coolant proofing steppers

[300magnum]

Hi all, just about got my X2 converted, using Keling 4030 drivers, 425 oz/in stepper motors and 24V power supply and Mach2, just wondering if I need to do anything to protect the steppers from coolant?
They appear to be pretty well sealed.
Are they "liquid" proof?

What do you guys suggest?

Cheers.

[maxboostbusa]

I used Hoss' idea of bending a acrylic cover for the motors so the coolant and chips will run off of the covers and not the motors. Pretty easy to do he shows a video on his site. The bottoms are open so they dont trap all the heat in with the motors.

[tpworks]

vinyl shower pan liner from Home Depot works well also.

[BrendaEM]

You could also waterproof things such as where wires go into things with silicone sealer, as long as you are careful about getting it on anything that might ever need painting.

For my electric scooter, I used to make inline connections splash-resistant using sections of old bicycle inner tube and zip-ties.

[cadmonkey]

You can buy coolant proof steppers (just found some online the other night) but they don't go nearly as high in torque - they're intended for food processing and the like. I'm going to take the same route Hoss did with bent plastic, though I may start off with something a little less elegant - I drink a lot of prebottled juice and the bottles are just the right length to cover my whole shaft connection to the end of the stepper and beyond. Warm it with the heatgun and it will mold to any shape you want - much what the R/C guys do to vacuform cockpit covers and the like. Hmmm - maybe I'll make a mold and do a vacform with the bottle plastic...

Silicone is great for the wire connections/entrance but the bearing and shaft holes are still open. I'm not going to get too exotic as I don't plan on flood cooling just the errant chip guard really and wipe up any mist which might deposit.

And to respond to 300magnum's question - No they are not liquid proof.

[300magnum]

Thanks for all your ideas, I'll go with the plastic sheet idea for a sheild, sounds good.

Cheers.

[Bowman]

Try finding a plastic soda bottle or juice container perhaps even square that is large enough to fit over your steppers. Then just cut the bottom off at a length leaving enough to go past the end of the stepper, toss the bottom away and slit the remaining top. It should fit so that the open slit is on the bottom of course so that runoff will just drip right past the motor. With the right neck sized bottle you can get it fairly covered and still have an open end to airflow. I hope you can visualize what I mean, its basically making a plastic cowl for your motor out of a bottle


Bo