Cutting the shaft on the NTM Prop Drive 28-26 1350KV / 310W
For the PVC 'BattleQuad' I'm building I ordered four 'NTM Prop Drive 28-26 1350KV / 310W' motors as I've used them before on a Hex 550 build and am quite happy with them. These motors are a little different in that you have to buy a seperate accessories pack to get a mount for the base of the motor and a prop adaptor. The motor is a little odd in the way that the shaft extends out the bottom of the motor and the prop adaptor is attached via three bolts on the opposite side from where the shaft protrudes from. In my previous build this wasn't a big problem because the way the motors were mounted, the shaft could extend below the arm without interfering.
On my current build, the PVC 'Battlequad', the way the motor slides onto the arms, the shaft was going to get in the way. I could easy shorten the arms and cut a line down the length of the PVC pipe but I've got some plans for extended length arms so I want to keep them intact. I decide to cut the shaft off the motors. The concern with this option is in the process of cutting with the Dremel, the fine metal dust created from the cut could potentially end up getting inside the motor.
The first method I employed to avoid this problem was to put the motor back into the re-sealable plastic bag it came in, poke just the shaft through the plastic so the motor is contained inside the back and just the shaft sticks out. The problem with this is that the bag wasn't up to the job of withstanding the red hot metal filings and a hole was quickly burnt in the bag and became a collection point for all the metal filings. My solution the keep the filings out of the motor had had the opposite effect and was actually diverting filings into the confined space around the motor and it's precious little magnets.
My next solution worked much better and was even simpler. Take a piece of cloth tape (about 8cm wide by 15cm in length), fold it in half and cut a small triangle in the centre of the fold. Flatten out the tape so now you have a piece of tape with a small diamond shaped hole in the middle, just large enough for a motor shaft to fit through. Put the tape over the motor with the shaft protruding through the small hole and Dremel away. If you've cut enough length of cloth tape, there should be plenty left to wrap around the motor and keep the metal filings out. The cloth tape is much sturdier and kept the red hot metal filings out without melting.
