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screen printing => Equipment => Topic started by: ebscreen on May 17, 2018, 06:04:11 PM
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Just noticed our motor/gearbox is leaking oil. This was replaced less than a year ago for the same reason.
The drive shaft seal blows out and leaks gearbox oil into the motor, fouling the brushes. Super cool.
Baldor is one of those Made in America companies that gives Made in America a bad name.
Anyone have any suggestions? Is there a replacement from a different manufacturer that fits?
I'd even be okay with a different final drive speed. I can math if it means not replacing these things annually.
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Maybe you could find a way to cross reference motor/gearbox on the interwebs for a suitable replacement.
Just a thought, but could it be the motor/gearbox mount or the roller shaft is part of the problem. Running slightly out of true rotation and causing seals to fail?
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Maybe you could find a way to cross reference motor/gearbox on the interwebs for a suitable replacement.
Just a thought, but could it be the motor/gearbox mount or the roller shaft is part of the problem. Running slightly out of true rotation and causing seals to fail?
Been down that first rabbit hole. Voltage/mounting/input/output/final drive/shaft size/form factor etc are a lot to cross reference.
Was hoping someone had done this before! This, unfortunately, has not been the first Baldor motor I've had issues with.
Maybe I'm just cursed with them.
I've questioned the mounting as this seems kind of ridiculous but there really isn't any way to be out of true.
The only thing I could think is that the belt tension is too tight but I'm pretty cautious about that.
And at any rate, I would assume it would be the output shaft seal that would fail in that case, not the input.
I appreciate the thoughts, keep 'em coming.
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More then likely the gear box needs to be vented. As the oil heats up it expands and will blow out at the weakest point, the seal.
SEW & Falk make nice motor gear box combos.
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Ours lasted 8 years. Just replaced ours 2 months ago.
Not too hard to do but that's not something you keep a spare of...$500 motor. I bet if it even had cooling around the outside of the gear box (heat sink fins / small fan) that would be sufficient enough to last 3-4x longer.
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More then likely the gear box needs to be vented. As the oil heats up it expands and will blow out at the weakest point, the seal.
SEW & Falk make nice motor gear box combos.
Excellent info, thank you. I had wondered about the venting, but as far as I can tell, the gearbox has one fill/level/drain hole and that's
it. As in to even change the oil you have to remove the whole unit. I just loosened the allen plug but that seems like opening
a whole new can of worms what with the air quality in the immediate vicinity.
Ours lasted 8 years. Just replaced ours 2 months ago.
Not too hard to do but that's not something you keep a spare of...$500 motor. I bet if it even had cooling around the outside of the gear box (heat sink fins / small fan) that would be sufficient enough to last 3-4x longer.
Re-sealed the one I replaced so we have that to pop in if need be, the motor was toast but the gearbox is re-usable.
I don't think cooling is an issue, the oil seals will wear out long before anything else. The problem is that when they do,
they leak into the motor, giving no indication unless you are looking for it.
The Boston Gear box on our old American has a fill and drain hole and a sight gauge and while it's never leaked if it did it would
end up on the floor, not in the motor.