Honing an Armature

Submitted by mountaindudetoo on Fri, 02/05/2010 - 10:57

Greetings,

A very useful but sometimes overlooked performance tip is honing. Many of you that build 1:1 cars use honing to seat new rings in a engine cylinder. The idea is somewhat similar. Honing performs two functions: 1. Providing a flat and true commutator. 2. Providing a suitable surface to seat the brushes. The picture shows the honing tool, 600 grit sand paper from which a honing disk has been cut and the armature mounted in a 1/16" dremel chuck. The tool is available from several sources. I bought mine from RT along with some other awesome stuff. It was under 10 bucks and well worth it. Before I recieved the tool in the mail I was a master at ruining perfectly good armatures using the Neanderthal method, which I will not explain. If you look carefully at the armature you can see where material has been removed (top poll) during the balancing process. I use the removal method and this is the location that I recommend. As I do more balancing and find other tips I'll pass them on, but for now this is my best advice. I have have been doing some reading about adding epoxy or even nail polish to an armature using the add method. I might try a combination of both styles in the near future. I hope this helps.

Have Fun! Serge

armature hone

Submitted by moparmat2k on Sun, 02/07/2010 - 01:51.

hi serge

i had a piece of brass round stock, and went to a buddy of mines home today to borrow the use of his machine lathe, and turned one of these for myself. works like a charm. i use my electric drill clamped in a vise and use the drills chuck to hold the armature to turn it. mine is a bit longer than the one from RT HO so its easier to hold onto. i use 1000 grit wet sand paper to straighten and polish my arms. i would have just bought one from rick, as the price was cheap enough, but he was out of stock on the wheel presses, as i would have ordered that tool as well to make the minimum order of $10.00 so i decided to make one for myself. it wasnt about the money. it was convienient for me as i needed this tool today.

matt

Nice Matt

Submitted by mountaindudetoo on Sun, 02/07/2010 - 09:55.

I'm glad you liked it. It's just a simple little gaget that works great. Making your version a little longer was the right way to go.

To bad RT was out of wheel presses, he makes a nice version. Sometimes I use reamers to help start the hole in hubs that have a smaller axle hole in them. You just twist them between your fingers. Recently I split a brand new pair of BSRT hubs and ruined them. I could have kicked myself in the butt. This is what a set looks like.

Later Serge

Make Some More!

Submitted by mgbbrown on Sun, 02/07/2010 - 05:46.

Matt; If you are so inclined to be creative I would like one at whatever a price is reasonable plus shipping. I need to knock my builds up a notch for the mail-in race! God Bless! Tony

armature truing tool

Submitted by moparmat2k on Sun, 02/07/2010 - 14:16.

hi tony

my buddy was nice enought to let me borrow the lathe, as i needed this tool today. i used the last piece of 3/4" diameter brass rod stock i had to make this tool. RT ho has this tool for $4.00 which is cheap enough, plus he has other puller and press tools you may need as well. i wanted the wheel installer press too, but he was out of stock, and had a $10.00 minimum order. i have most of his other tools of relevance to my buildups. i am not a machinest by any means, so making this took me a little time to do. i dont think i could make this as cheaply as rick at RT ho sells em for.

Serge

i have a small digital caliper, and small small drill bits. if you are familiar with machinest style numbered drills my bits go as small as # 60 and as large as # 10. i need to make or get an index for the tinier bits from #40 to #60 as i have them in a little plastic box, and have to fish em out and mic them until i get the size i need for a particular job i am doing.

if you are not familiar with this numbering system after you get to # 2 size the next up is 1/4" the higher the number the smaller the bit.

that being said i use a #23 drill for enlarging the brush holes for installing super ll brush cups. but would prefer getting a straight thru reamer in this size with a stepped down pilot this was i can make the holes a little more true. i may check out the yard aircraft supply as they specialize in aviation sheetmetal tooling, and have these type of reamers. they will fit a regular drill, or you can get them with a threaded end for installing them in angle drills.

i install the super ll cups in magnatraction chassis. it requires a little bit more work to do this but the results speak for themselves.

matt

Reamer

Submitted by mountaindudetoo on Sun, 02/07/2010 - 14:33.

Matt, The reamers in the picture are designed to be used between your fingers. They are super sharp. The set costs about 16 bucks. If you can't get them locally, Micromark has them. I think the brand is Mascot.

Serge