ORIGINAL: DaveFlynn
OH, Yes. Both of mine have been completely rebuilt. Re-soldered 12AWG wires, Re-glued magnets, new bearings and shaft. On one the stater came loose and had to be glued back on. As long as the case doesn't get bent or the coils damaged, it's easy to rebuild. McMaster-Carr has class 5 bearings and metric hardened drill blanks. Always buy 2 or 3 shafts, because technically they are the same size as the bearings and sometimes don't slide through. Bearings have a tolerance of -0.000 +0.005mm and the drill blanks tolerance is -0.005 +0.000mm. So there could be 0.01mm difference which slides in easy or 0 difference which would need to be pressed (don't), but mostly they slide with a little push.
Oh boy. So how many flights can I expect before I need to rebuild? Is it safe to stick this in a shiny new 27% GP Edge 540 or should I use it in a more "disposable" plane?
Do you have part numbers from McMaster so I can have the rebuild parts on hand? I like to be prepared.