Tail Motor Break-in

[Bladecpnitro]

I have about 70 flights on my last N 60 even after bending and straitening the shaft on it at 64 flights, its going fine. I put one drop of WD 40 on the tail motor shaft every day and it barely seems to get warm now that I'm flying circuits and moving around.

I never broke it in because it wasn't noisy and didn't get hot when it was new. It started getting noisy and I started oiling it after reading this thread and I think thats helping more than anything. Lubrication is not going to stay on a tiny motor turning that fast and getting hot.

I haven't used the motor yet that I did break in, mentioned earlier in this thread because my current motor has been such a good one.



Hey Olemil, how did you get the motor apart did you grind those bent over tabs off with a ziz wheel?

[olemil]

Originally Posted by Bladecpnitro

I have about 70 flights on my last N 60 even after bending and straitening the shaft on it at 64 flights, its going fine. I put one drop of WD 40 on the tail motor shaft every day and it barely seems to get warm now that I'm flying circuits and moving around.

I never broke it in because it wasn't noisy and didn't get hot when it was new. It started getting noisy and I started oiling it after reading this thread and I think thats helping more than anything. Lubrication is not going to stay on a tiny motor turning that fast and getting hot.

I haven't used the motor yet that I did break in, mentioned earlier in this thread because my current motor has been such a good one.



Hey Olemil, how did you get the motor apart did you grind those bent over tabs off with a ziz wheel?

I think this whole motor thing is a crap shoot, you may try 10 motors and maybe get one real good one, don't know. The one that came on the SR lasted about two packs, the replacement lasted what seemed like forever and now another short lived one. It seems there are a couple different styles of motors out there, I had one that was open on each end so you could oil both bushings. The most recent ones the end has a black plastic cover so you can't oil the back bearing and they all came from the same supplier. To get the motor apart, I used several different tools, lol, ended up getting them straightened out with a small pair of pliers, they are tough little tabs for sure!!!

[estarter]

I have 3 BSR, only had problem with one tail motor, it burnt out during the first flight, got a new tail motor and have logged 120+ flights, the other 2 BSR tail motor logged about 30+ flights each, so far my odd is 1 bad tail motor out of 4.

I do sport and some mild 3D flying like flips, rolls, loops, piros upright and inverted, the heli is all stock and the tail has good authority, never blow out on me, always 12+ mph wind in my flying field.

I have a new tail motor, will do a water break in with 2 D alkaline cells to see any tail improvement.

[Bladecpnitro]

Originally Posted by olemil

I think this whole motor thing is a crap shoot, you may try 10 motors and maybe get one real good one, don't know. The one that came on the SR lasted about two packs, the replacement lasted what seemed like forever and now another short lived one. It seems there are a couple different styles of motors out there, I had one that was open on each end so you could oil both bushings. The most recent ones the end has a black plastic cover so you can't oil the back bearing and they all came from the same supplier. To get the motor apart, I used several different tools, lol, ended up getting them straightened out with a small pair of pliers, they are tough little tabs for sure!!!

I haven't found anything in my array of tools that will hook under the tabs to even start lifting them up. I would like to see inside one. I have 3 used ones laying on the shelf that I could tear apart.

Here is a very nice web page that has an electric motor break article about a 1/4 down the page http://www.2bfly.com/Pages/powerplants1.aspx#breakin
according to this I should not be using penetrating oil like WD-40. Guess I'll start using 3-1 oil.


Hey estarter it will be interesting to hear how your motor break in goes. I'm thinking possibly when you get the occassional bad tail motor that it might be saved by breaking it in. The one I put on my Blade CP wouldn't hold the tail at all until I broke it in, dry on low voltage, no prop.

[olemil]

Originally Posted by Bladecpnitro

I haven't found anything in my array of tools that will hook under the tabs to even start lifting them up. I would like to see inside one. I have 3 used ones laying on the shelf that I could tear apart.

Yes those little tabs are a real bear to get bent back straight. I think the metal case is the toughest/best part of the whole motor....LOL. I used an awl to wedge under the tip of the tabs to kind of raise them enough so I could grab them with pliers. After a few attempts it was me against the motor and guess who won......... .

[thegeek]

Hi Bladecpnitro

Can't get to your link on break in (could be my prob). I'm more concerned about the oil comments...what should we be using??

[olemil]

Originally Posted by thegeek

Hi Bladecpnitro

Can't get to your link on break in (could be my prob). I'm more concerned about the oil comments...what should we be using??

Didn't work for me either. For oil, I just use some RC motor oil I picked up at the LHS or you can use 3n1 oil (just a drop in the bushing)

[zs6bnt]

Hi all those who took the tail motor apart!

I have had one fail after about 25 flights and just threw it away.
I noticed that on this motor the shaft could move in and out a few mm whilst the replacement motor shaft hardly moved.

The current tail motor has about 45 flights on it and I notice now that the shaft moves in and out a few mm!

Is this perhaps a sign that I should replace it now?

I don't know because I threw the old one away, but if the brushes were badly worn would this maybe allow the shaft to move as it does now?
The shaft is under tension when I pull it away from the motor body, perhaps this is the way the brushes are spring loaded, and it will go back towards the motor on it's own.

If anyone has an opened motor perhaps you could see / take a photo, how the brushes are mounted and contact the commutator.

Thanks

Dave.

[skyl3r_2k]

Wish they would have just made the tail awesome from the factory. Seems like they spent time to make other stuff better and left a big part of it broken for 200.00 I think they should have fixed it. Mine hasnt burned out yet but I dont look foward to spending the money on rebuilding it after it crashes and burns. Nor do I wanna spend 100.00 on replacement tail belt driven.

[Travis02]

My first tail motor out of the box was really loud and buzzy. After a few hard crashes and straightening the motor shaft a couple times decided to just replace the motor. I decided to try a motor break in and used 90% isopropyl alcohol and a single aa battery for about 10 min. Now i will admit i could of gotten a lucky motor everyone seems to talk about but my broken in motor is super quiet and even has less tail wag! Also an interesting note is after flying a full pack of mostly flying around doing nothin brave the motors warm but its not about to burn your finger which tells me this broken in motor may not be goin balls out to keep up.
I hope this helps!

[jefflisa828]

I know this thread is old but I called horizon today about the tail motor on my sr. They asked me if I broke it in being my first ccpm heli I was unaware that I needed to they said run through 2 batteris idled up then 2 in hover to break in proper. Now my question is should I do it this way or water method they are sending me a new n60 and wiring harness. i hovered this brand new out of the box for 30 seconds and the tail motor quit

[nbells]

"" Now my question is should I do it this way or water method""

Show me a manufacturer who endorses submerging Open electrical motors in water to break them in ?

This is just an stupid urban practice started by somone who has no electrical or armature winding knowledge whatsoever.

To break motors in, you normally shape the brush before Installing them, you obviously can't do it with the "toy" motor used in the SR, so the way to do it is to just run them slowly for a few minutes before letting them scream.

nbells

[jefflisa828]

thanks that is what they recommend

[fourstringin]

Wow so this is how the thread ends... Water water water, no that's stupid run it dry.

[DKS_ONE]

I don't see any reason to go through the lengths a lot of people in this thread have. It's a cheap little motor, some will work fine, some will crater prematurely, but fwiw it's pretty easy to swap out the motor although it is an annoying thing to do if the motors are failing all the time. Guess that's why it costs a bit more for a driven tail?