Repairing the bearings in a 500L motor

[Finless]

OK this ROCKED in my opinion.

BIG THANKS to Helifreak user jarad_of_atlanta for taking the time to do this video for you all. I think it is top notch!

So without furture ado... Enjoy!

Video Link ->How to replace the 500L motor bearings (40 Megs)

Thanks Jarad for doing this and sharing it with the users here on Helifreak!

Bob

[PlasticHead]

Great video, thanks Jarad and thanks for making it a sticky Bob.

PH

[jared_of_atlanta]

Glad I could give back.

[Bignose13]

COOL

[Peter10654]

Maybe somebody can give a link for bearing suppliers or is it recommend to use the Align bearings ?!

Thanks for the Video !! Great job

Peter

[Finless]

I use www.vxb.com but there are many supliers of good bearings.

Bob

[Eduardo]

Nice video. Thanks for the job...

Eduardo

[ualdrivr]

Cool stuff, Thanks

[jujiro]

I was trying to replace the bearings in my motor ( 500L) managed to get the bearing on the top of the motor out but the bearing on the bottom is stuck pretty good. IT hasn't moved even in the least bit even after me hammering away at it using the method described in the video for half an hour.

[jared_of_atlanta]

You could try to heat it. I have a wind resistant lighter (small one for candles) that shoots out a nice jet that you can point any which way. It was only like 5 bucks and should get anything hot enough to melt the threadlock.

[SeanOC]

Hey guys this is my first experience with an electric motor the size of the t500's. While programming my esc last night with the motor out I ran it up to about 1/4 throttle just for sh$ts and giggles. I noticed the bearings were very noisy, much more than any other bl motor I've owned. Is this normal for a motor this size? Motor is brand new as well.

[jared_of_atlanta]

When you give it full throttle (out of the heli), does it vibrate like crazy? It should be nice and smooth if you hold it in your hand. There is a video floating around with the crazy vibrations.

[SeanOC]

Originally Posted by jared_of_atlanta

When you give it full throttle (out of the heli), does it vibrate like crazy? It should be nice and smooth if you hold it in your hand. There is a video floating around with the crazy vibrations.

was more of a noise issue that caught my attention Jared. When I get home I will spin it up to full and check for vibration.

Thanks,

Sean

[Aberdeen]

Helidirect has ABEC-3 in stock for the Align Motor.
just a heads up.

Also, they have the 2 smaller bearings for the Scorpion motor, in ABEC-3.
not the larger bearning needed though. :c(

Anthony

[HeliSmith]

Top motor cap came off not the bottom:
The motor cap came off on the wrong end for me can't feed the wires out that way. I took out the the motor shaft and stuck it through the bottom and sure enough the bearing is shot. Red loctited the top cap back on and will try again tomorrow.

Making a tool to remove the end cap: (Not my idea it's on the 430XL motor thread kinda)

Items needed: 1/8" thick x 1" wide x 12" or more aluminum bar Home Depot. 4 x M3x8mm screws, drill and drill bits, mm ruler and a hack saw or dremel cut off wheel.

1. Cut two sections of the bar about 6" long.
2. In one section make a set of holes 25mm from center of hole to center of hole larger than 3mm. Make a hole right in the middle of that larger than the motor shaft. Make sure it isn't sharp this can damage your motor shaft. You can elongate the center hole if need be to line up the motor screw holes.
3. Make two holes 25mm from center to center slightly smaller that 3mm. This end thread two M3x8mm screws through the holes you made. This should go through the holes in the bottom of the motor.
4. Use the remaining 2 x M3x8 screws to fix the other end to the top of the motor.
5. Pray that the bottom breaks free first this time.

Sorry for the dark pictures my camera flash is broken.

P.S.
I will go with ceramic bearings personally I am not unhappy with the 500L may as well do it right and we had them..

[jared_of_atlanta]

I guess I would recommend heating up the bottom ring with a blow torch or maybe even a lighter. Even just 10-15 seconds. That way you weaken the threadlock on the bottom so that it comes apart first.

[HeliSmith]

That is great a plan!

BTW: Thank you very much for the video Jared!

[BenHeli]

Good work Mike.

[iceman33]

thanks for the video.
but I don't think that replace the bearing will slove the problem.
if fact, this motor has a structural problems.
At home, you can not make sure the windings vertical the under cover,also that you can't make sure the uper and under bearing in line.
so the bearing will damage very fast.

[HeliSmith]

Ben,

Glad if I helped..

Iceman33,

I took the oppurtunity to green thread lock my top bearing in place because my top cap came off. I will clean up the shaft and use a very small amount when putting it back together. Maybe you will want to take both caps off?

P.S. My red threadlock failed even heating the bottom of the can a little and I had to really give it some shoulder to make it fail too. UGH! I red thread locked it BIG I think this will do it.