Revoslot motor

[dinglebery]

Well, I bought this car used, in very good condition, but the motor seems to be failing. Under power it only turns a quarter-turn at a time, kinda sputters and I can see it light up and spark on the inside.
It spins freely by hand, like normal.
Can someone recommend a contact cleaner for me to try to clean it with - perhaps CRC or DeoxIT or Techspray ELine Contact Cleaner? Also, are there special tools needed to take it apart if I need to do that?

Here's the car in question, fwiw. Thanks!

[Vision34]

Make sure the motor is getting complete power at the motor connections. Sodier does come lose some times.

[War Eagle River]

How can you see it spark on the inside, it’s a closed can motor. No way to spray anything into the motor. A real bugger to get apart and back together properly, not worth it. Check your connections first. Expose and Attach leads to the motor tabs. That will tell the tale. If the motor is bad, a replacement can be had, affordably. We have been racing the RS since they first came out. 30+ cars in our group, never any motor issues.

[dinglebery]

I removed part of the sticker from the top of the motor and can see in it.

[CG Slotcars]

Run the motor fully submerged in a glass of water for a minute
Might be too late if the windings started to meltdown (you would see that as smoke) - but the water helps clean the crud out of the commutator that the brushes run on.
It may have also thrown a brush - that usually makes poor contact and sparks like crazy

[dinglebery]

water and electronics don't normally mix - is the water used for a substitute you don't have? like a proper electronic contact cleaner?

[Kevan]

'Water dipping' is a trick that goes back many decades, we were doing this in R/C cars too before brushless. Don't forget this is low voltage DC, connect the motor up, immerse in a cup of clean water, connect to the power and run until the water starts changing colour which could be as little as 15 seconds. Water dipping allows the brushes to properly bed in whilst the water cleans the crud away and keeps the motor cool...dry then oil afterwards.

[Billy boy]

i would try the water trick as well. SCC sells RS motors.

[volracer]

Since it is a closed motor, I would not suggest the water dipping. I would use a mild solvent that is not water-soluble, since you can not spray the water out of the motor after dipping. The water can corrode the inside of the motor. Strong solvents can soften the carbon brushes and the epoxy on the windings.

[HomeRacingWorld]

Running it in water or 70% alcohol won't hurt it. The corrosion, how very little it will produce, won't hurt much of anything. Just oil the motor when finished.

Might be a bad brush...or any number of things mentioned. For this car? Order a new motor. Well worth the investment.

[chappyman66]

I use denatured alcohol. Submerge the motor and run it for 30-60 seconds, it should clear any crud out of the commutator slots.
Then pull it out and run it (wrap it or know that it will spray for the first couple seconds) until it's dry and it should be OK.

No, it won't light on fire....the stoichiometry (the ratio of air/alcohol) is wrong to have ignition. It will just evaporate off as the motor runs and you will have a clean motor. Water works too, I just prefer alcohol since it dries off more easily.

[War Eagle River]

Well, well, well...here’s something that might interest y’all! CAN sure see sparks now! To quote GTOKing “Haha, I heard that happens when the timing is advanced beyond spec!“

[FC47]

Scott, it smoked the wrapper?!? Wow!

[War Eagle River]

FC47, the Xacto smoked it!
Not sure what other racers thoughts are, or club rules state...but opening up motors, or even exposing the motor like I did in the photo, are frowned upon and deemed illegal here.

[RichD]

A common problem is that dust from the motor brushes gets stuck in the commutator slots and shorts out the motor. Recently that happened to a DaVols Cup proxy car and I was able to fix the problem with a couple of shots of CRC contact cleaner. It is best to direct the spray onto the commutator with the motor running. Immersing the motor in a liquid may also work, if you use a flammable liquid only turn on the power when the motor is fully submerged and do not take it out until the power is off.
In some cases you might have to disassemble the motor and scrape out the slots. If you ever have this problem do not keep running the motor for long or the motor will burn out. The problem is most likely to happen while the motor brushes are still breaking in.

[FC47]

Got me, where are my glasses?
I run em in alc or WD.

[dinglebery]

Here's a quick video of what's going on. I ordered some DeoxIT D100 that arrives tomorrow (Amazon is back to normal shipping times I guess) I'll clean it out when it arrives and update you all on the outcome

[dinglebery]

UPDATE: I just learned Scale Racing Center is the Official US Importer and Distributor for RevoSlot and they stand behind RevoSlot 100%. They examine all failed parts to further improve RevoSlot in the USA, so long as you do not open the motor as there's no warranty once you do.

[Fathead59]

Just a question . Couldn't you use a can of compressed air , something that you can clean computers with ?