Bearings have grease applied...

Joined
Jun 18, 2015
Messages
3,119
Reaction score
1,654
Location
Chouston, Tejas
For the what it is worth department... Was piddling around today and finally was able to disassemble a bearing without destroying. One thing lead to another, the others were the stock motor bearings and the gimbal bearings. Both have grease applied, which was somewhat unexpected for the motor bearings...assumed a thin film lube.

The gimbal bearing was interesting, this was the roll axis bearing. The grease had pooled to one half of the bearing, the bottom half. I assume the grease is not of a high heat variety. Thinking how the motors can get warm and all from normal usage. But then the bearing only sees about a 120 degree rotation at most, so maybe it was gravity that pooled it to the bottom of the bearing. In either case it was interesting to see. Like I said, just piddling around.

This does kind of confirm the recommendation to not oil the motor bearings. Not knowing what type of grease and then mixing in an oil/lube could produce an adverse effect. Again I'm assuming the worse outcome based on lack of knowledge for such things. Replacing the motor bearings has been my method when I feel I have bearing issues over the last year or so. ymmv.

For those that are interested, several threads discussing bearings, lubes and their replacement. Search is your friend. Carry on...
 
Thanks Rich. Looks like new motors/bearings are the order for my Solo if I don't go Parrot O_O
 
It answered a couple of lingering questions that I had back in 2015. My conversation with Avid RC (bearing supplier) back when, discussing grease or oil for bearings, now has a better perspective. For example, he ships bearings dry by default, you choose to lube or grease based on your needs.

Again it's one of those learning by doing things. Just makes sense to share discoveries, even if it is common knowledge. Appreciate the shout outs.

Saijin - I've had two AR drones. Parrot does good work and provides parts to keep the bird aloft. The new up-tilting camera is very appealing. Plus they have fresh batteries...
 
  • Like
Reactions: Saijin_Naib
It answered a couple of lingering questions that I had back in 2015. My conversation with Avid RC (bearing supplier) back when, discussing grease or oil for bearings, now has a better perspective. For example, he ships bearings dry by default, you choose to lube or grease based on your needs.

Again it's one of those learning by doing things. Just makes sense to share discoveries, even if it is common knowledge. Appreciate the shout outs.

Saijin - I've had two AR drones. Parrot does good work and provides parts to keep the bird aloft. The new up-tilting camera is very appealing. Plus they have fresh batteries...
Do you happen to know what the bearing lubricant/seal style is on the T-Motor replacements, and have any recommendations for how to maintain those?

I'm very strongly considering the Anafi, but it isn't supported by ArduCopter yet which is a semi-dealbreaker. Their mission planning is functional, but rudimentary, and not comfortable for me as I do it from the PC where I can use shapefiles, etc.

I might grab the Bebop2 even though it is 2 generations outdated, especially since I get it for a steep discount (price of GreenCube+Here for Bebop2 FPV Pack, NIB) and I can flash it over to ArduCopter master. If I knew for certain if the older board supported the new Power edition batteries, I'd go and buy it this instant. Gah…
 
Do you happen to know what the bearing lubricant/seal style is on the T-Motor replacements, and have any recommendations for how to maintain those?
I'm certain they are shielded and not sealed bearings. I doubt they are EZO branded bearings, but would hope they are better quality than the stock bearings we got. Even so, they are likely chinese bearings...just as Avid RC or Boca would provide.

Grease makes sense now, as T-Motors recommends bearing replacement at 60 hours with the MT series that I've been using. They are EZO branded bearings. I will likely re-grease mine at some point, since they are of the highest quality for material.

As to maintenance, just depends on how cheap and dirty you are willing to get. Once a pod has been separated, bearing replacement is easy and reasonably cheap. I'm of the opinion now if you need to lubricate the bearings, it's time to replace/rehab them. Squirting oil/lube in them as-is is just buying you some time...till you can replace them.

If you experience a ticking bearing, after a crash as an example, replace the bearings. Gritty feeling is just dirt, so you have options.

If you fly in dusty environments, I suppose you could remove the bearing shields, clean them out and then re-grease. I'd feel confident with this method, but it requires time to process and a go/no-go criteria. Again, bearings are cheap, what is your time worth?
 
  • Like
Reactions: Saijin_Naib
Do you happen to know what the bearing lubricant/seal style is on the T-Motor replacements, and have any recommendations for how to maintain those?

I'm very strongly considering the Anafi, but it isn't supported by ArduCopter yet which is a semi-dealbreaker. Their mission planning is functional, but rudimentary, and not comfortable for me as I do it from the PC where I can use shapefiles, etc.

I might grab the Bebop2 even though it is 2 generations outdated, especially since I get it for a steep discount (price of GreenCube+Here for Bebop2 FPV Pack, NIB) and I can flash it over to ArduCopter master. If I knew for certain if the older board supported the new Power edition batteries, I'd go and buy it this instant. Gah…
Off topic on this thread, however I've had a lot of fun and done some paying work with an Anafi. Have not yet tried the mission planning add-on for FreeFlight 6. Of course it does not have some of the Smart Shots that I typically use with my Solos, but it's so much safer to operate near people and other valuable things. Nice to take in a backpack too. That said, you can see my two comments so far in the Client Reviews for Anafi under 'AW777'. Sand is not a friend to this drone's motors (it's no help to many other RC motors!). And Parrot has yet to announce spare motors for sale. But you can read about my experience refurbishing four motors. See the attachment. I see the Anafi as a practical addition to my Solos and an Inspire 2. I bought an extra battery before Parrot offered the latest deal. The Bright Day filter 4 pack by Freewell has been useful (ND 16/PL for bright days), although I've seen some video noise that I haven't tried to analyze yet for the source. Could be that auto-ISO increased that day and I should have used the ND8/PL. It's very easy to fly, outdoors or indoors. The hand launch is easy. The hand catch took a little practice. If only I could do Cable Cam shots with the Anafi. Cheers.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_3088.JPG
    IMG_3088.JPG
    882.7 KB · Views: 20
  • Like
Reactions: Saijin_Naib
Thanks Rich, I'll try bluetac in the future!

(Again off topic, about the Anafi: If you are doing mission planning - including aerial mapping - see this news on Sept.14 from Parrot about using Pix4D Capture. Now imagine "mapping" the underside of a bridge that should be repaired (after a thoughtful adjustment to the RTH altitude setting... ). Interesting comments so far on that post.)
 
  • Like
Reactions: Saijin_Naib

Members online

No members online now.

Forum statistics

Threads
13,093
Messages
147,741
Members
16,048
Latest member
ihatethatihavetomakeanacc