I seem to remember a discussion about the need to oil the motor bearings every 6th flight.
OMG!
I was on the phone with 3DR about another subject and when finished I said "oh by the way"
blah, blah, need to Lube? and the answer was yes, I will send you the directions.
I did not receive the information as of 2 weeks later.
How often to do oil the bearings?
with what oil?
and how?
Decades ago I built anemometers for a research project and calibrated them in a wind tunnel. I found that
it was better to run the bearings dry as it did not collect dirt as well. The bearings were very lightly loaded
so it seemed to work. It seems to me that when I fly and apply vigorous attitude adjustments the bearings are sufficiently loaded to require Lubrication.
Can I get a witness?
How about, how often and the technique.
Safe landings
Dan
Replies
way In the past I took care of weather stations on farms in Hawaii. The soil would become
airborne during the dry months and the wind speed an direction instruments were mechanical
and had ball bearings. During testing the ball bearing had heavy grease as delivered by the factory.
So I cleaned the bearings and ran them dry to prevent soil trapped by grease.
For a copter, the load is mainly thrust..an axial load ..up and down, and the bearings were designed for radial...side to side load.
My feeling now is to avoid crunchy feeling of rotations by hand and replace ...bearings and motors before they fail because it is more expensive to replace a drone than motor.
That said, your cleaning has resulted in you still flying in dusty conditions..and I congratulate you
for your work, thanks for sharing.
Do you use a color or B&W camera with deep red...NIR filter?
Dan
Yes Dan, I think like you, this year I'm going to replace my motors, first I think to replace bearings but good ones were more expensive than my cheap motors and I didn't find that size in my country so I decided to change and update my motors for a more efficient ones this year but I learn that if I do little maintance and control, I can fly safer longer time and prevent crashes, I'm shure that, if I not checked that, a motor fails and crash, I was luck; sharing my experience, perhaps I animate others to look their motors, pilots near me is rare that they dis-assemble them only to check. Thank's to share your experience.
I thinks that the grease that I found outside tells me that my bearings have days numbered.
I use RGB (color) and NIR (B&W)
Hi Cala,
I think the chain lubricant you are using may actually be causing some of your problems.
Because they need to stick on the chain and not wash off in rain and puddles, chain lubricants tend to be very tacky and actually pick up grit.
They generally contain a solvent which thins the grease when you put it on, but then which evaporates leaving a sticky film.
(I am enclosing a link to the PDF that points out it is solvent based and is designed for gears and chains (not bearings)).
http://www.aquaondemand.com/assets/resources/Loctite%20Gear,%20Chai...
(Looking at your old motor photos, this could be part of the reason for the grit buildup).
(Which is why they tell you to periodically immersion clean your chain and reapply the chain lube).
This is not what you need for tiny ball bearings.
This Super Lube grease will work much better and will not attract dust and grit.
http://www.amazon.com/Super-Lube-Synthetic-Syncolon-Lubricant/dp/B0...
It is a full synthetic grease with PTFE additive and is excellent for these applications, it will also not build up into a stick mess like chain lube.
You can also get it in a thinner oil, but I prefer the light grease which I can put on with a toothpick.
I know you may have trouble getting super lube, but I greatly recommend a light synthetic light bearing lubricant with PTFE additive.
MOS2 (Molybdenum Disulphide) might be OK alternatively).
But in any case, definitely not a solvent containing sticky chain lubricant.
Best Regards,
Gary
Hi Cala, sealed bearings are a different matter, most of the ones we use aren't.
Sealed ones are generally not designed to be relubricated at all and are very hard if not impossible to do so (dip solvent base type).
Some with plastic seals can have lubricant injected into them, but ones with stainless steel wipers can usually not be relubricated at all.
You throw them out when they go bad.
Thank's Gary, really what cause my problem are the cheap motors, that dust was from original grease, I didn't open again before clean them but Im going to try to find your recomended grease, I think that I can find here with that specifications, my only doubt if it a good bearing with a well seal, grease can penetrate it? thank's for this discussion, very interesting to have someone else to change ideas.
Thank's for this discussion, what I do is to dis-assemble the motors, clean magnets with contactmatic or/and alcohol and use this grease for bearings http://www.henkelna.com/product-search-1554.htm?nodeid=8797899587585 I put the bearings in a recipt all night then I clean them outside and re-asemble, once a year, perhaps I have to do more often?
Calca,
Once a year.....how many flights is that?
How old are the motors?
Do you find a buildup of material attracted to the magnets?
what is the climate you live in?
Great information.
Dan
I hope someone officially from 3DR responds to this because I would like to know the facts. If this is the case, shouldn't this be included in the documentation? Just by purchasing the Iris+ are we supposed to "know" to do this. I am a little frustrated if this is true. Hopefully someone can respond/resolve this issue because now I am worried...
I received an email from 3DR today asking for pictures of my flights.
In my return email, I also asked that they please address providing lubrication instructions
to the IRIS users.
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