Brushed permanent magnet starter motor to play with

[Supersleeper]

Hi Folks,

I've had my starter motor replaced, and asked to keep the original part. I found that the only thing wrong with the motor was the brushes wore out due to oil getting inside. I was going to drop by the parts store and get a new set of brushes for it. I don't have a lot of options with it's current configuration as the solenoid housing limits access to the drive shaft, and if I remove the housing, there's no bearings to hold the motor shaft at the front. Also looks like there's no true bearings in it, only bushings. The drive shaft is easily removable.

So this begs the question as to what it would be fun/easy to do with as a project? Maybe the answer is to build a new housing with bearings and ventilation? Maybe just go buy a fly-wheel from a junk yard and bolt the stock housing to a frame and play around with wind power generation? Industrial grade shredder? Maybe make a baseball or softball launcher for my kids?

 

[amberwolf]

Whatever you do with it, make it's use of the motor short-duration, cuz that's what they're designed for--very intermittent, very short-duration bursts of high power.

Since it doesn't have bearings, but rather bushings, constant use of the motor will wear them faster.

If you don't use it for high power, it may be able to handle longer-duration uses, but keep an eye on it's temperature in operation, cuz it's really meant to work hard then rest a long time to cool off.

 

[dawrench]

Ever heard of bar stool racers?

 

[dnmun]

i had a starter motor quit working when the brushes wore down to the point where they could not contact the armature anymore.

the brushes have a braided copper lead that was embedded in the copper to conduct the motor current and the braided lead had bound up against the end of the slot in the brush holder so the spring could not push the brush onto the armature enuff to make contact anymore, so the starter would not work.

i took the end plate with the brush holder and i filed the slot for the braided lead longer so there was more range for the spring to push the brushes onto the armature.

so then i reassembled the starter and put it back into the old car and used it that way for another 3-4 years until the car died.

i also considered repairing a heater fan motor that had the brushes totally worn out to the point the carbon brush was gone and just the lead was remaining and the spring was pushing the copper lead onto the armature to make the motor run. brushes totally worn away and gone. i almost found some similar brushes, since there is no replacement part, on ebay and was gonna repair it too, but the armature was so mangled by the copper lead riding and sparking on it that i ended up just using another fan motor i got from another parts car.

amazing how much stuff can just be repaired and not have to be totally replaced. like they do in cuba or africa or the boonies in asia and south america.

there was a guy who drove around the world in his old 2CV citroen back in the 60's. a car that we all know as the deux chevaux. there was a spot in the andes where he had lost all the gear oil in his differential and it was not possible to obtain gear oil for lubrication so the guy mashed a lotta local bananas into a paste and squeezed it into the differential for lubrication and drove on that until he got back to civilization. or where there was oil available, which is civilization for us.

 

[dogman dan]

Greasy enough for the gears. I thought you were going to say he put lard in there.

I was halfway between Yuma and Tucson once on a 118 F day, with no water left to put in the car with the taped up radiator hose. But I made it, stopping every 5 miles to put another six pack in there till I got to Dateland and got some water and a hose. Limped for about 25 miles on the beer. Took about 4 hours, but I made it.