9 replies to this topic

[studentdriver]

I know cleavetech has a motor tester but wanted to see what other options I have to determine when a motor should be replaced. I know I can keep track of laps/races but not all motors are the same out of the box. I'd like to be able to throw it on a device that can measure somehow if possible (maybe by rpm, maybe by amp/voltage?) and I could potentially have a baseline that once it's out of spec I retire the motor. 

 

I don't need it to be super accurate... I just want to make sure if I'm going racing for 8 hours I'm bringing my best

 

thanks,
Mike

 

[Bill from NH]

The advantage of when we used rebuildable motors was that when a motor slowed down, you could rebuilt it to new specifications. With sealed motors, you throw them away. I'm not aware of a tester that will do what you want for sealed motors. Maybe a dyno of some type.

[Bill Seitz]

I'm not familiar with the Cleavetech motor tester, but having some knowledge of James, I'd expect that to be the best thing available. I've seen a motor dyno from a Euro company, but it was designed for the 1/32 sealed motors up to and including the Slot.It ones. It didn't have enough capacity to handle the sort of motors we typically use on 1/24 raceways. IIRC, for that capacity, it was around $600. Try an Internet search for motor dyno. Commercial manufacturers, the source of the motors we use, have industrial motor testers, but I've been unable to find out anything about them, and I expect they're beyond what most hobbyists would be willing to pay.

[Bill from NH]

The Home Racing World 1/32 racers have made a wooden base to use with a digital photo sensor tachometer from Amazon or Harbor Freight to read RPMs.  Those might have been on here too, but I don't know. Basically they're a marked spinning disk mounted to the motor that's read by a light source.

 

Here's a HRW thread with photos of some of their builds:

 

Tachometer - motor test station - HRW (hrwforum.com)

[bbr]

James Cleave's motor checker is awesome,,, mine is loaned out to a friend who races retro.

James' checker was out of stock n he was going to redesign and make more,,, don't know the status of that

but he also has a rpm strobe checker that works great too!

[MSwiss]

There's a guy in Southern California who makes a motor dyno that some of the Retro racers swear by.

 

I changed the title of this thread to get their attention so they can provide you with the info.

[Tim Neja]

There's the Trinity Motor Monster--I've got one.  Anyone want it?

[Kim Lander]

The trinity Tim speaks of is good...I have one and one of Cleaves...both are spot on equiptment....however the one Jim makes will tell you info on the brakes of a motor, the trinity does not...other than that either would work for what you seek.

[Racer36]

Phil Blanke is the fellow in SoCal that makes the dyno. There are about 16 of them out there and everyone loves them. Phil designed and builds them, as well as writing the computer program.

 The machine itself won’t win you any races, but the time you save sorting through your motor inventory gives you plenty more opportunities to tweak on your stuff.

[Tim Neja]

I"m not sure if Phil is building these anymore.  But if you can get your hands on one-- get it.