How not to Ship a Motor

[SteveHGraham]

I got a great deal on a Mitsubishi 3-phase motor. The shipping was only $20, and it arrived in two days. What a bargain!

Look what I received.

The fan shroud is crushed, and the shaft won't turn.

[Russ Hanscom]

Better results could be achieved by attaching a tag to one of the mounting lugs and shipping it bare!

Hope it was insured.

[SteveHGraham]

The seller is okay. He refunded everything.

Now, naturally, I am wondering if I can rehabilitate it and keep it as a spare. I would not run a motor with three feet, but I suppose it's possible to make a base for it and tap the case for bolts.

Or not.

I don't know what kind of shape the shaft is in. I don't know if it's bent or just stuck because the shroud is crushed.

Very frustrating. This was a very nice motor two days ago.

[BadDog]

Sure, try to fix it. I found a really nice (generally) new looking Baldor TEFC that looked like it had been tossed in a dump truck with scrap and then just dumped in the pile (it was at a scrap yard). If it were not for all the obvious recent damage, it may have been new and unused off the shelf. Anyway, other than the broken foot, it was much the same. Once I stripped the fan shroud off, the fan was mostly ok, and the shaft then would turn just fine. Hooked it up and ran it, ran smooth as you could want. Fixed the fan shroud so that it cleared the fan and used it. Regarding the broken foot, I wouldn't worry about it unless you have a major load that would put that side in tension (more than that required to tension a belt). But if you can avoid that, I think it would be fine. Or perhaps make a toe clamp similar to what you might make for a mill vise or mag vise on a surface grinder, and use that to clamp down on the remaining ledge.

[Bill_Cook]

The seller is okay. He refunded everything...I would not run a motor with three feet, but I suppose it's possible to make a base for it and tap the case for bolts.Or not...

What's the problem? If it runs w/o the fan shroud, mill an "L" shaped washer, and Rework the shroud. If I had a gambling habit, I'd give odds the shaft is fine. It won't be cosmetically perfect, but it is a quality name brand unit.

Maybe the seller doesn't deserve to take the full loss.

[SteveHGraham]

Maybe the seller doesn't deserve to take the full loss.

Possibly, but he didn't offer to pay to ship it back, and I didn't cause the problem. I can't believe the way he packed it.

I would feel funny paying him for it, when I don't want it in the first place.

[BadDog]

I agree. The seller packs it like that, it's on him, a lesson to learn. If he wanted it back, and Steve wanted to keep it, then there is a case of a shared settlement. But in the end Steve will at best have a banged up motor with rigged mount and hammered out fan shroud (possibly noisy/damaged fan?) along with time invested in it (that may not pay off) when it should have just been delivered properly packed and protected so he got what he paid for. And when it's all said and done, the motor may yet wind up in the trash, but no with more of Steve's time and trouble invested...

[SteveHGraham]

That being said, I would consider Craigslisting it and sending him the proceeds, since he did step up.

[Magicniner]

That being said, I would consider Craigslisting it and sending him the proceeds, since he did step up.

That would be more than fair

[SteveHGraham]

Now this is starting to bug me. I'm wondering if there's a way to fix that cast iron so it will hold.

I've seen Keith Fenner braze cast iron, but he uses a welding blanket, which I don't have, and he also uses skill, which is another thing I don't have.

[SteveHGraham]

I guess it wouldn't work, because I would have to heat the motor case, and it would destroy the stator.

[John Evans]

Over thinking this Steve !!! Pull the fan cover and if the fan is usable and motor spins freely hammer out the fan cover and use it!! Foot is a non-issue ,many work arounds starting with doing nothing . Seller does not deserve anything with shipping that poorly packed, be a lesson for him. Good lessons are costly!