Winding and Assembly of 125 HP Electric Motor

Greetings from The Netherlands. At the age of 13 (1966) my neighbor asked me if I was interested to do some work during the summer holidays. I had trouble at my previous school and was interested in electrotechnical stuff. He was rewinding electro motors. I started taking ball bearings of broken down electro motors. Legally I was not allowed to work at that age, but I did very well and learned a lot about these things. After that summer holidays I went to a technical school and learned other things. Next year I went back to the electro company and learned a lot more. The year after the 3rd summer vacation in that company it entered the electrotechnical classroom in that school and recognized all the types of electro motors. I started talking about it to my new electro teacher ;-) . He made a remark that it was special I recognized those different motors. I told him I could even explain to him how they worked and even how the windings were calculated and replaced. I saw him getting white around his nose... What am I going to do with you? You know more at this moment than I will ever teach your classmates in the next two years! I became a measurement- and control engineer. You brought back lots of memories. Thanks

I remember tagging along with my grandfather who was an electrician when we would casually just drop of a few 1/2 -3/4 HP motors for an overhaul and refurbishing. I had no idea about the work until I saw this video! Great job and skill!

I'm just amazed how ppl figured this out to begin with!

I have no idea why I wanted to watch a video about some chads putting together an industrial electric motor, but I'm glad I did. This was so cool.

this is so beautiful. watching copper wire being wound around a massively intricate series of carefully engineered grooves makes me very happy .

Brings back memories of my days in the navy. interesting to see what has changed and what has not changed in 50 years. My ship was deployed as flagship for 6th fleet and we were all alone. No facilities for support and no tender, so the ship's electricians were always rewinding motors. As I recall the largest was a fire-pump motor, 400hp. Those guys were great.

Thank you, guys, for making a video with actual verbal instructions and processes while you rebuild it.

Thanks for the tutorial on motor rewinding. I always wanted to see how it was done. I must say that I'm amazed by the way you applied your skills and abilities to get the job done. Absolutely amazing. Thanks guys

This is such an in depth and detailed process to wind one of these motors. No wonder the industrial ones get so expensive.

Thank you for sharing the rewind. As a kid I was always fascinated with motors and how to rewind them. There were some books I learned from and as a hobby would get these motors that were smoked and rewind them. From what I have learned by reading, was able to take the bare stators and calculate the turns and CM to fill the slots. To calculate the CM, I'd just fill the slot with a hank of say 17ga wire and had the volumn. I could wind 3 phase motors to single phase and had to start from scratch. I used 5 coils per pole in a four pole 36 slot stator. The coil pattern I copied from a Westinghouse motor, span slots 1and 7. The poles would overlap on the outside coil. I think this was to help reduce harmonics ? ? Well, That was many years ago and don't remember how to do that math anymore. Now I have a new, ! ! ! well getting older hobby that bacically doing nothing (retired) as very soon will hit 78 years. Your well done video brings back memories and I'm impressed with the task you have done. To me that is beautiful the way you done up the inside that motor. Too bad it has to be covered up but, yes the protection . I do appreciate the old open motors which you could see the formed coils. Take care ........... Gary

My dad started as a motor winder, a good gig. You can tell a motor winder by the size of their forearms- like Popeye.

I was a winder for 20 yrs in Youngstown Ohio. retired from that profession due to carpel tunnel.. I only used that kind of manual winding machine for small coils or very odd custom ones. we had a German cnc machine that made very precise coils that made it easier to install and also allowed you to wind as the machine was producing. stay fresh my friends!

Back in High School (early 70s), I was in a motor repair shop class .. people would donate small motors (fan/shaded pole, 1/4 or 1/2 single phase induction motors, etc), to repair/return or repair/keep. We were taught how to measure and count the wires, and make a “skein” winding former. We’d wind the coils by hand, counting the turns. Sometimes, it was only the starting winding and centrifugal switch needing replacement .. sometimes bearings too. We even converted a couple 25 Hz motors to 60 Hz by increasing the AWG, and reducing the turns (via formula). I’ve repaired some motors since .. it was a very memorable shop experience .. seems just like yesterday. Thx for sharing.

My dad did this and i was lucky enough to work with him for a short time. I struggled learning the connections, but all the winders would work with me. Spring was always job security with the storms. It never failed, an OT rush job would come through about 4:15.pm on Fridays. Nobody would be able to take it, so dad and i would. Always seemed to be a form coil job. Loved doing those, but hated the fiberglass tape at first 😂. A big part of me wishes i would've stayed with it. Heck if i had the tools, ovens, coil machine, dip tank, etc i would do it again. Thank you for sharing this

This video has helped me understand why when i tell my customer his replacement motor is going to cost $7300... These are completely hand built and tested by experts using expensive materials... Thanks guys for keeping our industrial world humming...!! ⚡️⚡️💪

Winding motors is like knitting for men. 🤣 The work that goes into it is very impressive.

As a 15 year old apprentice in Sydney Australia I wound the coils for motors to convert 240 volt to 110 for the computers IBM and for hotels .This was in 1965. Is put a tap in each coil so that they could be adjusted for voltage fluctuations.This was before any switch gear became digitised.

It really is nice to see your videos. I was a motor winder in high school for a couple of years and absolutely loved that work. We rewound motors from 5hp to 500 hp., 1800rpm to 3600rpm, irrigation pump motors to power generation fan motors. [edit] After looking your company up, I worked at Bakersfield Electric Motor Repair in Bakersfield CA. Now retired, working a BEMR was the most honest, satisfying, rewarding work.

That is so cool! They certainly seem to take pride in their work.

I hear stories from my Paa that back in 1980s he used to rewind and repair 125, 150, 200, 500 hp motors with bare hands. It's amazing to see these giants.