Motor Break in Procedure & Reasons Why

[4RnrRick]

Well I'm just a Noob when it comes to the land of RC vehicles and I never hear of this before until SR5Dave mentioned it in another post.

So why do you break a motor in?

Are you causing any harm if you didn't?

What methods are used to break a motor in?








This was SR5Dave said in another post. Ref: http://www.rccrawler.com/posts5293-0.html
If the motor arcs in synch with the radio glitches, I'd suggest breaking the motor in on less voltage. (Do the underwater on 7.2V trick).....
Breaking in the motor: Pull your motors out, plug them into a 7.2V pack, and run it underwater until it stops spewing out crud (no more than 1-2 minutes I'd imagine). And no, water won't hurt a thing (I can't remember how many volts until things arc under water, but its like 25+) So RC motors are fine underwater What this does is it lets the brushes on the motor get ground down so they make full contact to the comm (thing brushes ride on).......Its the crud in water that screws things up! Water itself is fine.

[4RnrRick]

Oh this is the only reference I found for motor break in here on RCCrawler.com.....

http://www.rccrawler.com/postlite4333-motor.html+break

[Ace]

The idea is to set the brush (wear the contact in with the commutator) with less current so when ya run it normally the current has more surface area to transfer the power to the comm.

Personally, if I had a nice motor to race with I might break it in but with nice soft silver brushes.

For a lathe motor, I really wouldn't bother cause they don't draw many amps anyway.

Never a bad idea, but I've never broken in a motor in a crawler.

[BenW]

Motor break in info

[SR5Dave]

Originally Posted by Ace

The idea is to set the brush (wear the contact in with the commutator) with less current so when ya run it normally the current has more surface area to transfer the power to the comm.

Personally, if I had a nice motor to race with I might break it in but with nice soft silver brushes.

For a lathe motor, I really wouldn't bother cause they don't draw many amps anyway.

Never a bad idea, but I've never broken in a motor in a crawler.

That is correct, but I would still reccomend breaking in lathe motors when you're running that high of voltage. They pack a lot of punch and will pull a decent amount of juice at full load. Probably a hair more than they are really intended to. Have you taken apart your motors to see how they work yet rick? If you do you can see the brushes, comm, etc. The brushes should have a nice ( shape on the end that lines up perfectly with the comm.

[Ace]

Good point.

IF your crawler weighs 20 pounds and your running lathe motors on 110VDC you best break them in nice

[SR5Dave]

Originally Posted by Ace

Good point.

IF your crawler weighs 20 pounds and your running lathe motors on 110VDC you best break them in nice

[4RnrRick]

Originally Posted by BenW

Motor break in info

Thats some good info......

Originally Posted by SR5Dave

Have you taken apart your motors to see how they work yet rick? If you do you can see the brushes, comm, etc. The brushes should have a nice ( shape on the end that lines up perfectly with the comm.

Sounds like you really know me, but the answer is No.... I don't have to take everything apart to see how it works after I get it ..... Anyways, I've already seen the insides of a motor so I understand how it works .... BTW, it you didn't know my a mechanical engineer in my real job....... so I know a little about a lot.

Okay so did I do any damage to mine that I should be concerned about. Or should I tear it apart and polish the Communicator/arbor shaft thingy?

[SR5Dave]

I didn't know you were an ME... I am an ME in training

I'm sure they're fine, I doubt you did anything to hurt em. They may be broken in now already just from running them. Its less than ideal, but oh well.

[4RnrRick]

Yeah, thats what I'm thinking...... probably to late now to get any benifit from it.

Offically I got a BSME in '98. So does that mean I have a degree in B*LLSH*T'N myself, maybe.....

[SR5Dave]

Originally Posted by 4RnrRick

Yeah, thats what I'm thinking...... probably to late now to get any benifit from it.

Offically I got a BSME in '98. So does that mean I have a degree in B*LLSH*T'N myself, maybe.....

I always laughed at the acronym BS