The 24 block magnets used for this generator will be arranged in a circular pattern on the outside of the rotor, but the polarity of each magnet will face a different direction than the adjacent one. This arrangement is known as a Halbach array, and it creates the strongest possible magnetic field on the outside of the rotor, where the wires are located.

Before inserting magnets into the rotor, I used a sharpie to mark the polarity direction on each end of each magnet. Then, I drew arrows on the rotor to specify the polarity direction in each slot. This is a rotating 4-arrow pattern. After that, you just need to have the sharpie-drawn line facing the direction of the corresponding arrow!

The image below was an earlier generation of my prototype generator that used square magnets, but the steps are the same even with the rectangular magnets that we are using for this project.

Place one bearing into each of the generator top components. Hopefully these slide in fairly easily, but you may need to apply some force or lightly tap the bearings with a hammer to force them into place.

The center axle is printed in 3 parts. The short, flat ended axle piece will go into one end of the generator. The longer piece connected with the gear shaped end, as shown below, and will be inserted through the bearing on the other end of the axle.

Take the shorter axle piece and slide it through the bearing on one of the generator tops. You will then need to glue the end of that axle into the center hole of the generator rotor so that a small gap of about 1 cm is between the generator top bearing and the rotor & magnets.

Push together the two pieces that make up the other end of the axle, but we will not glue this to the generator yet.

*In both steps below, ensure that the edges pointing out of the sides of the outer ring are perfectly aligned with the spikes pointing upward on the generator tops.*

*Make sure that the magnet rotor is simply connected via the glued-in axles. The magnet rotor should not be resting on the generator tops, nor should it touch the insides of the outer ring. This ensures that the rotor will spin freely.*

Next, you can attach the outer ring to the generator. You will glue the top (or bottom) edge of the outer ring onto the outside edge of the generator top that you have connected with the shorter axle. At this point, the generator rotor with all of the magnets should be "floating" in the center of the outer ring.

Finally, place some super glue in the open end of the rotor's center hole and on the exposed top edge of the outer ring. Then place the generator top with the longer axle (inserted through the bearing) on top of the outer ring. The axle should slide into the rotor's center hole, and the generator top should adhere to the glue you have place on the outer ring's edge.

The photo below shows a top down (longer axle on top) view of how the generator assembly should now look.

The final step in assembling out generator core is to wind the wires around the outside. Leave at least 12 inches of wire free at the start and finish. These leads will be used to connect our generator to the LED circuit later, so you don't want to have them included in the coils.

You should try to get 30 loops of a 'snaking' coil in order to maximize the voltage we will induce in the circuit. As the wire goes up and down the sides of the outer ring, it will turn through the small gates created by the spikes on top of the generator top/bottom. This should create the appearance of six sections on the top and bottom of the generator.