The DC motor that melted itself

Physics project. Build a DC motor from scratch. Copper wire, magnets, a battery, and something to hold the whole thing together. I used hot glue. This turned out to be a mistake.

The motor actually worked. It spun. I was genuinely proud of it for about thirty seconds.

Then the commutator got warm. Which is normal for DC motors. Except hot glue does not like heat. That is literally its whole thing. It melts when hot.

The commutator warmed up enough to soften the glue holding the assembly together. It sagged. It shorted. It stopped. I watched my working motor slowly destroy itself in real time.

Good lesson though. Hot glue and copper commutators are not friends. Also I passed the assignment because the motor did work before it melted. The video and still image show it both working and the aftermath.