Oiling Question

[Vermillionx]

I have a question about the motor in my 450 sport. I have the stock 450M motor and I have about 40 flights on it as of now. I was doing some reading on maintenance, and I know that I have to oil the head, tail, and some bearings. But, I have also read that I need to oil some motor bearings. Is the 450M one of those motors, and if so how do I oil the bearings?

[wanderer56]

IMHO Theoretically the Align motors do not require maintenance as is the case with any sheilded or sealed bearings I've ever dealt with. They have grease packed bearings. Oiling the main and tail rotor shaft is a good idea. I use 1-2 drops every 4-5 flights. Don't need to over oil them and sling oil all over the place.

The Scorpion motors put out much more heat and would melt any grease in a grease packed bearing, therefore the manufacturer recommends and sells oil for their motors. I've read that the newest series of Scorpion motors do not generate as much heat. But I haven't heard anything about the maintemance on them.

30 years in the maintenance field does not make me a bearing expert by any means, but I have changed my fair share of bearings in my life and I think you will find that this is the generally accepted practice. There are exceptions to every rule and I'm sure a variety of opinions.

[Harbormaster]

I have a Scorpion oil bottle with the hypodermic needle tip to oil my one scorpion motor. (It's perfect for getting oil in tight places.) Now I have started oiling all my motors at about the same interval as wanderer56. Can't hurt, right? And the local heli guru here in town oils all of his motors...

[Wolfpackin]

The older Align motors did very well with zero bearing maintenance. I have a 430XL motor with 550 flights and the bearings have never been touched.

But my experience with the bigger (600) M and MX motors is completely different. My 600M bearings failed after about 150 flights with no oiling. So I started oiling the bearings on the replacement 600MX and it now has about 200 flights with no issues.

Not conclusive data but it seems, from my experience and reports from others using the M/MX series motors, that they might benefit from frequent oiling.

IMO the problem is that there's no way of knowing how well the bearings were greased at the factory. So if you got a good well greased set, they might last hundreds of flights. But if not, they will quickly fail without lube.

So...do you feel lucky?

[wanderer56]

Some other things to consider. As I stated, there are exceptions to every rule. Scorpion motors do have sheilded bearings and the manufacturer does recommend oiling their motor bearings. They even have a vid on how to do it.

There have been many well documented bearing failures with low flight time on the 500MX motors. But IMO it's due to inproper assembly from the manufacturing process. Meaning they did not use enough or any bearing retainer. The result is the can and shaft begans to move up and down on the inner bearing races wearing the shaft out and this introduces more side loading and eventually the bearing fails. 20 flights on mine. Once I replaced the bearings and shaft and used green bearing retainer, it has been flawless. Can is still tight. Motor runs slighty warm to the touch.

On the other hand, my 450MX motor hasn't shown these signs as of yet. Can is still tight and it gets no lube. Probably about 100 flights or so on it so far.

If you decide to oil your motor, don't ever stop. Align falls short on motor bearing maintenance and any maintenance for that matter.

Many, if not all of the Boca bearings are available in either greased packed or oil filled bearings, depending on the intended use.

[Vermillionx]

Ok thanks for the replies guys. Now my next question is where are the bearings? Do I oil it from the top of the motor, or from the bottom?

[wanderer56]

Both. Just put a few drops between the pinion gear and motor case. You can just let it run down the shaft and let it sit for a while. You can rotate the motor a little bit and try to work the oil into the bearing.

Then flip the heli over and look down inside the motor through the "vane" holes next to the windings and you should be able to see the bearing. Same procedure, but let it set and be careful not to damage the windings. You'll need a long syringe needle like the one that comes with the Scorpion motor oil. PITA

When I was using a Scorp motor, I would oil one bearing and let it sit for 4-5 hours. Flip it over and oil the other bearing and let it sit like that overmight.

PS-If you have the Side-by-side foam blade holder, the heli will sit inverted very nicely on the holder and main blade grips/head block.