Stepper Motors ??

Swap the lead to a channel that is known good, and that will verify the drivers. If a driver chip loses a phase, then yes, a motor can get very weak. If you rotate the good and weak motors by hand, do they feel the same? Similar amount of resistance, and can you feel the "steps" about the same in both? If not, bad motor, if so, very possibly a driver chip issue . . .

- Tim

cleaning motors is a exercise in futility.
you may get one to work for a week or so, but it will fail very quickly...

As for the motors being weak, you can try swapping the driver chips on the board, and see if the weak motor chases the motor or driver chip..

Although 99% of the time, a weak motor is just that, a weak motor.

Good Luck

Joshua Wood

I respectfully disagree. I have some studios with motors that I cleaned over 5 years ago, and nary a problem since. If the bearings are that bad, simply change them, and the motor is then mechanically identical to a new motor . . . at a far, far, lower cost . . .

- Tim

Of course,
you are more than welcome to disagree.
YMMV.

However, I will say that I haven't tried replacing the bearings.
That may be the difference maker.
In my case, it isn't worth the time vs. the cost of a motor to go through that much trouble..

Josh

I guess I look at it from the standpoint that getting the motor in and out of the fixture is typically the slow part. Once it's out, bearings are a couple of bucks each, vs $70 or so for a motor, and the labor to put the bearings in is a few minutes at best . . . I guess it depends on who is paying, too . . . I own my own stuff, so try to be a bit more aware of costs that I may not need to spend than I might be if I had spare stock and someone else putting up the $$$.

- Tim

I understand completely.
I guess for me getting the motor in and out takes very little time.
most motors in a 575 take me less than 15 minutes from beginning to end.
Especially on newer fixtures that have the split gobo rotate assembly.

And if it were my personal time, vs "work time" it may be different.
I have to account for work time, if I spend 20 hours working on a fixture I own, of course it is very different.


However,
If you are paying $70 for motors, you are getting completely ripped off.
Motors from HES are only $43 each. (with a few exceptions)
Almost all the 99270069-99270078 are all the same price.
Focus/frost on the 575 are more, as well as any pan/tilt motors.

You may also get a better price from lightparts.
But I am not 100% sure on that one.

Josh

tip for motors I have gotten motors for as little as $7.50ea - $12.50(and yes they where new). I have rebuilt them too and have most last a few weeks and i did have one last 2 years!(I mark the date anytime I put a motor in just so I can track) I put a new one strait from high end motor that went in 8 mos. I guess what I'm saying is that it's a big crap shoot sometimes!! With that said I don't waste my time putting used motors in my lights but.......if I'm out of motors and one fails at a gig I find it can't hurt to try a quick rebuild, most times I get though a gig. I have read that but have not looked in to it, but most motor can be re-magnetize not rebuilt.

oh, one more tip if you get motors try and get ones with the longer shaft! the motors are the same (size 17 that is) you can cut them down. I keep a few long ones in my tool box with a hack saw to do on gig repairs. also the non hes part no for most lights is : 17PM-K310-*** (the last three digits are the shaft config/size)

[QUOTE=Woodj32177;45802]I understand completely.
I guess for me getting the motor in and out takes very little time.
most motors in a 575 take me less than 15 minutes from beginning to end.
Especially on newer fixtures that have the split gobo rotate assembly.

And if it were my personal time, vs "work time" it may be different.
I have to account for work time, if I spend 20 hours working on a fixture I own, of course it is very different.


However,
If you are paying $70 for motors, you are getting completely ripped off.
Motors from HES are only $43 each. (with a few exceptions)
Almost all the 99270069-99270078 are all the same price.
Focus/frost on the 575 are more, as well as any pan/tilt motors.

You may also get a better price from lightparts.
But I am not 100% sure on that one.

Josh

To tell you the truth, I was guessing based on an (apparently) bad memory . . . I have never had to replace a motor in over 12 years . . .

- Tim

[QUOTE=jeeper;45804]tip for motors I have gotten motors for as little as $7.50ea - $12.50(and yes they where new). I have rebuilt them too and have most last a few weeks and i did have one last 2 years!(I mark the date anytime I put a motor in just so I can track) I put a new one strait from high end motor that went in 8 mos. I guess what I'm saying is that it's a big crap shoot sometimes!! With that said I don't waste my time putting used motors in my lights but.......if I'm out of motors and one fails at a gig I find it can't hurt to try a quick rebuild, most times I get though a gig. I have read that but have not looked in to it, but most motor can be re-magnetize not rebuilt.

oh, one more tip if you get motors try and get ones with the longer shaft! the motors are the same (size 17 that is) you can cut them down. I keep a few long ones in my tool box with a hack saw to do on gig repairs. also the non hes part no for most lights is : 17PM-K310-*** (the last three digits are the shaft config/size)

Where can i get those 7.5$ motors from .. any idea .. this will sort out most of my troubles , mean while ill try the swapping the wires around to make sure drivers are ok ... thank you guys your help is highly appreciated ... i think you will hear from me alot when i finish the motors step .. ohhhh i still have 30 cyberlights to look into :) ... and offcoarse if u want any help regarding AVO & Robe , im an expert u can ask me anytime :)

At $7.50 a motor I'd be a little :poke:. Something not quite right there.

Most likely nothing other than NOS surplus - these really are quite generic motors, and the markup through the ML companies for parts is staggering . . . typically at least 4x to 6x from what I have seen . . .

- Tim

most where minebea, and you have to hunt ebay mostly. I've found a few suppliers with them on close outs. remember they are 17pm-k310-***.

17 is the size the k310 is the elec specs and the last three are shaft cofg.

I did get a case of 17pm-k104-02v really cheap only to find they will not work with anything that is indexed, but have found them to work fine in tech's and s spot 250's for f/x rotate.

Okay,
I did some research and i found that openning a stepper motor is a BAD exercise because they tend to loose magnetic flux,
so if someone doesn't help me out here i'm going to spend (15000 + shipping + customs) on motors only, not to mention other spare parts...
i found some web sites selling stepper motors but i can't figure out the correct number , Jeepers said its 17pm-k310-*** but going through the minebea catalog i only got to 17pm-k the rest is different ,

Also another question, will the new motors lower the noise of operating the heads, because its generating an awful load noise, and if its not the motors how can i make it Shut-Up :)

Regards
Sevan M.

Also another finding, all the fixtures i worked on have no problem with pan & tilt motors THANKFULLY , but how come all the other motors are bad except for those two, HUH ???? are they from a different manufacturer ???

I wonder

That is a bit strange. The motors in the head do get a bit hot during operation which wears them out faster... but all the pan/tilt's being good and most-all the others being bad is strange indeed.