[Peter_Jones]

I have a CFR 500 PerfectHeat that has two vac motors. 6 months ago the bearing in one of them collapsed over a period of a week or two and the motor obviously started to sound very unhealthy.

I rang up Amtech  (who are usually superb by the way,) to be told that there are no serviceable parts in the motors and that a new one was over £200 (from memory about £250)

I thought that if my motor was junk anyway I'd take it apart to have a look (at this point I didn't know it was just a bearing that had gone.) When I found the collapsed bearing I took it along to an engineering supplies shop and got another one for a quid.

I then reassembled the motor and it worked perfectly. The whole procedure took about 2 hours, but I think I could've done it more quickly had I known what I was doing.

The point of this thread is simply in case it helps anyone else save a chunk of money by just replacing a bearing worth a quid.

[Peter_Jones]

Well it's lasted 6 months so far. It makes a slightly different noise to the other motor so I am permanently concerned about it packing in. However even if it does I won't be buying a vac motor from Amtech, it seems that you can get one for almost half their price.

[garry22]

Here a couple more.

Toothed drive belts .. a couple of quid from the local suppliers.

Solution pumps (100 - 135 psi). It is normally a 50p diode in the head that has blown. You can normally get them from maplins.

[M.Acorn]

Solution pumps (100 - 135 psi). It is normally a 50p diode in the head that has blown. You can normally get them from maplins.

That is deffo worth knowing,the rate i get through them

[Steve. Taylor]

That is deffo worth knowing,the rate i get through them 

[stuart_clark]

Ring woodbridge commercial, you should be able to buy a new one for less than a third of what you have been quoted from Amtech

[Colin Day]

From a sound and reliable source....

"The motor shaft is balanced as it runs at around 17500rpm once removed to replace the bearing it, along with the three fans, would need to be re-balanced"

"Failure to do this will cause the of balanced shaft and fans to literally disintegrate they could shatter and come out through the casing of the vac, whether it could come through the machine itself I don’t know, but its certainly asking for trouble it could be extremely dangerous to say the least!"

 

"I have looked into repairing them over the years and only after stripping them and some homework discovered the balancing part, with is why when you take them to bits there are drill holes in the fixing washer"

Cheers, Col!!!!