Hey i'm making a DC motor, and wonder how many turns should i make.... note that i did 10 and it didn't work, i don't no whether it was to many or less :S thx!
10 - 20 turns should be sufficient (I got mine to work using just 12 turns)
perhaps your motor didn't work due to other factors, such as the brushes not touching the commutator properly (too much friction, or not enough contact). or maybe the armature cannot spin around the axle freely, or the symmetry may be a little off etc...
there are so many reasons why a simple home built motor might fail to work. the number of turns might not actually be your problem
i would rather stick with the copper wires and spent my money on some fancy rare earth magnets. i had my fingers snapped between a set of them, very painful. after the motor assignment, you can walk around with the magnets destorying ppl's bank cards etc..