Armature Rewinds - Recommendations?

[plasticbasher]

Hi All,

 

I have acquired an MRRC / Airfix 1001 motor (ie. a clone of the X03 / X04 units, but 5 pole) that is in excellent condition, other than it frequently refuses to start with the armature in a certain position.

 

This suggests the armature windings have damage on at least one pole.

 

I am looking for recommendations of a company that can rewind the armature.

 

Cheers,

plasticbasher

[Pebbles]

There a couple of issues that you need to look at. Firstly make certain that all wires are connected to the commutator they can become loose or de-solder. Secondly if wires are broken it is possible to splice an extension piece of wire and re-connect to the commutator.  Should you not feel confident about attempting a re-wind you could contact Scalespeed in Fareham who do re-winds among other things.

[plasticbasher]

Thanks Pebbles.

 

Done the above:

• No visible breaks in the wire.
• All solder connections to the commutator look sound under my naked eye (armature is as clean as I can get it).
• No short circuits (testing between each pole and the motor frame).
• Testing resistance between adjacent poles gives 5 ohm on one and 7 ohm on the other four; so I reckon there's my issue.
• I did contact Scalespeed, but they weren't interested in doing the rewinds on MRRC 5 pole armatures.

Looking carefully at mine , the wire is not simply wound around each pole one at a time (like a three-pole X-03 / X04), but seems to be done in two "phases" around the adjacent pole on one direction and then around the adjacent pole in the other direction.  Seemingly quite a bit more complex, so I guess requires a special jig or takes more time than they can justify for a viable price.

 

I have been searching the internet as it seems perfectly viable to do myself by hand if I "acquire some knowledge".  Certainly it appears the slot car community did it all the time in the 1960's & 70's and adjusting the wire thickness and number of turns was a big part of tuning the cars.  So using the same principles, but in reverse (ie. aiming for more winds using thinner wire) will help "tune" a motor for model railway use (more torque and lower revs).

 

Sadly most of the seemingly good DIY armature rewinding videos covering 5 pole rewinds on YouTube are from guys in India in their local Indian language and I am probably only grasping 10% each videos content at best. There is one I watched on armature winding principles late last night by an Indian electronics professor (in English language) and he made me wish I paid much, much more attention in school..!

 

This may take a while before I feel ready, but I will win this one..!

 

plasticbasher

Edited October 28, 2023 by plasticbasher

[Pebbles]

14 hours ago, plasticbasher said:

Thanks Pebbles.

 

Done the above:

• No visible breaks in the wire.
• All solder connections to the commutator look sound under my naked eye (armature is as clean as I can get it).
• No short circuits (testing between each pole and the motor frame).
• Testing resistance between adjacent poles gives 5 ohm on one and 7 ohm on the other four; so I reckon there's my issue.
• I did contact Scalespeed, but they weren't interested in doing the rewinds on MRRC 5 pole armatures.

Looking carefully at mine , the wire is not simply wound around each pole one at a time (like a three-pole X-03 / X04), but seems to be done in two "phases" around the adjacent pole on one direction and then around the adjacent pole in the other direction.  Seemingly quite a bit more complex, so I guess requires a special jig or takes more time than they can justify for a viable price.

 

I have been searching the internet as it seems perfectly viable to do myself by hand if I "acquire some knowledge".  Certainly it appears the slot car community did it all the time in the 1960's & 70's and adjusting the wire thickness and number of turns was a big part of tuning the cars.  So using the same principles, but in reverse (ie. aiming for more winds using thinner wire) will help "tune" a motor for model railway use (more torque and lower revs).

 

Sadly most of the seemingly good DIY armature rewinding videos covering 5 pole rewinds on YouTube are from guys in India in their local Indian language and I am probably only grasping 10% each videos content at best. There is one I watched on armature winding principles late last night by an Indian electronics professor (in English language) and he made me wish I paid much, much more attention in school..!

 

This may take a while before I feel ready, but I will win this one..!

 

plasticbasher

From memory 38swg wire and around 120 turns for each segment. Draw a diagram of the layout and note where each wire joins the commutator. Check youtube for Mr Snooze he rewound a three pole armature by hand and the principle is much the same.