. It's complicating things a bit, isn't it? Lol, amazing work. Your channel is really cool! Keep it up.
Thanks a lot! And yes, it's really ridiculous - not practical at all 😅 But a very fun experiment
That Lego vacuum turbine sounds like a race car don't you think😊😊😊😊
Because they both go around 10k rpm
Thx for the videos! You inspired me to make a tiny Lego speaker because you made it look so easy.
Aw that's amazing, and I'm so happy to hear that! All I really want is for folks like you to take ideas from these vids to make your own inventions ♥️ Hope your speaker works well!
@@JamiesBrickJams It does! Thx again
Bro didn't make a generator he made a tornado siren
Imagine using this as a powerplant for a lego city
That's a really cool idea!
Btw hetty is so cute lollll😂
I agree, she's the best! I refuse to upgrade her
So you're using electricity... to power a vacuum... to generate electricity.
Love it!
Haha yeah this is totally ridiculous and impractical. But fun ☺️
Very awesome and inspirational design! You think a second prototype can be made more efficient and compact?
Absolutely! And thanks 😁 The generator portion is extremely inefficient, so this is likely the first thing to improve. But the vacuum engine too could see some significant upgrades. Will work on this over time 😉
But can it run doom?
💀💀💀
Lets test
Anything, even electronic pregnancy test can
Chernobyl rundown test
Crazy! Let's test!
Hi Jamie, could i ask if u send the link if where u have bought the copper wire used in the video please? Thanks!❤
Sure! I just get most of my bits and bobs on Amazon. Here's the link to the wire: BNTECHGO 24 AWG Magnet Wire - Enameled Copper Wire - Enameled Magnet Winding Wire - 1.0 lb - 0.0197" Diameter 1 Spool Coil Red Temperature Rating 155℃ Widely Used for Transformers Inductors amzn.eu/d/jip4jls
Thank you!!!!!! I rlly appreciate it!!!!!❤
This could honestly be an awesome over engineered show stand for technic cars
Average technic set:
12:40 Now I dont have to worry about wasting infinite supply of air vaccum to charge my phone lol
Can you please make sure that the final generator can power the vacuum cleaner? That would be nice.
That violates the laws of thermodynamics…
Mom:we have a generator at home
The generator: a damn lego motor
Nice to see the vacuum to phone adapter is going well 😂
😂 Absolute nightmare bringing this charger on the plane
@@JamiesBrickJams and if you do you can use the suction from the toilet to power it 😂
ah yes, powering a generator with electricity (with losses) this is revolutionary! why has no one thought of this yet?
Haha it sure as hell isn't practical 😉 it's really just an incredibly lossy wall to USB transformer!
@@JamiesBrickJams But it is awsome, good job
Full bridge rectifier bro electroboom needs to be here
This is such a cool and interesting hobby. I'd love to get my hands on a collection of technic.
You never fail to impress me… keep up the great work!
Damn, appreciate the compliment, thanks a lot! 🙏
@@JamiesBrickJams Like damn, I never thought these things were possible with Lego! Not only this, but your video ideas are very original, captivating, and just completely awesome. Thank you man. Been subscribed for a very long time.
How about you power the vacuum cleaner itself ?
Now connect it to something like a pi pico or a ti-84 and play doom, to say that you ran doom on a vacuum cleaner with lego
Haha that's actually a great idea 😂
This is a brilliant way to show in a a practical experiment how electricity can be produced just by using airflow to rotate the magnet core.
Thanks 😁 It's obviously totally impractical but a fun experiment nonetheless!
As a siren enthusiast I can confirm this thing sounds like a thunderbolt blower or really high pitched model 2T
Nooooo you cant just make power with Lego!
HAHA turbine go BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRT
So because the light was flashing that indicated it was AC current and then using the capacitors changed it into DC? Is that what most generators have to do if they use magnets?
