This is from a post I started at Mini-Z Racer Forum in which I test the effectiveness of cleaning Mini-Z motors.

Motor 1

This is a stock Kyosho motor that came with my Ford GT Ready set. This was the first Mini-Z I got last year and I ran the heck out of it. I don’t know how much time but I am guessing 100-plus 5 minute Time Trials maybe more and possibly a lot more.

In the beginning I broke the motor in by running it on a single AA cell for about 30 minutes. After that, besides oiling the bushings every few runs and an occasional drop of comm fluid, I didn’t do anything to it.

When I took it out of the car it was running 29,500 at 4.8V on the Much More Motor Master.

I cleaned it with Dynamite Magnum Force 2 Electric Motor Cleaner by first spraying it and then swishing it around in a baby food jar with Motor Cleaner in it. Then I blew it out with canned air and let it dry. I then relubed the bushings and broke it in again in CTX mode on the Motor Master for 3 x 10 minute cycles with the voltage varying between 1.5 and 3v with a rest of 5 minutes in between break in runs.

I tested the motor immediately after the break in and got 31,450 RPM at 4.8V out of it.

I then relubed the bushings and added a drop of comm fluid ran it again and found 33,650 at 4.8V pulling about 1.6 amps!

Not bad overall. I got 4,150 more RPM for cleaning and relubing this bad boy.

Motor 2

This is another stock Kyosho MR-02 Readyset motor

I already had the Much More Motor Master when I started using this motor and ran a CTX break-in procedure. I forget the exact voltage settings but I think it was 1v to 2v varying about every 2 seconds. I know it ran 3 x 10 minute cycles with 5 minutes in between each set. I don’t remember the exact steps but in the end it was a freshly lubed and comm dropped final run that saw 34,500 RPM from the new motor.

This one I only ran about 20 x 5-minute Time Trails and right out of the car it ran 33,480 at 4.8V.

After cleaning, relubing and hitting it with comm drops and running the 3 x 10 1.5V to 3V break in it ran exactly 1,000 rpm more, 34,480 at 4.8V. Close enough to when it was new that the variation can be tossed.

So, this one after pretty much the same cleaning procedure as #1 saw 830 more RPM. How long each will maintain its performance is another question since Motor #1 has so much more time on it.

Not Very Scientific Conclusion

This is obviously not a very scientific test but I’d suspect that Motor #1 was about as bad as a stock motor gets since it was my first one and I had not really done any maintenance except to lube it occasionally. Motor #2 was better prepared and cared for as I used it and it had not run anywhere as much so the performance degradation had not really set in.

Here is what I know so far:

It is obvious that cleaning helps. I am trying to determine how often to do it. I am thinking every 2 hours of run time.

Lubing the bushing is very important. Every other run. Maybe every third. For me a run is usually 5 minutes.

Comm Drops do make a difference although I am not sure for how long. Seems like about 2 or 3 minutes but there may be some longer term benefits like better bushing seating or wear.

More to come as I learn.

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This entry was posted on Sunday, February 24th, 2008 at 6:59 pm and is filed under Motors. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.