X2 Bearing coolers and Armature Fan

[SScnc]

I just can't leave anything stock, I have to "try" and make them better or at least better suited for me. I know there has been threads about bearing cooling and also adding various fans on top of the motor and I thought some of you might find my solutions interesting and maybe even helpful.

Below are some pics of what I've done on these topics. The coolers are 2 piece with the cover plate sealed with RTV applied between the parts with a syringe. I need to change the outlet tubes to low profile 90* ones.

The one pictured is only for the bottom bearing and I have to reinstall the a seal to keep coolant from splashing into the bearing. The top cooler will be very similar to the bottom but with input/output tubes coming out horizontal.

I ran the mill until the head reached the usual 110* mark then turned on the coolant flow and within 15 minutes it had dropped to 96*. The temperature sensor was mounted on the head close to the bottom for this test. Since I don't have an upper bearing cooler installed yet, there was a very noticeable difference in temperature when feeling the bottom portion of the head as compared to the top portion. The top was much warmer. I will eventually make these out of copper or brass but I don't have any pieces large enough for them on hand. With copper or brass I'll be able to solder the in/out tubes on and greatly simplify that part.


I have the outer water jacket on the motor and that completely take care of any heating of the case of the motor but I wanted to address the main source of the heat being generated by the armature. I had tried various electric fans and setups, even a 4" tube around the motor with a 4" PC fan mounted on top and it worked ok but looked awful.

I have a couple of $2. CPU fans lying around so I removed the "impeller", drilled and tapped a 10-32 hole in the top motor shaft and made a shroud and this setup really pulls the air through the motor now. I don't think it could pull any more due to the air in openings at the bottom of the motor base.

Enough typing, here are the pics...

[HimyKabibble]

OK, I gotta ask: Why on earth are you going to all this trouble to cool something that's running at only 110F??? That's nowhere near hot enough to be of any concern whatsoever....

Regards,
Ray L.

[SScnc]

Because it's part of the fun for me and as far as I know, no one else has done this on an X2, at least I haven't seen it. As I said, I have seen electric fans mounted on the motor but my way uses the motor itself.

Another big reason for me is that 110* may not be a big deal at ~4600 RPM but I'm making a larger drive pulley and will be increasing the RPM's as much as I possibly can and the bearing coolers will be important then.

And if you ask why am I increasing the RPM's, one, cause I can, and two, I use very small EM's 90% of the time and I really don't like having a Rotozip or similar stuck on the side screaming all day.

And as far as the motor itself goes, I think that heat on the windings, namely the insulation coating, can't be good for it, cool is better !

I guess there are many cases where one can ask the question you asked but trying and succeeding on things like this may be useful knowledge in the future that may be applied to other things and situations. And again, it's not "all this trouble", it's fun to have an idea and actually make it and see that it really works as planned !

Now, does that answer your question ?

[ibuildstuff4u]

I love it!!!!

Thanks for sharing the picts. I'm planning to add a fan to my machine too and I really like the idea of making a custom case for it so you don't have a goofy looking square fan on top of a round motor. I would have never thought of that if you hadn't posted the picture.

As for the reason to add the cooling to the motor? I replaced the stock speed control with a different one and it allows the motor to spin faster and with more torque so it does tend to warm up faster than before I don't want to ruin the motor by extra heat.

Keep up the good work!

Dale P.

[SScnc]

Thanks Dale, the fan shroud is just a piece of 2" PVC electrical conduit coupling I cut off and turned some grooves into. This whole idea actually came from Thorpydo's thread seen HERE and it was HawkJET's and Philbur's posts that made me realize what needed to be done for the bearings.

Steve

[vlmarshall]

Nice work. I'm enjoying this thread, and I don't even HAVE an X2. Thanks for sharing.