Vibration Device?

[InfoH]

Hello,

I'm quite new to electronics and only really play with them at the minute, not built anything of any use

However i've decided that I could build a fairly simple rig to help me with certain tasks, now when i went to maplins they had various bits and bobs but didnt have a vibration device..
I'm ideally looking for something similar to this:



this is a buzzer from maplins which just makes a noise, does anyone know if you can get something like this to produce a vibration?
or would i need to setup some cogs and motors to produce movement?

many thanks for your feedback

[Simon (Webmaster)]

How about the vibrating motor from a mobile phone? I'm sure you must be able to get them as spares, or even cannibalise an old phone. I don't think a piezo element is going to give you a strong enough vibration.

[mutley]

Mobile phones simply use a small motor with an unbalanced weight on the spindle. As you know from your washing machine, when it's not balanced, it shakes about! The more it's unbalanced, the more violently it shakes.
One idea is to use a small motor with a thin spindle and use the brass terminal from a piece of terminal block clamped onto the spindle. The majority of the terminal, and the screw, will be on the same side, making the spindle unbalanced, and vibrate.

In order to get full vibration power, you need to securely fix the motor to the case or chassis of the device. If it is "soft-mounted", eg by using thick sticky pads, then the soft material will absorb a lot of the vibration.