Antique Electric Motor Lubrication / Oiling Experiment

[@TC-tn9tb]

love old motors like that they were built so well you get the feeling the manufacture really wanted them to last.

[@JUSTGOMAKEIT]

if you have a watt meter you could possibly compare the power consumption before and after oiling them

[@Aussie_Witchy_Woman71]

I used to work for a company that worked on those electric motors. For the most part, the service people used a 3 in 1 oil or similar light machine oil and used between 3 and 5 drops depending on how dry the motor parts were.

[@ronitsingh85]

Love vintage motors, especially the early ones, from the 1920s etc. Just got my first antique little beauty at an estate sale yesterday for $2, its a little GE 1/30 HP motor, and man she is a looker, with the 4 feet and all that curves, beautiful. I love them!

[@madmanmapper]

It all depends on the type of bearing and type of oiling. Those old motors probably have regular sleeve bearings with a felt wicking that gets soaked with oil and directly rubs the oil onto the motor shaft. The fan more likely has sintered bronze bearings, which is a porous metal that behaves like an oil sponge. Around that will be felt wicking to be oiled, that the bearing can capillary oil out of. However, once the wicking goes dry, the bearings also start to go dry, and unfortunately, just adding oil back to it will not get the oil back into the bronze bearing. If a sintered bronze bearing isn't damaged and doesn't have play, it can be re-oiled by totally removing it from its place, submersing in oil, and then put that container in a vacuum chamber for several hours. That'll suck out the air, and refill the bearing with oil. Not the easiest thing to do, obviously. In any case, with really old motors like these, the felt oil wicking will likely be dry and brittle, gummed up, or otherwise ineffective. Replacement is usually a good idea. Also, SAE 30 is by far the most common oil for these purposes, from back then, even up to today. Sewing machine oil is probably not a far cry from 30 weight, but a quart of SAE 30 is about $3 at the car parts store, and I imagine the sewing machine oil is more than that for much less. Also, also, none of the motors you have really sound like they have dry bearings. But then, I'm listening through your camera, so I have no idea.

[@randallsimpson9343]

you nailed it replace the felt. it most likely clogged with dirt and old oil.

[@sixtyfiveford]

The GE motors have a felt/cotton swab that gets soaked with oil and slowly lubricates the bronze bushing. Any lightweight oil around an SAE 10 will work. Sewing machine oil will work but it's a little on the thin side. Zoom Spout Oil is extremely common from home improvement/hardware stores and would be ideal.

[@aj2674]

sixtyfiveford a next door neighbor of mine used to work for GE back then and broke one down for me to show me what he used to do in the machine shop. That’s why I love this channel!

[@MariaEngstrom]

The second motor seemed to have the classic inductor hum rather than any kind of mechanical noise, it's also demonstrated by being immediately quiet while still spinning when you unplugged it.

[@eugen189763987689379]

HOLY THING!!! That exact fan appeard in a messy corner of our warehouse! Those blades are DEADLY!! Catched my fingers twice on the lower back side of the blade protection.... pretty instantly a bloody mess :-(

[@JuanVanDusen]

twice??? the first one should be a lesson for life, good thing you are allright

[@x9x9x9x9x9]

The sound of the fan sounds normal except the body and possibly blade guard need tightening. The second motor sounds fairly normal to me as well the first one is abnormally quiet. I have to wonder if its running at its full speed. The oil you're adding I don't think will effect anything but the basic bearings they have in those and I didn't hear bearing noises. But im not an expert and could be totally wrong.

[@gtb81.]

I have a motor and it is a quiet as the first one, but it is a but older, some motors when running with out a load are very quiet, especially the older ones

[@StonehouseCinema]

3-in-1 Electric Motor oil SAE20 is what I have always used. The can I have is from Boyle-Midway Toronto Canada.. it was $2.79 so who knows how old it is. One can is a lifetime supply apparently. I still have half a can left. I only use it on my old grinder/sharpener made from a washing machine motor

[@davewatson9507]

Got an old 40s Westinghouse fan. Been around it ever since I can recall. Still runs & oscillates. It had 4 blades, one was damaged put it away for 15 or 20 years, got it back out removed 2 blades and it still blows up a Gale force.

[@aerotro]

Try not to add too much oil if it gets in the windings it can cause internal shorts later on, I once got some oil in the winding of my old 60's fan it burned out and I had to rewind the motor with fresh wire it took me over a week in incremental steps because it was a weird shape.

[@GeekBoy03]

Ortorea Screenname if adding oil to windings caused a short, their was not the book's fault, but the enamel coating on the wire cleared come off.

