Homemade DC Motor. How to Make A Simple DC Motor. Simple DIY Project. little motor really cranks! only takes a few minutes to make. cost barely nothing. ($3.00 for the magnet wire - from frys electronics and 99 cents for the magnet (ually sold as a 2-pack at from harbor freight tools)). not sure if there is any prical applications for this but it looks cool (so i had to try it.). *others have made similar motors and said that the wire gets pretty warm pretty fast (within seconds). i ran it for 10 minutes and it stayed cool. *I think it helps to remove ALL the coating from the ends of the magnet wire so the connection is solid. items used: a magnet, magnet wire, 2 paper clips, a block of wood and one or two AA batteries.