Brushless motors for RC cars are a pretty neat invention! If you’re into electric RC cars, they can be really the way to go, especially considering their power and efficiency. They require low maintenance, but they really need some taking care of from time to time.
That’s why you need to learn how to clean and maintain your electric RC car’s brushless motor. You can save a lot of money by doing the proper maintenance yourself and your motor will enjoy a prolonged lifetime.
Then there’s the question of how often should you perform this operation. It depends on the much you use your RC car. If you’re a heavy-duty RC car enthusiast, you might have to do it as much as each month, but if you’re a regular user, you might have to do it as much as twice a year.
You’ll need some basic tools, such as a pair of pliers, a screwdriver, a clean cloth, and some cotton swabs, a soldering iron, a ziplock plastic bag, a compressed air can.
First of all, you need to take out the motor. This part can be a bit tricky, but you’ll pull through it with some patience and a careful eye. Use the pliers to take the sensor wire from the motor. Try not to pull on the wires solely because you’ll risk messing them up. Next, you need to disconnect the three motor wires. You can do that by de-soldering them, or just by manually disconnecting them if your RC car has such an option.
Now, that you’ve removed the motor from the chassis, you can get to the cleaning part. You should the exterior of the motor first, because it’s highly possible that you’ll find a lot of debris, dirt or dust. Take the clean cloth or rag and wipe it down and use cotton swabs or a toothbrush to reach hard places to clean. You should pay close attention to some exposed areas and don’t overdo it with the toothbrush, as you might risk scratching them.
Next, you can move on to the solder tabs. You will find all three at the back of the motor, and you should pay special attention to them as debris often gets stuck in between the tabs. This is another sensitive area that should be handled with maximum attention because if you don’t get all the debris out, you risk damaging your motor. If you see some solder build-up between the tabs, you should use the soldering iron to heat it up and then wipe it carefully.
Move on to opening up the motor. The parts are easy to disassemble are put back afterward. Before you do that though, you should mark the timing that you already set, using a marker and a piece of tape over it. Pay close attention to the placement of the washers on the rotor, because you need to place them back afterward in the same place. The rotor is another sensitive part, so be careful when removing it.
Once you have removed all the parts from the motor, take the compressed air can and blow them off with it. Do this procedure until there is no sign of dirt or debris. Now it’s time to check the bearings to see if they’re working fine. Stick the rotor into the bearings and spin it to see if the bearings are grinding or smooth. If they’re smooth, you need to clean them also. If they’re grinding, then you can wipe them with a paper towel or a cotton swab. You need to clean your rotor also, but make sure you do it just before you put the motor back together. Use some normal clear tape, wrap it around your fingers (the index and the middle finger) with the sticky part out and use it just like a lint brush in order to clean all the debris.
You’re just about there! You can get to putting the motor back together. Take your time with this and afterward, you should take your car for a test drive to see if you’ve done a good job.
