Lucien Miller of Scorpion Products conducts a tour inside a Scorpion brushless motor.
"For those of you that are interested in seeing the inside of a 30 mm motor, here are a few photos that I shot. This motor is a 3026-8 that I pulled at random from my motor stock. First is a shot of the outside of the motor where can see how the back housing rises up and away from the back of the flux ring. This provides plenty of space for airflow, and allows plenty of room for mounting screws:
Here is a rather long mounting screw sitting next to the motor – a 3 mm screw with 9 mm of thread. This is actually a common size that is used to secure CD-ROM drives into computers, so it is readily available. As others have reported, when using longer screws like these on some motors, the extra length of the screw will poke through the back of the motor housing, hitting the stator windings inside, and cause a short.
Here is a close-up shot of the screw installed into the back of the motor. The rear motor housing is about 2.5 mm thick, and I ran the screw in so there was a 1.5 mm space between the head of the screw and the back of the motor. This is where the screw would end up if you had a 1/16" plywood firewall, and in this position there is 5 mm of screw thread poking inside the motor.
If you look closely, you can see the end of the screw at the top edge of the slot. Even with the screw this far into the back housing, there is still about 3 mm of clearance before the screw would hit the stator windings. This makes mounting the motor a very simple operation, without the worry of shorting out the windings with the end of the screw.
Now it is time to go inside the motor. Here is a view of the Stator from the 3026 series motors:
You can see how uniformly the stator plates are stacked and how nicely the stator windings are laid into the slots. The stator plates in the 22 mm and 30 mm Scorpion motors are only 0.2 mm thick for maximum efficiency and minimum eddy current losses. Because the stator plates are so thin, it takes 130 stator plates to make up a 26 mm stator assembly!
Here is a close-up view of the left side of the stator from the above photo:
In this photo you can see how neatly stacked the stator assembly is and you can see the green powder coat finish that is on the inside of the stator. This is done to prevent the wire from shorting out against the stator plates. If you look closely around the edges, you can see the thickness of the powder coat finish and how it creates a nice radiused corner on the stator. This helps the wire bend cleanly around the corners and virtually eliminates the chance for shorts with the stator windings. In this photo you can also get a sense of just how thin the stator plates actually are.
In the next photo you can see the end of the stator assembly, and how well the wires are wrapped onto the stator:
There are a few other things to take note of in this photo. Near the center of the stator, you can see just how thick the powder coat is applied at the end faces. This provides a nice radius for the wire to wrap around. Also, look closely down between the stator teeth – you won't see any daylight there. The stator slots are packed with just about as much copper as you can possibly fit inside. All of the stators in the Scorpion Motors are hand wound by people that take a lot of pride in their work, and I think that really shows.
Finally, here is a shot looking down inside of the flux ring can of the motor:
As you can see, Scorpion uses 14 curved magnets in the motor can and a generous amount of high temperature adhesive is used to make sure that the magnets stay put. The high level of machining extends inside the motor, and you can see on the inside surface that the holes are de-burred and the finish on the inside surface is every bit as good as the finish on the outside. Many motor companies leave this inside area unfinished, since you cannot see it, but Scorpion's attention to detail extends through the entire motor, even to the parts that you cannot even see in normal use.
So there you have it – a guided tour inside the new Scorpion 30 mm motors. Hopefully you can all see the level of quality, and the fit and finish of the internal parts of these fine motors. The owner of Scorpion is very serious about producing a quality product both inside and out, and the best part is that they run as good as they look!"
What’s Inside a Brushless Motor?
Lucien Miller of Scorpion Products conducts a tour inside a Scorpion brushless motor.
"For those of you that are interested in seeing the inside of a 30 mm motor, here are a few photos that I shot. This motor is a 3026-8 that I pulled at random from my motor stock. First is a shot of the outside of the motor where can see how the back housing rises up and away from the back of the flux ring. This provides plenty of space for airflow, and allows plenty of room for mounting screws:
Here is a rather long mounting screw sitting next to the motor – a 3 mm screw with 9 mm of thread. This is actually a common size that is used to secure CD-ROM drives into computers, so it is readily available. As others have reported, when using longer screws like these on some motors, the extra length of the screw will poke through the back of the motor housing, hitting the stator windings inside, and cause a short.
Here is a close-up shot of the screw installed into the back of the motor. The rear motor housing is about 2.5 mm thick, and I ran the screw in so there was a 1.5 mm space between the head of the screw and the back of the motor. This is where the screw would end up if you had a 1/16" plywood firewall, and in this position there is 5 mm of screw thread poking inside the motor.
If you look closely, you can see the end of the screw at the top edge of the slot. Even with the screw this far into the back housing, there is still about 3 mm of clearance before the screw would hit the stator windings. This makes mounting the motor a very simple operation, without the worry of shorting out the windings with the end of the screw.
Now it is time to go inside the motor. Here is a view of the Stator from the 3026 series motors:
You can see how uniformly the stator plates are stacked and how nicely the stator windings are laid into the slots. The stator plates in the 22 mm and 30 mm Scorpion motors are only 0.2 mm thick for maximum efficiency and minimum eddy current losses. Because the stator plates are so thin, it takes 130 stator plates to make up a 26 mm stator assembly!
Here is a close-up view of the left side of the stator from the above photo:
In this photo you can see how neatly stacked the stator assembly is and you can see the green powder coat finish that is on the inside of the stator. This is done to prevent the wire from shorting out against the stator plates. If you look closely around the edges, you can see the thickness of the powder coat finish and how it creates a nice radiused corner on the stator. This helps the wire bend cleanly around the corners and virtually eliminates the chance for shorts with the stator windings. In this photo you can also get a sense of just how thin the stator plates actually are.
In the next photo you can see the end of the stator assembly, and how well the wires are wrapped onto the stator:
There are a few other things to take note of in this photo. Near the center of the stator, you can see just how thick the powder coat is applied at the end faces. This provides a nice radius for the wire to wrap around. Also, look closely down between the stator teeth – you won't see any daylight there. The stator slots are packed with just about as much copper as you can possibly fit inside. All of the stators in the Scorpion Motors are hand wound by people that take a lot of pride in their work, and I think that really shows.
Finally, here is a shot looking down inside of the flux ring can of the motor:
As you can see, Scorpion uses 14 curved magnets in the motor can and a generous amount of high temperature adhesive is used to make sure that the magnets stay put. The high level of machining extends inside the motor, and you can see on the inside surface that the holes are de-burred and the finish on the inside surface is every bit as good as the finish on the outside. Many motor companies leave this inside area unfinished, since you cannot see it, but Scorpion's attention to detail extends through the entire motor, even to the parts that you cannot even see in normal use.
So there you have it – a guided tour inside the new Scorpion 30 mm motors. Hopefully you can all see the level of quality, and the fit and finish of the internal parts of these fine motors. The owner of Scorpion is very serious about producing a quality product both inside and out, and the best part is that they run as good as they look!"
Lucien Miller