Hello,
I have recently come across an old flexshaft, and was wondering if
anyone has heard of it or who might carry parts. I found it at my
Recycle center, it was missing the power cord. I’ve been able to wire
it up and get it running. But it is in need of new brushes and the
caps to hold the brushes in. It also need a chuck. The name on the
unit is ARTCO. made by American Rotary Tools. It looks very similar
to a Foredom. I am curious if the Foredom parts might fit the ARTCO
unit.
THanks,
Kevin
Kevin, I am an old do-it-yourselfer and have considerable experience
fixing up old electrical components. If the brushes (which are made
of carbon) are worn to the point where they will no longer touch the
armature you can find brushes for a similar type motor, and even if
they are too big you can cut them down easily to the correct
dimensions with a file. As long as the brushes have the same type
of wires connecting to the positive and negative posts and are
somewhat or even way oversized you are in business. The armature
can be cleaned up with a strip of emery cloth (which is available at
most auto parts stores). You just need to clean the carbon scoring
off. If the spaces between the strips of copper on the armature are
in good enough shape for you to run it now the insulation is
probably still good. Use a spray electrical parts cleaner to remove
any traces of copper dust from your armature sanding. Don’t use any
old type of spray cleaner, electrical parts cleaner does not leave
any oily residue which would gunk up the brushes. Check the brass
bushings where the armature rotates in the case for side to side
movement by placing the armature in and moving it from side to side,
if there is more than a quarter to a half of a millimeter side to
side movement you will want to think about replacing the bushings.
If there are real bearings instead of bushings check them for play
the same way. Most of the older motors have places to lubricate the
bearings or bushings, just use some regular old 30 weight oil. Also
when you take the thing apart, unless you are familiar with taking
apart motors and such, be very careful as you disassemble the cases
so that if something springs out at you, you know where it went.
Take apart one side at a time on the brushes so that when you are
putting it back together you can see the way the other side goes
together. Most little motors have a ‘C’ clip holding the armature
in place, ‘C’ clips are also known as dammit clips because they
don’t want to come off or go back on when you want them to. If your
motor has one or two of these you can try levering it off with a
small screw driver, but be careful because they will fly away to
parts unknown if you don’t have your hand around them. Mechanics
use a type of pliers that separate rather than go together, and they
have a cross hatching to prevent the little buggers from flying away
which they do anyway. If you have a digital camera take pictures of
each step, that might help in reassembling too. If you need more
help write me at @r_carew. Good luck. By the way should I
put in a caveat that if you use this advise, you do so at your own
risk… If you stab yourself with a screw driver you’re on your own
buddy. Rick Carew
The brushes are cheap about $ 3.00 a pair. I may have caps from an
old motor if not they are available too. Dont know where you are?
Can you measure the size of the carbon brushes and dia of the cap?
This will be of great help.
Regards
Kenneth Singh
The brushes are cheap about $ 3.00 a pair. I may have caps
from an old motor if not they are available too. Dont know where
you are? Can you measure the size of the carbon brushes and dia of
the cap? This will be of great help.
Rick and Kenneth, Thanks for your responses. I got the flexshaft up
and running. The brushes are OK for now but will probably need to be
replaced in the near future. They carbon part of the brushes measure
3/16" wide by 9/32" tall by 7/16" long. They have G32 stamped into
the side. They were cracked about 1/3 the way down. I was able to
make a couple of caps using Jett-Sett. They’re not the best looking,
But they do the job. And it looks as if the actual flexible shaft end
is the same type used on a buffalo torq-flex. We have one at the
school I go to, so I will try and see if it’s the same thread.
Overall I’m pretty excited since someone was just going to toss it
out.
Kevin