Does anyone know what his ground plate is called (at the start)
I got mine from various Lego art sets. I believe it's this part here: www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=65803#T=C
@@JamiesBrickJams thanks
Why didn't you fully open it to see the maximum power? 😭
It was fully open when the generator was in action!
9:36 that one LED is like I’m special no, you’re not bud. You’re just ruined it for everyone.
Haha sneaky little dude, had to put him back in his place 😂
mAN just casually electrocutes himself testing a lego turbine. mad. love the video
Wow ! Now, you just need to create a screen, and you have build a complete computer !
A Lego computer would be quite the spectacle 😄
Complete with Lego mouse and keyboard 🤯🤯🤯
@@Sivaramachandran971 The keyboard already exist, it's just a little modification of the organ.
If you want a vacuum turbine to perform well, you have to let the inlet be light and barely any friction in the inlet because it will let the engine run at its best rpm while having the inlet at a certain point where the engine likes it
A thought, If you enclose the generator portion between the vacuum and the vacuum driven turbine, it could perhaps reduce the air pressure such that the generator could be easier to drive.
Maybe even house the generator within the body of the vacuum.
Don't have the budget to patronize anyone (can barely make ends meet) but I remain a faithful humble subscriber. Keep doing cool stuff. One thing I would like to see is a Lego variable capacitor, it ought to work if you put aluminium foil on one side of the plate?
Aw well I just really appreciate your support and comment! ☺️ That's a really interesting idea about a variable capacitor. I guess in theory that's pretty doable. Will have a think about possible applications. Thanks a lot!
Are there low power vacuum cleaners you can use? If so can you turn this into an perpetual motion machine that actually produces power to supply itself?
this would be a cool gadget to have in a house with central vacuum
World's most inefficient wall adaptor 😅
you could try making energy with pistons and compresed air (or steam)
"thinking quickly, macguyver produces a 15 volt generator using nothing but legos, a vacuum, and a 120 volt power supply"
😂 The hard part is making that 620 watt monster like 1% efficient!
While i do love this ingenuity , i just had to comment on one thing. I dont know i f you have an oscilloscope, but i would recommend that you get one to se the wave signal of your coil. because those coils are extremely inefficient. And since you talked about efficiency regarding the vacuum turbine, i would like to think that machine efficiency would also be equally important. While the magnet traverses over the coil, enveloping the coil, there is no induction at all. One would like to think that peak voltage would be at that point, but due to the coil geometry that is not the case. I would assume that the peak voltage positive is when the permanent magnet is introducing the magnetic field in where the edge of the magnet is aligned with the center of your circular core. and a new peak when the magnet is about to leave the coil. The coil in it self introduces harsh harmonic distortion which in turn creates huge losses. If you are going to iterate on this design, i would invite you to check out how coils are assembled in the stators, aligned perpendicular with the magnet, linear, non-circular. A bit difficult to explain, but check out for example lesics. Anywas, a really good proof of concept. i imagine, keeping your coil urn, id guess you would acheive atleast 60% efficiency if you redesign it. And that might be a understatement.
how are you securing the vacuum to the generator as I would quite like to give it a go but can't figure out how to secure it.
Pretty much just suction! I attach a rubber Lego tyre to the end of the vacuum nozzle, and this suctions quite well to the turbine inlet
@@JamiesBrickJams thanks
That's basically a backwards vacuum cleaner that turns the output vacuum of a regular vacuum cleaner back into electricity the same way it was created lol.
Haha yeah, kinda! It's a pretty silly and inefficient way of turning a 620 watts into (probably) sub-10 watts 😅
Try this with a lego vacuum piston engine, I've built ones before and the 1 cylinder has high rpms and decent torque with a good flywheel.
That's an awesome idea, it's definitely on my list as I'm pretty new to vacuum engines, but they look fun as hell!
They sure are, but something about the actual piston engines is that the valve timing has to be 90° left or right from the piston.
Some other engines i made it has a ohc, which then I had to use a chain for it.
