Super Cheap Pager Motors

[RCBargainHunter]

I thought this link might be useful to somebody. I was looking on Ebay for parts for slowflyers and I found that there is a guy selling pager motors. I didn't really want to mess with Ebay since I'm not a member, so I just emailed the guy and we set up the transaction. He charged $1.75 each plus $3.90 for s/h and tracking.
http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=564510704

Thanks,
Martin

[LarryF]

So what do you do with these motors? Are they strong enough to fly anything? And how do you take off the weights without damaging the motor?
thanks

[LarryF]

Definately cute!

I ending up breaking off half the shaft trying to get the weight off. Now the prop tends to fly off.

I think i can get it to power a free flight electric. I played around with using a cap for power instead of batteries and charging with 4 AA cells. It spins for a long time and the whole power plant is super light. It seems to move a small rubber motor type plane; but it's hard to do a good test in the living room http://www.rcmicroflight.com/ubb/wink.gif

[frankenfoamy]

To take the weight off, I place the weight in a vice. Then take a stout pin and punch the shaft out through the weight. Do not try to pry the weight off. You will bend the shaft.
I have yet to get usable power from the motors using the lowest voltage needed to drive a radio (4 cells)
They do get an A+ for cuteness factor though http://www.rcmicroflight.com/ubb/biggrin.gif

[RCBargainHunter]

I used the vice trick also to get the weight off the end. Using a cap is a great idea...the electrolytic ones are really light and you store a pretty good charge on one. I've found that old computer power supplies can be salvaged for caps with high uF ratings (~2200uF - 4000uF).

[LarryF]

I'm using the cap that came on the e-chargers plane (toy plane). It's 3/4 inch long x 1/2 diameter. I don't know the Farad value but it seems to be sufficient for this application. The motor plus the cap is only 1/4 oz or so.