[@aerotro]

Contrary to popular belief water is not the only culprit when a short circuit can happen, as any medium such as many types of oil can also conduct electricity, water and oil can carry particulates such as salts or minerals that have electrical properties. What most likely happened to my old 60's fan was the very old enamelled wire had micro-fractures quite common in very old electrical insulation most noticed in high voltage EHT leads such as on car ignition systems. In such cases they can run fine when dry but as soon as fog, damp or rain is present you get a car that wont start, these situations most likely due to micro-fractures in the insulation. And yes my old fan was a disaster waiting to happen as soon as some moist lubricant was introduced to the bearings it exacerbated the problem and tipped it over the edge and burned out. This happened in the 1980's many years ago, and since the re-wind it was worked fine ever since however the bladed are now falling apart lol. age gets us all in the end.

[@Ellenslife851]

The fan looks like it’s an oscillating head and it only oscillates one way. To explain why the fan get so high is because there might be a strict gear in the oscillator unless the fan has one of those switches that you can pull to stop it from moving back-and-forth

[@themaritimegirl]

A cool, if random thing you could build with one of those motors is a sort of 12V dynamotor. Find a car alternator and the right pulley for the motor to drive it, and then you could use it to charge batteries and whatnot. :)

[@chrismooneyham5279]

The oil did quieten down the second motor or it seemed to just by watching the video.

[@patrikpallos8438]

In the wornout sleeve bearings the clearance is high, maybe a heavier weight oil, like iso VG 100 or 150 compressor oil is suitable and also safe for brass. Hydraulic fluid or ATF can be good for medium wear too. The more tight the bearing and higher the speed the more thinner oil you need. The more power and torque the more viscous oil you need. All about balance. You can check the bearing temps for fluid drag friction with the heavy oils, if overheats, reduce the viscosity. If the film strength is inadequate with too thin oil, you can hear the metal to metal contact anyway.

[@MrBuck295]

You did the right thing by using light machine oil it only takes 3 or 4 drops and depending on how much use it gets will determine the frequency of adding more , the older motor probably has a wick in the oilers they are normally noisy in use oiling the shaft good idea for both . As for the design of the fan that was made when people used common sense and taught their children not to stick a finger into it , when I was growing up we had one much like it even though I was told not to stick a finger in it I did , Damn did it hurt never tried it again . You might want to open it up to clean it if there is a lot of dirt inside it will run hotter

[@RinoaL]

well you dont always decide to do something that will be dangerous, could have it on your table and trip on the cord for instance

[@Gagesvids1]

They sell a 3 in one oil designed for electric motors. I like it because it is a litttle thicker than the normal stuff and tends to quiet things down.

[@Grey-Troll]

haha I love those old fans... kids back then would learn quick where not to stick their fingers, and the quality was much higher. I would bet that fans made today won't be around in 60-80 years

[@dictare]

Those motors without dust caps on the oil ports should have a plug to keep the dust out. The old-timers used to whittle a plug out of hard wood. My grandparents had open cage fans throughout their house. The cat would sit and swish his tail precariously close, much to grandma's dismay. I think the cat was teasing the fan, saying, "I dare you!"

[@drstrangefart]

Those old motors are extremely cool. I'd love to see you build a 2x72 belt grinder with one of those.

[@steve64464]

I assume you just have to lube the bearings and such , Using your thermal camera may reveal places of stress on it

[@aj2674]

steve64464 great idea!!!! Like like like

[@GarageDoorGuy89]

I use Zoom Spout for motor bearings. I think the noise level has to do with the quality of the materials used in the motor and quite possibly the number of hours it has been run for. the oldest motor I currently have was made some time in the mid to late 1950's by general electric, it is a 1/4 HP.

[@kuhrd]

Any high viscosity synthetic oil with PTFE will work very well in motors with integrated oilers. The PTFE will help lower the friction well below even the original oil used and help prevent the felt oiler from sticking to the shaft is the motor sits a long time without being oiled. Synthetic oils will also stay put better with less of a chance of the oil running out.

[@ATLparanormalOG]

You dont want to put oil with dtergents in an electric motor.

[@Zamboro]

Oh boy. You can make lots of neat stuff with motors that size. Remember your electric mini boat project? What about a bigger, faster version?

[@RinoaL]

these motors arent any stronger than those other ones really.

[@bellphreak4370]

I'd always remove the fan cage. They make less noise, move more air and won't get dusty. The kids from a good friend (6 and 4) are sometimes playing with it (they seem to clearly understand that it's dangerous). Since kids can handle that, why do we need any safety guard?! Maybe if you've got a dog/cat walking around.

