Need to remove the Novak heatsinks on my 13.5 and 17.5 motors. They were a tight fit going on but I didnt realize how difficult it would be to take them off.

Anyone have a trick to get them off without damaging anything?

if you have a heat gun....heat the ring (You may want to wear gloves) try to focus the heat on just the ring itself....it should let it expand enough to work it off.

Joe, by ring do you mean the heatsink itself? I have the same problem on one of my 13.5s and I don't want to damaged the winding that are exposed when the endplate is removed.

Ron,

The ring portion of the heat sink will probably expand the most and the easiest. Aim the heat from about where the fins start on one side to where they start on the other...

(If it's the black heat sink...it's probably going to still be pretty tough - those were a pig to put on)

dremel + cutoff wheel! :)

...LOL now that's cheatin'! LOL (That's what I was going to suggest - IF the heat doesn't work)

be careful with the heat gun ... they get hot enough to melt the plastic on the motor.

I can get it them off if you need. It's tricky, maybe give me a call or shoot me an email and I'll give you the rundown. It's not that bad, but you need a decent vice and a heat gun. Plus a teaspoon of patience.

I wonder if they are still making them too small?
Seems like if they were the right size, there would not be
an issue getting them on and taking them off and
using them on another motor.

I think if one were to get one now, he should try to get a hold of
a brake cylinder hone, and maybe take 5/10000ths off.
That can make the difference between a go and an oh-oh...

Dan, I like your idea!!!!!

I used my wifes Hair Dryer to heat the fins, which expands the center ring. I would think next time I will use a heat gun, I can about start a fire with that dryer. I also had used articsilver thermal compound so when that heated up it just slid off. The tight fit is needed to transfer the heat. My current 13.5 the center ring spins very free.

The tight fit is needed to transfer the heat. My current 13.5 the center ring spins very free.

I disagree, somewhat.
Let's look at two scenarios.

#1) you freeze your motor, and heat your heatsink to get it on.
Then... you change motors... you have to somehow fight with
it to get it off. you either heat the thing up, and hope you don't
damage anything, or you dremel it off...
All for the sake of getting that tight fit you think is necessary.

#2), you hone the heatsink to the same size as your purple ring.

On my 10.5 motor, the ring spun freely.
BUT... I could measure the temp, and it could be 160*..
Regardless of whether or not that heatsink was "tight", it still
measured 160*... or... ~100* higher than ambient.
it would STILL benefit from a heat sink.
I doubt you'd see any more than 10 degrees difference, if that,
it the thing was tighter than a guitar string....

Scenario #3
You put the heatsink on and it's .001 larger then the laminations. It transfer heat better then being .010 larger. when you want to remove it, the heatsink slides off.

Scenario #3
You put the heatsink on and it's .001 larger then the laminations. It transfer heat better then being .010 larger. when you want to remove it, the heatsink slides off.

I'm sticking with scenario #4, which I forgot to mention...
You can just not use the thing....:(

When I build gaming PC's I make sure there is good thermal contact between the cooler and CPU. In theory you want as much physical contact with out the use of compound to transfer the heat. The smoother the surfaces to be joined the more physical contact. The compound is to fill in the voids and provide more heat transfer since nothing is ever perfect and it is hard to polish a CPU.

This maybe the reason why Novak made the heatsinks to exact specs. They wanted to increase the physical contact between the ring and the motor. The ring I have on my motor that spins freely is just an observation. I did not alter that ring, it just was loose when I got it.

Plus, I can't wait till the new 45W Peltier coolers come out for racing.

I WAS TOLD BY A RENOUN CAR BUILDER TO RUN A BRUSHLESS MOTOR WITHOUT THE RING AROUND THE MOTOR AND TO LEAVE IT EXPOSED.
EXPOSING THE STATOR IS A PROBLEM?
COMMENTS PLEASE

P.S. CURRENTLY WITHOUT A POD TOP PLATE FACTORY DOESNT MAKE ONE
FOR BRUSHLESS HEATSINK.:wave:

I WAS TOLD BY A RENOUN CAR BUILDER TO RUN A BRUSHLESS MOTOR WITHOUT THE RING AROUND THE MOTOR AND TO LEAVE IT EXPOSED.
EXPOSING THE STATOR IS A PROBLEM?
COMMENTS PLEASE

P.S. CURRENTLY WITHOUT A POD TOP PLATE FACTORY DOESNT MAKE ONE
FOR BRUSHLESS HEATSINK.:wave:

I would keep the ring on there if your not gonna replace it with a heatsink.
I think Frank U. said in another thread that there was little or no difference on an occasion when he tried both ways. Or something like that.

On the pod plate remark; I had to "modify" my heatsink to fit between my pod-plates and around the axle. Nothing a little time with the dremel can't take care of.
This is on a Leading Edge car.