Scott’s Wimshurst Machine!

UPDATE: Plans for my Wimshurst Machine are now available here!

Last year I wrote an article that appeared in the last Make: Magazine which outlined detailed steps for building a Wimshurst Influence machine. It’s a fairly involved project and I am gratified to see that people are actually building it!

There are at least a half dozen people who have written me with questions about substitutions and troubleshooting but Scott is the first to send me pictures of his completed machine.

I like what he’s done with the natural finish and you’ll note that he’s opted for more sectors which should increase the current output of his machine in comparison to mine.

. . .

Scott writes:

You can see I used a couple of the brass filial bases and a piece of walnut to make a handle for the crank and then made some brass fittings. Also I took your advice in the Make article and went with 24 metal plates per disk. My base is pine with an oak finish and I added a wrap around railing with my own brass posts. Also threaded the extensions on the neutralizing bar supports so that I could screw the filials on then attach the ‘arms’ with connector brushes after getting the bars set right.