[@bellphreak4370]

Glad I don't own an old fan. The one I've got has plastic blades. The biggest danger is getting stuck with your hair. A 4 & 6 year old figured that out their selves that it's a dangerous machine and seem to handle it perfect without explanation. The older fans might indeed be a problem with stamped iron blades, sounds scary.

[@stevenbiars6212]

Doesn't matter if it's just a paper towel or not, if that motor catches it, it will take your fingers with it. Happens all the time with people using lathes, trying to use a piece of sand paper to polish a part -- they make sanding bows for this purpose.

[@6atlantis]

What is the second general electric motor? You showed two-pronged or was it grounded?

[@bensimmons1517]

I have found an old craftsman motor at a flea market and I purchased it, not sure how to figure out how old it is though, the faceplate is intact and readable I just don't know how to find it online. Is there a site that could tell me what year the motor is from? thanks

[@RinoaL]

upload a picture on twitter and tag me. im @RinoaSG

[@TheFurriestOne]

I'll add to the recommendation of 3-in-1 oil, it's good stuff. Though I'd imagine sewing machine oil isn't bad either, perhaps lighter duty.

[@yaash4123]

Just like the desk fans in fallout. :)

[@vampiregirl32]

Yaash wow that does look like Fallout desk fan ;-)^_^

[@WalterKnox]

that fan is a bersted fan which used a shsded pole motor. it is common for them to get very hot, sometimes so much so that you can not tutch the back. as long as you don't smell anything burning it should be fine. one thing i would reccomend is taking the motor apart and fully soaking the felt pads inside the bearings with oil.

[@joewarren7552]

If you tighten the knurled, barrel nut on the curved metal bracket underneath the motor, the fan should start to osculate back and forth.

[@RinoaL]

sadly it doesnt turn it much so something is broke inside

[@joewarren7552]

@@RinoaL that's too bad, when mine gets stuck, I just put a little oil on the curved arm and it starts to osculate. I've had mine since the 70's and they still work! Thanks for the heads up!

[@sarahszabo4323]

Definite No on that fan, that's an accident waiting to happen. With regards to the oil, I just use typical motor oil. I found some old 120V AC motors from my dad's old business and currently use them on my DIY Lathe project and some others too.

[@imaginarymask]

It definitely doesn't hurt, though I would think you might get better results after you let the oil soak in a little while.

[@RinoaL]

i had a big storm comming in so didnt feel like waiting

[@mattparker9726]

what are the HP ratings of the motors? Are any of them useful for an electric trike maybe?

[@tenlittleindians]

If you think that fan is dangerous you should see the one I can strap on my back and fly with! Paramotor.....

[@RinoaL]

thats very different

[@kazsmaz]

Rinoa Super-Genius is it really that much different. If either one turns off while your using it. Your gonna be sweating a lot. Just for differing reasons.

[@lnwolf41]

The 2 motors have rollor bearings, , they would use grease, depending on the type of bearins used. The second one sounds like the bearings are going. The fan more than likely has a sleeve bushing. As old as that fan looks, it could just be poor quality

[@justinlinnane8043]

Show them your gun why don't you ? Maybe they'll behave!!! Lmao

[@FactionPlays01]

Would be cool to make a super blender out of one of those motors lol

[@AmericanLocomotive1]

The 2nd motor is probably repulsion induction motor, and may have brushes that aren't pulling fully away from the commutator.

[@gyorgybako274]

WD-40 !

[@caseytbss]

For fans use turbine oil

[@jonathansimmonds5784]

Oh dear, there is much more to lubrication of an electric motor than 'I guess this will do'. The internet is a wonderful place so please do your research before oiling or greasing the bearings in any electric motor, did you know for example that if you over lube, particularly with grease, the excess can get on the windings and cause the breakdown of the insulation? Here is a very good article on the subject, there are many more like it online. www.machinerylubrication.com/Read/1125/electric-motor-lubrication

[@victor440_]

if you come across a HVAC guy they oil motors all the time talk to them if this helps.

[@robroberts1473]

0 weight synthetic should do the trick.

[@johnpotroanchenu6089]

Safety features: you stick your fingers in there and you'll know what it is.

[@CotyRiddle]

Ive always used machine oil.

[@DAVIDGREGORYKERR]

maybe new carbon brushes needed

[@fibrodad1354]

use grease not oil. watch the tool restoration channel he uses grease

[@RinoaL]

how will grease get into this though? if it was grease id have to remove the bearings and repack by hand. these motors clearly have oil fittings

[@donaldheitger6731]

@@RinoaL yes, you don't use grease, use motor I'll. Sewing machine oil is fine.I always used 3 in 1 oil.

[@lathanluu4535]

First

[@RinoaL]

good job

[@corbinbrewer7009]

Carolina Trains yes good job