DC54 Motor Inspection

[oldsoul]

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Hello chaps, what do we think of this motor?

It still works well; no burning smell or odd noises. As you can see, one corner of one of the brushes is chipped, but the top of both brushes are also being shaved off as the commutator seems to sit low in relation to the brushes. Clearly it has experienced a good deal of heat - it has indeed hit thermal cutout more than a few times. There was a notable amount of carbon dust in and around the motor bucket. The bearings seem very nice; the shaft turns smoothly, with no grumbling.

I should have removed each brush to have a closer look at the surface and lengths, but I didn't pay much attention to it since it still functions fine, and wasn't that interested in it initially. But I became curious after seeing the chipped brush, and so here we are.

I've thought about simply replacing the brushes, but since the top of the existing brushes are being peeled away, I guess the same thing will happen to the new ones (this isn't supposed to happen, right?). Since it's seen a lot of heat, I wonder how much life is left in the rest of it as well. Any idea why the commutator would be sitting lower than it should be? Cheers!

[MVacs]

That looks like it may spark when run, does it?

[oldsoul]

That looks like it may spark when run, does it?

Thanks for the reply, I didn't check if it did out of its casing unfortunately (it's all back together now), but I guess it probably does given the missing chunk and overhanging peeling carbon on each brush. Just finished using it a bit, and nothing to really note. The back of the ball (where the exhaust filter is) does get hot - not sure if abnormally hot compared to most. Perhaps this heat is indicative of it sparking?

In any case, not sure there is much to be done right now, so will probably keep using until this one gives up. For what it's worth, quite a bit of long hair had passed through the motor and clogged the HEPA filter, but all cleaned up now. Attached are a couple of photos. I had to pull bits of hair out from inside the motor and vents in the motor bucket. I'll report back when it does finally go