Electric Motor: Need more help

Hello.

Thanks to all that gave me advice a few days ago with regard to my electric motor shaft. I got the thing to stay in one place, but I can't get the motor to work for more than an hour or so. I think it gets too hot and shuts off, even though it is in the same exact spot and hooked up just like it was before.

The shaft does not slide out like it did before, I would say for sure I have less than a sixteenth of an inch of play that way. The shaft rotates nicely I think, but I really think the bearings are completely shot. I can grab the end of the shaft and it moves back and forth (sideways) too much in my opinion.

My questions are about that bearing, if that is what I got there. There is a bushing there, and then this velvet material which some video stated was there to hold the oil that I am supposed to put in there. I can't believe they make that anymore, or do they? Is that a bearing there? Is there something I can install there that does not need oil? A new bearing?

I would have more information but I don't want to take it apart beyond repair.

Any help or information on how this thing works is appreciated.

I'm really bad at remembering things, so only vaguely remember your other post. Is it a compressor duty motor? Some motors are meant to run ONLY with a belt, and the sheave will throw air constantly over the motor to keep it cooler. From other you say, I would tend to agree that the bearings need replacing.

Several things could cause it to heat. #1: worn bushings so the rotor is not centered vertically in the stator. #2: Rotor is not centered horizontally in the stator. #4: Short in rotor or stator, which makes it a throw-away motor at this stage.

If you are going to try and repair it, why not put in a sealed bearing forget about the oiler, or get a new motor. Is that a Total enclosed fan cooled motor or open drip?

1. are you sure you got it magnetically centered? a little off center will cause it to get hot. Remove a shim and see what happens.
2. if you have a worn bushing, you will see scratches on the rotor. If bushings are worn real bad, you will be able to move shaft up and down.
3. use an ammprobe and see how many amps it's drawing. Sometimes when you are only drawing 1 or two amps, you may want to loop the wire through ammeter. 2 loops doubles the reading.
4. Many rotors may not be perfect. A little bushing wear and only a part of rotor will rub on stator. I've used lath and shaved a small amount off rotor where it's rubbing to make it round .

I've never had a lot of success at making a bushing type motor run very long once it begins to fail.

It would not be cost effective to try to save it. Very slim chance of finding the right bushings, even if they are replaceable. The shaft runs directly on the bushing, so there is wear on the shaft too, nothing can be done about that.

The best solution will be to get the needed information off the motor tag: The horse power, voltage, rotation, speed (or speeds if multi speed), frame, and necessary physical dimensions.

Do some online shopping, usually Ebay or Amazon, AC supply, etc. Find a motor and it's matching capacitor (even if your cap is good, the new motor may require a different rating, get it for warranty and proper performance).

The reason I say to shop online is most walk-in AC suppliers don't like to, or will refuse to sell to non licensed individuals. Most that will sell charge list price or more if you don't have an account.

Hi there, It sounds like you have a wood stove or wood boiler draft inducing blower motor. When I installed mine like that 11 years ago, I had the oiling ports facing down. The instructions failed to mention adding oil and that little motor lasted 4 years or so and just completely stopped spinning. I'm a yooper so of course I took it apart, cleaned 4 years of grit and dust off of it lubed it liberally and plugged it in. It ran for 7 more years while being oiled once in a while. I found a suitable replacement years ago but only changed it out in January when I did major repairs. The end play in the new blower motor was just about the same as the old one and I did some adjusting to get the fan where it wouldn't touch the housing. This motor is just a small fraction of a horsepower, 1/6 hp or something like that. You want to know if you can replace the wick that holds the oil to lube the bushing. I gave up on mine bur maybe a thin felt washer might help. The Fergeson or Grainger catalog should have a replacement. Some of those motors have sealed bearings. Where do you live anyway? I'm here by Marquette. Take care, John

Those are called sintered bronze bushings, or oilite, which is a brand name. They were impregnated with oil when new, and are usually spherical, to be self-aligning. Did you try adding some oil to the felt-like material? I had a furnace fan motor that I oiled every year, but if you wait until it won't run any more it's probably too late. To convert it to sealed ball bearings would involve a lot of machine work, and probably not be feasible.

Dick and Geo have the topic covered .

If I remember correctly, this is a 40+ year old furnace fan motor that is still available new for for $170? It's fun to do easy fixes that keep things running, but I think this one is giving you enough troubles that it may be time to bite the bullet and replace it.

If you do replace the shaft bearings, be aware you should not alter the inside diameter of any oil impregnated bearing. The sintered bronze in those bearings is porous so oil can seep between the shaft and the bearing. If you drill, ream, or press something through the ID to resize it, the pores close off and the bearing runs without lubrication after that.

Thanks again for all the replies.

This motor is right in the blower, no pulley. I don't understand all the terms people have used, but I have to put oil in on both ends every so often. This whole situation happened to me a couple years ago, but I oiled it good and must have had some good luck getting it back together because it did not give me problems until now. I know I could get a new one, but the whole burner has about had it so I don't want to buy a new motor and then have to toss the whole thing in two years. I am just trying to get it through the last couple weeks of wood burning. I don't mind spending a couple hours trying to make something work, if it saves me a few bucks then great otherwise I at least learned a few things.

I think I have all the information I need. I think I need to at least take out a fiber washer and see if that helps.

Thanks one more time for all the help. I will take a closer look at it and use the information I got from everyone to see if I can save it or not.

I guess we should have asked what the motor was used on or used for. So this is a blower motor? What for? The reason I ask is, it's possible you may be able to re-purpose a motor from something else, like a washing machine for example.

Here's a short video where one guy uses washing machine motors for various different things. He apparently has other videos as well that talk about how to wire them and such. The video is here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2a1qhQbJSk&t=316s