Awesome video btw 👍
Vacuum turbines are more efficient and have a higher power output though.
Yeah I just assumed a turbine engine will be more efficient overall. But I do love the mechanical sound and functioning of a piston. They demonstrate concepts well too. So will still give it a try!
Vacuum turbines are fast but have little torque. Piston engines are pretty much the same. But definitely more torque
i love this series of making generators, please make a hydroelectric generator
Water power is on the agenda 😉 And thanks!
“You know I really don’t wanna get too buff” ahh video
13:00 Let me turn my vacuum on so I can light my room.
😂
Most vacuum cleaners also have an output, where air from the vacuum is brought out of the vacuum cleaner.
Why not connect a hose to the output of the vacuum cleaner, and use on the input vent of the generator? Would it make more power now that are is not just being drawn in, but forced in? Have vacuum on one side of the fan, and air on the other side still, Add a flap to the air side so you can still control the power. Might even use a bigger fan to spin it, so you have much more torque and power.
how did you make the 4 blade turbine because I could improve my design with more blades
Edit: I’m building an improved one of these on stream tomorrow (the tomorrow of me typing this)
That's awesome, I hope your stream went well! To be honest I don't remember exactly how I made this one as I took it apart. But I'd imagine a bunch of flat L pieces with axles through them to easily get 4 arms at 90 degrees from each other.
@@JamiesBrickJams I haven’t actually stream yet and I don’t know if I’m eligible because I’m on mobile and the rules are tighter for streaming on mobile
you should make an air raid siren along with an upgraded vacuum turbine
what putty are you using to quickly mount those?
Just simple blu tack! Though I wouldn't recommend it with high speeds - it'd definitely fail at speed
6:00 at this time you made some sort of blower seen on drag cars!
But what about the vacuum cleaner? Doesnt it eat more energy then the engine produces?
Absolutely, way more! This is really just a fun proof of concept
why didn't u make the propeller go inside the vacuum hose?
How much time does it take for one of those magnets to lose it's power?
These magnets won't lose power unless they're damaged or subjected to very high heat! During normal operation they won't lose anything
So i’ve got this electric skateboard that i use to commute to work right, it can go about 30mph, theoretically, if i were to build this with like an air intake, do you think it’d be able to generate enough energy to charge the board? If not the remote? Idk lol
Haha it might charge the remote.. but you'd have to run the generator damn near forever to build up an appreciable charge on a large battery in an electric board. This thing is terribly inefficient 😅
Cool, how much energy does the vacuum pull from the wall?
Let's not think too hard about that 😅 But if you're curious, it's a 620 watt vacuum
You should put more copper around the magnets
Can you try powering up your vacuum cleaner with the generator?
OMG perpetual motion energy 😂😳🤯😝😮
I need the part list,and where you get the parts.
From irresponsible spending over many years 😅 I'm thinking of making instructions for some of my contraptions, but right now life is a bit crazy and need a little more time!
Cool,I'm researching biology as a school subject,and I'm learning electronics from my father.
Ok so I've created lego transformers out of hinges,but it's parts are so old that they are falling apart.
That's cool, my dad got me interested in electronics too. Best of luck with your contraptions!
Also I nabbed a glass air tank,I've been thinking to build a fully-functional lego motorcycle that can compresses its own air and runs off air.and generate its own energy.btw where do you go for those magnets?
Improvement idea: try building the turbo out of those yellow circle pieces it will be much more efficient
In vaccuum engines, turbos actually decrease the preformance of the engine. Thats because the vacccuum will have to use up more power to spin up the turbo along with the engine itself which will decrease power.
Guess we're gonna have to use multiple vacuums 😎
@@JamiesBrickJams 😎😎😎
Very nice work!
Thanks a lot!
You can also use olive oil to make it run smoother
Jamie's Brick Jams has got a brand new notified subscriber right now in me. My first viewing on this channel has been great fun!
