Originally Posted by dpowellmeii

I'll second that. Good thing you did a low rpm video thoughts because it sounds like your bearings need some oil. This would most likely be the reason you are getting the motor whine as well.

Is this an outrunner or inrunner?

This is a new inrunner, maybe just five or six flights so far. What kind of oil?

I got a can of white lithium grease which supposed to be superb for lube on bearings. Won't run off so it stays where you put it! I can get into those tight areas where the bearings are with the spray straw and maybe run it up on low.

But most bearing are sealed..... so you aren't getting it into it anyway.
I suspect most people are lubing the SHAFT really! That is usually a 'fractionally loose fit' into the bearing(s) - seeing it just slides out easily when disassembled. The real aim of a shaft/bearing is for the shaft to be 'solidly' in the inner race sleeve so that it TURNS that at the exact same rate as the shaft. But because of the common 'loose' shaft fit, there is slippage from shaft to inner race.
Then people throw some lubricant "into" that area... a good help for the shaft to slip more... but at least it will slip "quieter"!! LOL

You really need loctite on the shaft to inner race to lock those together. A very small place to work and achieve that cleanly! Red loctite.

A sealed bearing comes with grease in it. Though it could melt and leak out.
You can't even get any more into it, seeing it is sealed almost solidly.
Pouring some lubricant "over the area", which is all you can really do if trying that, will only get SOME liquid based (oil etc) into the bearing itself, and then that can come back out just as easily anyway! Plus that "all over the shaft and inner race surface etc" result, for most of the lubricant anyway.

Though something is better than nothing! hehe
Better to strip it down and loctite those shaft to inner race surface parts first... then do your throwing of a bit of lubricant around..... so at least the shaft to inner race will remain locked.

At least one manufacturer disagrees with you...

How to Oil your Scorpion Motor Bearings by Innov8tive Designs (12 min 20 sec)

I'm yet to see a fully sealed bearing on a motor. They have dust seals, sure, but not a real seal.

I said SOME oil will be getting in... but most of it will be coming back out just as easily!! (You could oil them once a week....). And thicker lubes won't be getting in very well.
And that doesn't solve the 'loose shaft in the inner race' issue.
Who cares what the "manufacturers say", when half of them don't even know the facts of what really matters (or I am sure they do know most, but they don't state much of it ever), and they don't quantify what they are claiming to achieve. So most of it is of only partial use or reality.
Yep... throw some oil on and it is better than nothing!! Some will get in and remain at least!

But lets not solve the shaft to inner race issue... I don't see them mention that one.
Though a bit like the "Well at least some oil got in" is not a perfect solution, the fact a shaft slips a bit is not the end of the world.... it is something you CAN easily fix 100%, but they don't mention it and no one bothers to. Probably because motors die for other reasons long before that one overly matters. That does not erase its technical merit.... and quite possibly (who knows) many bearing failure cases were caused by that too! (The race will vibrate/rock and shock is a bearing's worst enemy - best run in perfect tracking smoothness, for longest life).

As I had said... I would still loctite a bearing to the shaft, and splash some oil on it (better than nothing). But this all needs dis-assembly to do properly, which is painful in most EDF cases. So doing it as a maintenance cycle is a nuisance - though it is something you should really do now and then.
Or... you could just keep buying new motors (or bearings) as each fails prematurely.... LOL

But that was a good video for the basic 'oil injecting' part of it all.....

Originally Posted by odysis

i'm yet to see a fully sealed bearing on a motor. They have dust seals, sure, but not a real seal.

+1...

Those are useless comments ("just dust seals anyway")..... they don't change the fact that you can't get a more solid lubricant into them anyway. Unless maybe if you pulled the bearings out to do it on the bench in some manner - which is probably the truly best way to do it all. (Not sure with what... graphite based? Lithium? It needs to be a VERY LOW resistance).

The white lithium grease that I used is designed to stay in place and to not run off. It had significantly reduced the bearing noise that I was getting earlier.

IMHO I would replace the bearings with some good quality ones and lubricate them, not worth the trouble of having to do it later when fan is installed.

The question is how did you get the lithium grease INTO the bearings? hehe

With 'thicker' greases, they are great for eg: automotive sized bearings, but not so good for "Mini" bearings. Their "friction ratio", which is minor in larger bearing, becomes notable in weeny bearings.

Vacuum pot.

all the brushless motors I have worked on have small thin "C" clips holding the metal seal in place. Almost all can be opened and stuffed with good grease.

Huh? Do you mean the bearing is open but there is (maybe) a brass 'washer' under a C-Clip?
I have only done about 6 motor types, but none had open face bearings so far. Some had even two or three brass 'washers', from thick to thin... more like they were used to shim a good fit.

And the C-Clips are flimsy rubbish metal/material, so they spread when you open them, swhich means you need to "re-close" them a bit before putting them back, but it is not a good quality system. So best is to not take them apart again if possible!

Originally Posted by PeterVRC

Huh? Do you mean the bearing is open but there is (maybe) a brass 'washer' under a C-Clip?
I have only done about 6 motor types, but none had open face bearings so far. Some had even two or three brass 'washers', from thick to thin... more like they were used to shim a good fit.

And the C-Clips are flimsy rubbish metal/material, so they spread when you open them, swhich means you need to "re-close" them a bit before putting them back, but it is not a good quality system. So best is to not take them apart again if possible!

No peter. The bearings have a "c" clip. And yes they can be opened you just don't know how to do it. The metal face (seal) is removable. Both sides are removable on rc bearing. I have been opening bearings on rc use for over 15 years. I know what am talking about. If more questions come from this I will open one up and takes pics.

+1 again LOL