How ceiling fans are made

Punch the laminations

A punch machine cuts silicon steel into laminations for the stationary core of a conventional AC fan motor.

0.5 to 1.0 mm thick

Stack and rivet the core

The laminations are stacked, and rivets hold the pile together as the stator. One patent warns that these two steps can add small inaccuracies to the finished dimensions.

Wind the copper coils

Copper rod is drawn into thin wire and wound around the core to form motor coils. One Chinese machine builder sells a programmable stator winder that lays up to 40 coils at once.

Make the housing

The motor housing is either die cast from aluminum or zinc, or stamped from sheet steel.

Wire the circuit board

On some designs, magnets are mounted over the core and the motor coils are connected to a circuit board.

Shape the blades

Blades are made from wood, plastic or metal, picked for quality and cost and for what buyers will accept, then finished.

Mount blades on arms

Each blade is fixed to a metal arm, which bolts to the rotating part of the motor. Lights and other decorative parts go on at this stage.

Inspect the finished fan

Quality inspections on the manufactured fan weed out defects before it ships.