UA-cam can learn a lesson from this Channel on the "generating" of an honest Thumbnail that practically guarantees a "Like" simply for its truth in advertising alone. Being lied to makes for a shaky first impression and little chance for a subscription.
UA-cam should ask the Creator if the Thumbnail represents honestly what's in the video, if not UA-cam should place a "Fake Thumbnail" watermark over that video's thumbnail. Power to the People.
Aw well thanks so much for your lovely comment! It can be challenging striking a balance between intrigue and honest representation of the content. Cheers for joining, and appreciate your comment 😁
7:26 man it sounded like a motorcycle speeding up
Haha it does a bit 😄
You should add all the parts and how to build I would be really interested and a link to buy all the parts
Very cool! I've wanted to build a vacuum turbine for a while, although at the moment I have got myself a vacuum mill engine (which is basically just a steam engine with a very simple valve gear - used in old mills & factories, hence the name!). It runs quite well with a large flywheel to keep it turning over. Not sure if it's able to achieve the same results you have with the turbine lol.
Woah that's awesome! What a cool idea for a Lego build 😱
If you already have 3 phazes why not build second generator and try synchronizing them? Maybe even build lego synchroscope?
That actually sounds like a pretty fun idea, cheers for the suggestion!
Fun and interesting, as it's really surprising just how much power can be drawn from just atmosphere pressure, if using a vacuum to direct it.
But; I find the fact the word 'efficiency' is abandoned, yet still used early on incredibly amusing; because using a mains powered vacuum cleaner as the source of for this generator renders all efficiency pretty much void the second it's turned on.
Haha you're totally right, this is really just an absurdly inefficient and over-engineered transformer. Turning a 620 watt vacuum cleaner into only a few watts is pretty silly 😅 But a fun experiment, and I like getting an idea from these generator experiments to benchmark their performance. I'm confident there are better configurations of this vacuum generator which would be much more performant. The engine is good (could be a bit better), but the generator could be much better. Will work on it 😉
@JamiesBrickJams Well, if you like the ridiculously redundant...
Did you consider 'supercharging' your vacuum?
As in use a little positive pressure on the inlet.
Oooh I did not, that's a cool idea! Might have to tinker with that a bit - cheers for the suggestion
i think you should make an actual turbine with steam sometime! that would be pretty cool imo
Lol thanks for making a video about it. Maybe i can fit it on some of my lego technic builds that the original designs didn't seem to do very well with.
Awesome, hope it works out - best of luck! 😁
Add more magnets and coils to make more power!!!!
5.5F is absurd! awesome vid
Yeah I love those little things! They're great at pretending to be a USB source for a short while for low powered things. And a bank of 20 of them is actually quite useful at times
11:32 FUUL BRIDGE RECTIFIER!!! -ElectroBOOM
the best lego channels don't cheat ;) best ofluck!
In America a coil gun is not considered a fire arm no matter how strong it is
awesome build
Thanks! 😊
If you want to charge a phone faster with high voltage, I'd recommend turning some of the voltage to current. I wouldn't push it though, as I don't know a phone's rated amperage.
Make a wind turbine out of Legos that works
It's on my list 😉
Feels funny see someone do a mechanism which a whole community is based on
(Do a dual rotar)
Haha I only realised after making it just how many folks are into these vacuum engines. Does a dual rotor come with any efficiency benefits or is it just a different mechanism to reach the same goal?
@@JamiesBrickJams if you use one vacuum and a split inlet, yeah I think it'll be more efficient than adding four (Vacuum cleaners take electricity u know)
While this more or less is a demonstration, you could probably use this generator with a vacuum generated by falling water! I don’t know any of the logistics, but seeing as it was a relatively low power setting and vacuum, running this off a small waterfall seems like a viable idea.
Driving something similar with water is definitely on my agenda, good thinking! I also love the idea of driving it by vacuum created by the flow of water through a pipe. Thanks for the suggestion 😁
WoW that was something super interesting!
Aw thanks 😁