Cleaning motor in water

[SuperCriollo]

Well watch the video, anyone has tried it. Any thought?

Make Your Electric RC/Airsoft Motors Run Faster - YouTube

[Spike]

I had no idea you could do this... I'm gonna try it in my Stoner's motor since it's slowing down on me.

[theshaneler]

i wish i had an aeg motor to try this out on

[Cliffradical]

I'll be damned.
What does a person do to make sure that no moisture or corrosion are left behind? Blow all the water out with contact cleaner then let the motor dry?
Any need for lubrication after this?

[GBBR]

this method has actaully been around for quite some time.

I did it to this super old TM mp5 i bought, I ran it in distilled water, the water was black when i pulled it out.
from 8 to 15 rps
*sorry I forgot to mention that this is not for brushless motors* from edit

[Qlong]

He suggested to do that until the lipo battery dies, and that "cloudy" stuff is just aerated water...

Not much merit to this video.

[Cliffradical]

Yeah, I'm gonna do some poking around before I go ahead and buy this.

[MaciekA]

This method is mentioned and recommended on other forums all the time but there seems to be no clear consensus on whether it does much. I'm personally not convinced that water can do the job, it certainly can't in the case of the equivalent trouble spot on trigger contacts, where carbon (or otherwise) buildup can only be properly cleaned with direct scrubbing.

[SlowEddy]

back in the day of brushed r/c car motors, people used this water method to break in their motors (work in the motor brushes to match the curvature of the motor armature contacts)

if you want to clean your motor your better of using r/c nitro cleaner / motor cleaner to clean your motor. when you spray that stuff in a motor the stuff that comes out of it is nasty black crap.... not foggy white water.

http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXUSS8&P=7

other ways of improving motor performance of old well used motors include re-cutting the armature com, and swapping out the motor brushes.
which is typical in the world of brushed r/c cars, but not so much for air-soft.

the performance gains are easily noticeable in cars, i don't think its that big of a deal in air soft, unless your motor is realy realy worn out.

[L473ncy]

Could you not just put your motor in an ultrasonic bath? Would an ultrasonic machine be more effective? Either that or just rewinding your motor.

[forge]

I agree with Sloweddy: back in the days of brushed RC motors, I heard of/saw this method countless times: but it had specific limits. 1) it works best on sealed can brushed motors, the softer material commonly used in the brushes of rebuildable motors absorb water. 2) you use a fraction of the recommended voltage for the break-in. 3) you COMPLETELY dry and lube the motor afterwards (IE heat gun, alcohol, etc.). 4) you cannot use the water method on ball bearing motors (unless you enjoy dismantling and lubing tiny bearings!).

It works as a break-in procedure under certain conditions, but I would not recommend it for cleaning. Please guys, if the brushed motor in your airsoft is that bad, just take it apart and clean it properly. There is a reason why RC shops keep ample stock of motor cleaners

[Spike]

I'll take an RPS reading before and after I try it... I know that the m120 motor in my M63 is starting to slow down a bit, and the field we play at is pretty sandy. it's seen 15k rounds.

[lurkingknight]

just don't use tap water :x

[ThunderCactus]

Originally Posted by L473ncy

Could you not just put your motor in an ultrasonic bath? Would an ultrasonic machine be more effective? Either that or just rewinding your motor.

[sarcasm]You know I've had an ultrasonic bath in my garage for like 3yrs, and have had nothing to put in it until I heard this [/sarcasm]

[HKGhost]

I don't think this method does much for an AEG motor. Most AEG motor's brushes are already set for the commutator so the water only cleans and remove the carbon. It's ok with a brand new brush that doesn't have the correct groove for the comm, but other than that, it's not necessary. The RC community been doing this for many years as they need the top peek power or a new brush is installed. I've tried it and didn't see much of an improvement. Plus, if you don't dry out the motor as soon as you're done, you could damage your motor beyond repairs. I just rebuild the motor instead of doing this.