Update on the menards dc motor in the nuclear power plant. The plant is a PITA to open up but be gentle and pry carefully. Look at the location of the tabs in the pictures above and DON'T PRY WHERE TABs ARE LOCATED!!! Consider a putty knife and also use a utility knife where you can reach to slice the paper bottom that is glued to the structure. On to the motor discussion.....
Relative to motors that work. We know the Menard power supply is 4.5 volts.
After much searching, I bought this one to try even though the 6v voltage was a bit high. Fortunately, it runs fine at 5.8 volts and has a nice slow rotation. I am a bit worried about the leds but there is no simple way to add a single extra resistor. One thing I found out is that the drive shaft and final gear on these motors come off with removing three screws on the face and you can switch the drive shaft for the original one. this drive shaft in the screen capture is longer than the original, so I switched the one that was on the dead original motor. BTW, the speed is great. One of the things that may kill these motors is that it appears they drag on the surface below. I added a small washer to reduce the friction and raise the dome slightly off the floor of the reactor. this also is a good safety practice to reduce radiation.
Don't you hate when this happens? I just found these that are rated to start at 3 volts so they would probably be perfect for 4.5 volts. I assume they would be slower than 18rpm at this low voltage. I may blow $6.64 and try one? Once again, if you buy one you can trade your dead motor shaft and housing (the white part) with what comes on this new one- an easy switch and you can add a bit of vaseline lube too.
Here is a video of the final product- one has the light from the phone and one has no ambient light. You have to cut off the lights to appreciate these things!
