Rusty stator repair
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Been asked to take a look at a stator from a Floatwheel that's been flooded.
I've become the go to for "nobody else will even look at it" jobs. What can I say, I like a challenge. That and I'm stubborn.
The board was supposedly "washed" but looks like it's been submerged or pressure washed since the stator has a clear line where it was left on it's side half full of water and the owner stated there was a puddle in the motor when the stator was removed, dripping with water. Board had been leant out to someone that had done this. I won't get further into the details since I'm not interested in throwing shade. I'm just here to fix the sad little motor.
Not pictured is one phase pin is completely charred so likely the gradual seizing of the motor drew too much power and nearly obliterated the pin itself. Might be recoverable but I'll see. The big chunk of rust has my attention atm.
The bearings on both sides are completely seized too which is what prompted the owner to suspect the board had been mistreated. They do not turn at all like they're a singular chunk of metal. Popping the seals gives a little hint as to why.
Pulling them wasn't too hard. The hub one came out fine in my hydraulic press (only use one for bearings if you know how to do it, you'll crack a casing otherwise).
The other one needed some persuasion with a puller and a hammer to tap it free. Used the block and some scrap metal to help pull it off the seized portion then tapped it off the rest of the way.
Waiting on some more chemicals to help me remove the rust without stripping the copper enamel.
Will update this as I go. Didn't see much online about restoring motors especially Onewheel ones so figured I'd bring y'all along for the ride to see if it's do-able. -
@lia Looks like a bit of work, but you're on top of it, the magnets look good with the plating intact.
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@lemur Thanks :)
Hoping the windings are fine. I have another cannoncore with a completely cooked phase so I don't fancy rewinding 2 motors 😅 -
Me and the rust are wearing each other down. War of attrition but I think I'm winning 😤
It's taking a while and honestly been taking little breaks to see if I can repair the bearings. These are so damn expensive and ngl I feel like they're not as disposable as we're treating them. So I've been whittling away with a toothbrush and dish soap.
There is a shocking amount of stuff that I slowly managed to work out. Like without pulling the cage and peaking at the balls it's hard to tell what was truly causing the issue since this clearly isn't just water damage. Silt maybe? It wasn't crunchy like when you get sand in the bearing and the colour was brown like mud so maybe it was that. Pretty bad regardless to completely lock it up.
Anyway I finally got them to spin. Not perfectly so I'll see if I can keep cleaning but this is progress. I wonder if I can actually restore these to a usable standard.
These were completely seized before so I'm a little surprised they spun at all. Especially since there seemingly wasn't any amount of force you could put into these to rotate even a little.These are now sitting in an isopropyl bath overnight with a little agitation now and then. I may result to using some more harsher chemicals on these for some of the nastier looking corrosion present on the exteriour if I can't clean those off with some #0000 steel wool.
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@lia
Damn she was crusty -
@beardonaboard Ikr. I was in shock at how bad it looked!
Also hyped to see you here <3 -
@lia this is looking from your description like it ended up in a river or pond at some point
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@lia I'm everywhere, I'm in your walls 🤪
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@wheelwizard Seems like it. It's been confirmed it went through some mud and I've been finding it in the stator still.
Rust is now mostly gone after a LOT of scrubbing with a toothbrush, WD contact cleaner and #0000 steel wool.
After constantly rotating the motor, adding cleaner, scrubbing and seeing brown keep appearing in bits I'd already gone over I realised there was actual mud between the plate stacks. I managed to sweep out one and sure enough... clean. So went through and did the rest.
Will have to wash the motor off after to make sure no steel wool or stuff is still just floating around on the motor before assembling but it's on the home stretch ^-^
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Bearings came out great after a few more cleaning soaks and scrubbing. Repacked them with grease which as expected made them no longer spin freely but they're smooth and clearly going to last longer now.
Cleaned up the magnets too while I was at it. There was a few bits of dried gunk and some corrosion stains on them. Thankfully those mostly came off with a bit of vigorous scrubbing.
Touched up the hall joints as they seemed a little off. Redid the other joints too just while I was at it which made them easier to check. All seemed to measure right after doing so which is good since I don't have any spare.
I finally got that phase pin that was blackened clean and measuring fine too. I don't have a floatwheel motor connector to mate it too and test it but I put my probes in relatively loose and they all measure when testing between all 3 combinations.
So with it electrically and visually looking fine it's time to put bits back together.
I'm only putting the hub bearing in for now while I wait for the owner to say if they would like me to completely re-assemble it or leave the stator out so they can check my work first.
Been getting a lot of use out of this press. Definitely got a good feel for it despite what people say about using these for seating bearings.Hope to let y'all know soon if it works or not once they get it back. If it does I might pop open my old XR that I used to submerge while riding through streams. See how bad it is and refurbish it given I know I can do it.
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They were happy for me to re-install it since popping stators back in is a bit of a hairy task. Gotten a little used to it now so happy to do it.
However I don't have the rail to actually handle this properly... but I do have a lot of scrap wood.
Card around the magnets as a barrier for when it inevitably wants to scrape on it's way down. Stupid easy drop in with a little extra convincing with the press to seat it onto the hub bearing properly.
And there it is. I don't have the plate either so left the bearing off the other side. It's easier and imo better to mount the bearing on the plate then slide that onto the axle. It'll hopefully get collected at some point and be put back to use. Hopefully this time not in water 😩
I'll let y'all know if this truly was a success once I hear back. But based on measurements it seems all good.
