What to do about rust in motor?

[ambroseliao]

I opened up a motor recently and found that the tops of the iron stator a had rusted somewhat. This was surprising because I was told the motor had not been ridden much in the rain and was from Austin Texas where it's very warm and relatively dry most of the year so I assumed it would be in good physical shape. The magnet ring on the rotor isn't too bad but shows signs of rust along the base as well. Along with the rust, the interior of the case was covered in a whitish powder which I can't explain either...

My question is: what should I do about this rust?

Any constructive recommendations with product names (if recommended) and tips for application would be appreciated.

Here are some pictures.


Rusty tops of the coils.


Magnets on rotor are okay but base shows beginning signs of rust too. You can also see the whitish powder coating the inside of the cover.

 

[bowlofsalad]

Based solely on stuff I've read, what happens is air gets sucked into the hub as it cools, the moisture from the air in the hub then begins to accumulate inside of the hub. To alleviate this, some people suggest drilling a hole and placing some sort of cover such as some sort of tape, and letting the motor drain once in a while.

However, I think that might be a silly waste of time. You might get most of the water out, but it may be hard to truly dry the hub and keep it dry with a process like trying to let it drain. In addition to this, the water is likely to just keep on accumulating. I could be wrong, but that is what I imagine.

Anyway, in my mind, it seems that the bottom line is that the way most direct drive hubs are designed is a bit odd and might cause some problems. I think the best way to go would be to drill slanted holes in the hub covers and spray all the necessary spots with some kind of rust inhibitor.

There seems to be a lot of options with motor sprays. The only one that I can recall reading about is boeshield t-9.

Motors are not impervious to heat, in addition to heat being a possible issue, a cooler running motor will run more effeciently than a hotter running one. So all around, it seems like a no brainer to drill holes and spray the motor. I don't know if there are any down sides beyond needing to potentially clean out mud or something like that from the motor, but as far as reliability and functionality, I'd probably go with drill and spray.

I don't know if you feel like the rust needs to be removed, I have no idea how you'd do that short of either replacing the rusted parts or removing and sanding. I don't know if the parts being as rusted as they are harms anything, but it would be wise to prevent it from occurring further.

I've never done any of this myself, I have no experience in the matter aside from simply using a sealed direct drive hub motor myself. I have been considering drilling and spraying a motor and doing this as well for future motors for exactly the reason you describe. I don't want to deal with issues such as the one you are.

 

[amberwolf]

My question is: what should I do about this rust?

Any constructive recommendations with product names (if recommended) and tips for application would be appreciated.

The first place I'd go for answers to that is Kingfish's DIY rust and restoration thread.

 

[ambroseliao]

Thanks AW, for the clue.

Found the thread here:
http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=34135

 

[arkmundi]

Oh yea! Thanks for the great thread on dealing with motor rust!