[Dave G.]

I was checking out various HO related products for sale on EBay, and noticed several sellers who make a point of letting you know that the motor they are selling, or have in a chassis that they have modified, that the stacks have been dyed some color.

What is the point of this? Does it add anything to the performance of the motor?

 

[clydeomite]

The dye just prevents rust which in High Humidity areas can build up and hinder the arms ability to spin in the magnets. I live in Colorado and Humidity is not an issue but when I raced 1/24th wing cars in the 80's and traveled to a/reas like Detriot my motors and axles would be froze up by the time I got back home . Pretty seriuos stuff if you have arms stuck in ball bearings and have to disassemble the motor to get them out and replace the ball bearings.
Clyde-0-Mite

 

[Dave G.]

Wow, thanks for the fast response there Clydeomite!

 

[alpink]

there is also the idea that dying the stacks helps indicate that the armature might not be stock any more.
there are some stock arms dyed for exactly the reason clyde stated and there are a lot of guys who will dye stacks after they have altered the armature in some way, for a multitude of reasons.

 

[eastside johnny]

Interesting comments regarding the rust. I can walk over to Lake Erie, been here since 1973 & never had any H.O. stuff (arms, axles) get rusty. We even race outdoors 6-7 times every summer too. BUT, even in my basement I don't have any kind of dampness problem. My tracks in the basement just need a very basic wipe down & even the portable outdoor tracks that are stored in the garage clean up & are race ready with very little effort. Maybe there's a difference between the H.O. stuff & the larger scale equipment? Glad I don't have to deal with any problems due to moisture.

 

[pshoe64]

When I was traveling and racing (all scales of slots) I kept silica bags in the race box to help prevent the moisture issues. I dyed armature lams too, but I did it for quick identification. I usually tied the color to an Ohm range. Red for 3.0-3.4 Ohms, Green for 2.5-2.9, etc. Way back in the 70's we dyed the pans on our HO pan cars, just for the appearance and to make ours a bit different than the next guys.

-Paul

 

[Dyno Dom]

Clyde, I find slight rust on stacks of arms.(inlines) When setting up a car,
I use a polishing compound with 600 grit to polish the arm in a Dremel.
Al & Paul, dyeing is certainly good idea for arm identification but unfortunately also used to hinder ID of doctored arms.