Car Window Motor

On the way home from Austin Mini Maker Faire 2015, Griffin's car window mysteriously lowered itself a few inches. Dad told Griffin to stop it. Griffin said "I didn't do anything!". Then the window rolled itself all the way down and would not go back up. We guessed that the window was not haunted, just broken. We were very glad that it was not raining.

Griffin helped to open up the door panel to see what was wrong. He tried out the 3D-printed screwdriver handle that he got at the Maker Faire, and it worked well. After we removed the plastic door panel and the sticky waterproof film, we could see that there was a loose cable in the door. We took the old part out to see what was wrong. Dad thought the cable had snapped, but it Griffin said it was a plastic clip that broke. The motor and switch were still working. We had to buy a new "Window Regulator" which replaces the combination of motor, brackets, cable, and pulley. Griffin helped put the new part in, and then find the connector for the door's speaker which had gotten tangled up and lost inside the door panel. After everything was put back together, the window works again.

Griffin got to keep the old parts and we will see what he builds with them. He says that the motor is 12 volts DC, which means that it can reverse directions. He plans to take the cable out but keep the gear box.