Isn't she a beaut?
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Now this is what an electric motor should look like! Thanks to Jim Husted of Hi-Torque Electric motor services, my motor is actually better than the day I got it. Better than new, even!

Read on for more information and pictures.

Ready to bake

You may remember that the coils were messed up. When the armature blew out, the bus bars had been bent outwards by centrifugal force. They scraped up against the coils and sandpapered some insulation off, mashing several coils together in the process. Jim reinsulated them and rewrapped them to the proper shape. Here they are ready to go into the oven, making the insulation permanent.

And here's what they look like when they come out of the oven. Ready to go!

New Armature

Closeup: Bus Bars

The armature was completely wasted, of course. The bus bars had come entirely off the shaft, bent outwards radially all the way down to the main body. You can see that Jim has fixed it beautifully in these pictures. He hasn't actually said what's involved, but I can't imagine reusing the old wires, unless they're melted and extruded to make completely new wires. He must have rewound it from scratch. And he wrapped it with Kevlar bands, so I get an extra bit of leeway next time I run it too fast. All this copper is exciting!

New Brushes, seen through vent
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You want copper? You want copper? You can't handle copper! Just look at these brushes! They had been completely decimated in the explosion. Pieces of them were on the road, ejected through the vent holes. Now look at them gleaming! Bling!

Left Side
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Right Side
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As you can see, one of Jim's special touches is a quick paint job. Mine came out this breathtaking blue. It makes me want to paint my car that color! Oh, if only I had the money.

I laid them out side by side like that so I could imagine what it would be like to have one of Jim's "siamese" motors. Again, if only I had the money...

Fan End
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The lead-in photo was the action shot of the brush end. Here's the action shot of the fan end. You can actually see the fan vanes; they push relatively cool air through the entire motor body, then out of the vents you saw the brushes through.

I can't express how happy I am with this "repair" job. It's better than new, and it looks fantastic. I can't wait till it gets here.

Thanks, Jim!