Motor Storage

[McKeen]

I received 6 motors from Atlas.
They were shipped all magnetically stuck together in a single mini zip-lok baggie.
Wondering if that was detrimental to their life span?
What’s the best way to store these for the long term (years)?
Foil wrap?
TIA

[nkalanaga]

I've never heard of a modern motor being damaged by being shipped in groups.  Older motors often had cheap, weak, magnets, and had to be handled more carefully.

As for storage, unless you have very high humidity, or corrosive air, they'll do fine for years in an ordinary box.  The lubrication might dry out, but that's about the only issue, and easily fixed when you're ready to use them.

[oakcreekco]

I bought a pack of jewelry zip lock bags on the Bay.

Just the right size for storing parts. I store my motors individually in a bag, and mark the bag with any info needed.

Then in smaller rubber made type containers.

[rrjim1]

The copper commutator will oxidize over time.  I have had to remove the brushes and use a very fine sand paper to clean up the com in order to get the motor to run. These Atlas motors were purchased from China and in a small zip lock plastic bag. Might help to remove the air from the bag then seal it???

[peteski]

No worries, the (dark) ceramic magnets  used in most model RR motors are permanent.  Same goes for those super strong "rare-earth" magnets used in coreless motors.  I think ther only way you could demagnetize them would be to use the same extremely strong electromagnet which actually magnetized them in the firs place.   And if you think about it, if the motors were stuck together then the magnetic field was actually flowing in the proper direction (they were attracted to each other).

Keeping the motors in a dry environment (and room temperature) will be the best. Dryness is more important then temperature (they really can be stored in wide range of temperatures).  Any living area where you are comfortable in like your workshop or layout room) will be perfect for long term motor storage.  BTW plastic zippered bags are not truly air tight, but that is not a real problem.

But if they have been stored for many years the bearings will likely have to be lubricated.  Even if there is slight oxidation, commutators/brushes should be pretty much self-cleaning once the motor is ran for a while.  But copper as a rule is not prone to oxidation when stored in the environment I mentioned earlier.

[rrjim1]

Kind of hard to run the motor when they won't run even on 12DC. Copper not oxidizing, now that doesn't make any sense.

[peteski]

Kind of hard to run the motor when they won't run even on 12DC. Copper not oxidizing, now that doesn't make any sense.

Whatever.  I said in a human habitable environment, not the green coated copper flashing on a roof exposed to the outdoor weather, or air full of acidic vapors. My experience is obviously different from yours.