leopard vs tacon motors

[G1ST]

I put new 5.5 bullets on motor today. They passed the "pull em real hard" test.
I can re solder them tomorrow.
Any thing else I can check?

Greg

[Basstronics]

I ordered the Tacon 4074 2150KV motors for my twin Miss Geico- $59 a piece.

I ordered the 4074 Leopard 2000KV motor for $59 way back when they first went to that price. They had pictured the Red/Pink motor but mine arrived green.

I thought I read somewhere that people got into trouble for selling Leopard motors bellow MAP? My guess is these people are now buying the same motors in different colors screened with a different name to be able to sell them at whatever price they like. Makes perfect sense.

Want to sell Leopards? Then its all the same price no matter who you buy them from. Or you can buy/stock 100 pieces of the same motor with your logo on it and sell them for whatever you like...

[G1ST]

Try solder joints on motor?

I just re did the solder joints on the 5.5 bullets I installed yesterday. They seem fine. Is there any chance the wires got hot enough to de solder something inside the motor can?
If I take the rear cover off of the motor is anything going to spring out at me ?
Thanks for the help
Greg

[m4a1usr]

I also ordered a Leopard 4074 - 2200 and got shipped a Tacon. I finally got an ESC to complete my electronics package and went to bench test my setup today. I calibrated the ESC to transmitter and that went fine. I pwer up the the ESC and get the proper flashes and beeps. When I hit the throttle nothing. I have swapped motor wire positions etc. I was able to get it to run once by holding about 1/4 throttle and spinning the collet by hand (like old school gas days) but that only worked once. Any ideas what I may be doing wrong or is it possible motor is bad?

Tacon 4074 - 2200
Castle Hydra 240
2 - 7.4v 5000 mah Nanotechs

PS Driveline is free.

Thanks for the help
Greg

Are you running 2S2P or 4S? Your not very clear on battery arraingment. That motor runs best on 4S. If your running 4S on the Hydra you should be running a Rx battery. Not using the internal BEC. So the red rx wire should be removed from the ex plug.

John

[G1ST]

Sorry
Yes I'm running 4S and a receiver battery with red wire disconnected from plug
Greg

[Basstronics]

Ok I just got my two Tacon Leopard clones...

I might be crazy but it does feel as if the magnets are not as strong and the Leopard. I am going to have the magnets gauss'ed to confirm or deny that theory. I hope to get that information by the weekend.

Whoever said the bearings are probably different deserves a prize.

The Leopard motor I have utilizes an NSK bearing, which is a good brand (for those that dont know). Leopard Bearing reads "Indonesia NSK 625Z"- which is NSK part number 625 ZZ (Z being shielded). Using a light weight oil the bearing is rated at a maximum of 43K RPM.

The Tacon bearing is labeled "Thailand NMB R-1650 HH". I cant say Ive ever heard of NMB ball bearings. In the industry I work in we use a LOT of taper roller bearings (Timken, SKF & rarely NSK). But I found them. Japanese company- so I would assume quality is good.

Here is a link to the manufacturer:

http://www.nmbtc.com/bearings/part-numbers/search/R-1650HH/5870

Here is NMB's full catalog (38 MB! beware):

http://pibsales.com/pdf/nmbcatalog.pdf

Spec for spec all I can compare is the dynamic and static ratings between both. NMB doest list a maximum RPM. In the ratings the NMB is slightly higher- but not enough to be different. Dynamic rating of (NSK vs NMB) 1730/1735 (Newtons) and Static rating of 670/671 Newtons.

The last thing noteworthy is in the preload spacers on the motors. The Leopard had one long one on the wire side and three smaller ones on the drive side. The Tacon just had one spacer each side. This leads me to believe more labor was spent makign sure the Leopard motor was aligned properly with the correct spacers.

The conclusion I will draw is this. Providing the NMB bearing is a true quality bearing I dont see any reason to panic. We will however need to see what this baby gauss'es at. I believe they are relatively close, but I think somewhat different.

[Basstronics]

Oh ya, pictures! Yes I took pictures for you guys!

Leopard:

[Basstronics]

Tacon:

[Igoreski]

Great job on the review,I have used the NMB bearings before and they are ok probably medium quality.The motor spacing Is off slightly on one of my Tacon motors allowing some movement of the shaft in and out similar to my Feiago motors the other is tight.I will see how these hold up with the QC not as tight as Leopard I still had to try them.The size I got were $34 per motor less.

[Brushless55]

very cool, thanks for the input and pitures!!

[the savy fluxer]

Great review!!!! finally the lowdown on this topic. pics were great also

[m4a1usr]

Oh ya, pictures! Yes I took pictures for you guys!

Leopard:

From the pictures it looks like both the Tacon and Leopard rotors are carbon fiber wrapped but not like the CC/Neu motors. So that means they are no where near duplicates of CC/Neu motors coming off the same assembly line. Theirs look nothing like those 2 rotors. Those rotors look to be constructed just like the Feigao 580 rotors that were having issues either last year or the year before. I remember a problem with the rotors coming apart.


John

[m4a1usr]

Here is a picture of a CC/Nue 1515 1Y rotor. They look way different.


John

[Basstronics]

Im not sure of the materials used here.

Whats what and whats the difference. I mean I can see the leopard/Tacon rotors are black. Whats the white on the Neu?

[m4a1usr]

Im not sure of the materials used here.
Whats the white on the Neu?

The black wrapped rotors are carbon fiber but not sealed in epoxy. The CC/Neu rotors are wrapped in carbon fiber and have been set in epoxy. There is probably a final inspection process involved from the vendor who assembles the CC/Neu rotors, hence the lighter/ see thru color. And probably none for the black wrapped rotors since you cannot do a visual inspection when built as such. Maybe quality of inspection process, maybe the black carbon fiber is just cheaper. Who knows. But its obvious that the motors and their components do have varying degree's of differences right from just doing a visual. Hoping to hear good news from you about the magnet strength testing.

John