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  1. #1
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    Default Cleaning stator windings on a grinder

    I'm giving my poor old bench grinder a birthday. It's not sealed and there's quite a bit of dust and grit in there. Some of it is fine and dry but some looks a bit sticky. Is compressed air best or is there a solvent I can use? Thanks.


  2. #2
    Dave J Guest

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    Compressed air and a tooth brush is all I have ever used.

    Dave

  3. #3
    BobL is online now Member: Blue and white apron brigade
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    Quote Originally Posted by Bryan View Post
    I'm giving my poor old bench grinder a birthday. It's not sealed and there's quite a bit of dust and grit in there. Some of it is fine and dry but some looks a bit sticky. Is compressed air best or is there a solvent I can use? Thanks.
    I'm with the comp air - same as Dave. If you don't want to drive more stuff further into the windings you can try directing the air stream across rather than into the windings. This will lift some of the excess off and into the air stream.

    Maybe check winding resistance or megger it if you have access to one after cleaning?

  4. #4
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    Some solvents can damage the winding insulation especially alcohols like ethanol which can get into almost any polymer. Carbon tetrachloride used to be a good cleaning fluid to remove grease and crap from motor stators but obviously these days that's impossible. I have washed electronics that have already been flooded/underwater with detergent and water, i.e. detergent spray and garden hose but I did have to bake it out on a low oven heat about 40-50 deg C for days afterwards to get every last bit of moisture out of the circuitry. If you do use an oven to dry then you'll have to open the oven door often to exchange the hot damp air for drier cool air.

    The ideal solution would be if you had access to a fridgies vac pump you could rig up a vacuum chamber and boil off the water at room temperature which would be the most thorough way to dry the washed windings.

  5. #5
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    Hi Bryan,

    That looks like the long lost brother to my Peerless grinder... grinding dust and all.. I put new bearings in mine a few months back... never knew it ran so quietly...

    Compressed air is the quickest and easiest, like others have mentioned stay away from solvents. Be a bit carefull around the centrifugal switch.

    If you really wanted to go overboard, you could drop the stator out and get it dipped and baked by a motor rewinding place.

    Regards
    Ray

  6. #6
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    Electricians at work use a product called Lectra - Clean from CRC. Designed for motor windings. Need to check first on plastics. No flash point and a big list of bad chemicals it does NOT contain. Works well and dries fast. However unless there is a big need a tooth brush and comp air should do the job cheaper.

    Dean

  7. #7
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    I would use metho or even petrol, but probably metho...
    Gold, the colour of choice for the discerning person.

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by .RC. View Post
    I would use metho or even petrol, but probably metho...

    Petrol leaves an oily residue behind that's crud's going to stick to, metho OTOH has a small molecule that gets into the plastic and swells it up while softening them....takes ages to dry out again.

    Come to think of it petrol inside a single phase motor that might have a sparky centrifugal switch could be spectacular.

  9. #9
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    Crc makes a product called 'contact cleaner' this would be the only product I would use for such a purpose, and even then I would be a little bit conservative with the solvent, as mentioned in previous posts, you don't want to break down the insulation on the windings.

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by Pete012 View Post
    Crc makes a product called 'contact cleaner' this would be the only product I would use for such a purpose, and even then I would be a little bit conservative with the solvent, as mentioned in previous posts, you don't want to break down the insulation on the windings.
    I also have CO Contact Cleaner from CRC. Lectra - Clean is actually CRC's specific motor windings cleaner as opposed to contacts cleaner. May be the same stuff inside. Who knows? Not going out in the dark to check. The contact cleaner may be available from a bigger range of shops. I got mine many years ago from a Jaycar dealer I think. Its on the net. Look up CRC.

    Dean

  11. #11
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    Default Metho

    Metho these days is mostly ethanol which will eat the insulation off the wiring.

    Regards Mike

  12. #12
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    I would not use metho some old windings were insulated with shellac and we all know what metho does to shellac.
    Regards
    Hugh

    Enough is enough, more than enough is too much.

  13. #13
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    Ok thanks everyone for the input. I will first try a dry toothbrush and judiciously directed air and see how that goes. Cheers.

  14. #14
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    Hey MICKYG great minds and all that.
    Cheers
    Hugh

    Enough is enough, more than enough is too much.

  15. #15
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    I used a CRC product (can't remember if it was the Lectra-Clean or the contact cleaner) to clean the windings of an old GMF bench grinder. Basically used most of a can to flood the windings to flush the dirt out. Seems to have caused no damage to the grinder.

    Regards,

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