Faulhaber gearheads?

[metalworkertom]

Isn't all stainless slightly ferromagnetic? Maybe they are made from nickel-silver?  Just like N scale track - it is a type of brass alloy, "warm" silver in color.

Not all stainless is magnetic I don't remember the specific alloys that are not. I avoid working with stainless more than my last wife.
I would say nickel plated brass is definitely a possibility. I'll investigate a little later when going through some boxes.

[mmagliaro]

According to the data sheets for the "newer series"   "SR" Faulhaber motors, they specifically say "all steel housing".
But all the stuff we peons have, and are likely to find on the surplus market for quite a while, are the older "S" and "P" series.  Those data sheets don't say anything about the housing material, which leads me to believe that they are *not* steel, since
the "SR" series was an improvement.
(The "SR" motors switched to Neodymium magnets and churn out 2 to 3 times the torque as the previous Faulhaber motors... so if you thought Faulhabers were strong before... yikes).
The "SR" catches them up to the Maxon motors, which have been using Neodymium for years, and have actually been beating Faulhaber in the torque race.
I wanted to hunt down an 8mm SR series for my 0-6-0 project, but they were nowhere to be had unless I wanted to lay out $150 direct to Faulhaber.  It turned out to be just as well.  The "P" series 8mm I have in there with the gearhead is already so strong that it can tear the plastic gear teeth right off the driver axle if it ever jams - an unpleasant discovery I made while working on the model.

[metalworkertom]

Looking at a Data sheet for a 1016...G series motor it states the housing is Steel - Nickel plated. I'd bet regardless of the base material they are all nickel plated.

[peteski]

Looking at a Data sheet for a 1016...G series motor it states the housing is Steel - Nickel plated. I'd bet regardless of the base material they are all nickel plated.

Motor and gearbox are separate items. But yes, motor body is definitely steel.

[mmagliaro]

On the datasheet for the 10/1 gearheads, it sayd,  "housing material".... "metal"
LOL!  How vague is that?  But since it says "nickel plated steel" for the motors, and since some of their
promo literature says, "all steel housing" for the SR motors, it's probably safe to assume that it's not steel.

Looking at the brass-colored metal I uncovered on the casing I have, I'm inclined to guess plated brass.

[metalworkertom]

On the datasheet for the 10/1 gearheads, it sayd,  "housing material".... "metal"
LOL!  How vague is that?  But since it says "nickel plated steel" for the motors, and since some of their
promo literature says, "all steel housing" for the SR motors, it's probably safe to assume that it's not steel.

Looking at the brass-colored metal I uncovered on the casing I have, I'm inclined to guess plated brass.

The reason I brought up the motor was plated steel is both motors and gear heads don't vary in color. Both age the same. The plating would account for that . Where 2 different materials would age " Patina" different.

[narrowminded]

On the datasheet for the 10/1 gearheads, it sayd,  "housing material".... "metal"
LOL!  How vague is that?  But since it says "nickel plated steel" for the motors, and since some of their
promo literature says, "all steel housing" for the SR motors, it's probably safe to assume that it's not steel.

Looking at the brass-colored metal I uncovered on the casing I have, I'm inclined to guess plated brass.

That's a pretty logical conclusion.   Brass tarnishes so quickly, even in reasonable environments, and then looks really bad on a new product, that it could really harm a good product reputation.  The tarnish seldom effects performance but that's not the point.  "It not only has to be good, it has to look good."  Then there's flash nickel plating.  Minimal dimension change and what change occurs is very predictable and can often be tolerated, especially on a part like this.

[peteski]

On the datasheet for the 10/1 gearheads, it sayd,  "housing material".... "metal"
LOL!  How vague is that?

Well, those gearheads could be plastic (like some are out there), so I guess they thought that "metal" was descriptive enough. 

I just looked at one of my Faulhaber 10mm diameter motors with a 10/1 gearhead and the color of motor and gearhead is slightly different.  Very slight difference - probably wouldn't show up in a photo.

Also, I took another 10/1 gearhead body (a cutoff piece with the internal teeth, and it is slightly ferromagnetic. I used one of those super-strong rare-earth magnets and it is definitely attracted to the gearhead body.  So I think we are back to stainless steel. At least with the gearhead I tested. It does have a warm-silver color.

[metalworkertom]

Well, those gearheads could be plastic (like some are out there), so I guess they thought that "metal" was descriptive enough. 

I just looked at one of my Faulhaber 10mm diameter motors with a 10/1 gearhead and the color of motor and gearhead is slightly different.  Very slight difference - probably wouldn't show up in a photo.

Also, I took another 10/1 gearhead body (a cutoff piece with the internal teeth, and it is slightly ferromagnetic. I used one of those super-strong rare-earth magnets and it is definitely attracted to the gearhead body.  So I think we are back to stainless steel. At least with the gearhead I tested. It does have a warm-silver color.

I had a chance while looking for a 4:1 for Mike to do a file test on a housing . The filings are definitely magnetic on my test subject. Max saw a brass color I'm not seeing on mine . I'll be doing some maching work on these after the holidays . So knowing it's fairly soft is handy.

[mmagliaro]

I had a chance while looking for a 4:1 for Mike to do a file test on a housing . The filings are definitely magnetic on my test subject. Max saw a brass color I'm not seeing on mine . I'll be doing some maching work on these after the holidays . So knowing it's fairly soft is handy.

I had no trouble cutting the housing off with a plain old HSS tool.  I shaped it to be a really thin parting tool  (maybe 1/16" thick at most).  Chucked the housing in my mill (didn't have the lathe at the time), and ran the tool into it (just like you would on a lathe).
It may be obvious, but an important thing I noted was that the tool needs to be super sharp, and you want the RPMS to be as high as you can.  When tool cuts off that housing, it goes through the gear teeth that are cast on the inside.  Higher speeds minimized how much damage I did to the cast-in teeth.  Given the precision of those teeth, I think there will always be too much damage to tolerate without clean-up.  I was able to "fix them up"by just going along one tooth at a time with a #11 Xacto blade to scrape out the metal flash left behind from the cut.

[Chris333]

So who is ordering 8 or 10mm 4:1 gearheads?

[mmagliaro]

Here's the case from a 10/1 gearhead that I partially cut.  You can clearly see the brass on the inside.
Maybe it's layered? A brass tube with a steel outer shell?

[metalworkertom]

Here's the case from a 10/1 gearhead that I partially cut.  You can clearly see the brass on the inside.
Maybe it's layered? A brass tube with a steel outer shell?

I do a cut off section similar to your phoi in the box. Definitely looks brass. The one I filed was cut deeper than plating would be. Didn't feel like steel when filing either . I'm thinking maybe Monel is the outer portion. Nickel copper alloy that has a enough iron to be magnetic.
That's for the parting tool info. I have a couple hundred high ratio gearheads that are not very useful as is .

[SkipGear]

Completely off topic but good stainless is not magnetic. Cheap stainless is.  Went shopping one day with an older friend of mine for a high end gas grille. The first thing he did when we started looking at the stainless models was pull out a magnetic money clip and see if it stuck to the grille, if it did, he walked away and moved on to another brand. He had many years working for Nutone making stainless bathroom fixtures and accessories and he said the magnet trick was the first thing he learned to do when they were getting raw material in to check to see if it was up to their standards and the steel company wasn't trying to sneak in cheap stainless.

[peteski]

Here's the case from a 10/1 gearhead that I partially cut.  You can clearly see the brass on the inside.
Maybe it's layered? A brass tube with a steel outer shell?

My gearhead has a brass threaded insert on the bottom which then couples to the threads on the motor.