That happened to me the last time I used it. I was making a 100ml batch and set the speed to high on my B&D. I noticed both a noise and a drop in RPM. Can’t remember which happened first but I lowered the RPM to mid-speed in order to finish homogenizing.
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Hold the drive adapter at the top. Does the drive shaft feel tight when you turn it by hand and do you feel any rough spots? Sometimes the speed controls act up a little. Just let me know.On the ones that failed it was not the bearing, rather it was an alignment issue. On @BoDarc 's I’m not sure but he said he thought it was a mineral buildup from his water and not removing the driveshaft for cleaning.
I’ve spent hours trying to make one of these bearings fail and have also talked to distributors.
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What are you referring to here because Dan never warned me not to run my B&D on the high speed setting? Is it a rotary tool difference, Dremel vs B&D?
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I’ll try that tomorrow. As far as cleaning, I’ve been following your directions to run it in water for a few seconds after every session. Then I try to get the water out as best I can. I’ve noticed that wiping it down with a soft cloth absorbs the water from out of the holes. If I blow into the air intake hole up top a lot of water shoots out of the lower holes. And if I hold a cloth up to the bottom of the rotor the cloth absorbs a lot of the water. Could I have pushed the shafts upward when holding the cloth to the stator tube? Would that cause harm?
Question: How far up does the liquid travel up the stator tube when homogenizing?
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Just to note…Most of my mixing has been small 10ml testers on the medium setting. I only mix larger batches once in awhile when I find the recipes worthwhile.
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Of the 2, my favorite moto tool has been the RTX for a long long time. They have discontinued it. Why I don’t know. I’ve ran Dremel and B&D wide open all my life. There is a pretty cheesy bearing in the nose of all of them. I have had one or 2 fail over the years. That was after years of usage.
Does the drive shaft turn easily by hand on your GC? Do you feel any resistance when turning it.
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Nothing turns by hand, which part do you mean? Dan, I’ll have to continue this conversation tomorrow, I’ve got work tomorrow and get up early.
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It depends on the run speed and the PG/VG mix. Generally I mix 80/20 or more. That requires higher speed. I mixed 5 120’s last night and ran about 3/4 speed with the RTX.
I don’t know why water would stay in the tube. The driveshaft is a “slip fit” through the upper bearing and the lower bushing. Both only act as guides for the driveshaft. Look at the top of this thread and follow the instructions for removing the shaft for cleaning. The driveshaft unscrews from the rotor and comes out the top. It is easy and fast. Generally I remove it at the end of the mix session and run the parts under water and then dry them. You may have something clogging the bushing. It is possible that I didn’t machine enough clearance though I’m careful . "Slip fit guides the shaft and allows drainage. Let me know. I have 5 small ones nearly ready to go out the door so if I need to replace yours, we can do that.
Suppliers assure me that these bearings will withstand higher RPM’s than these motors can run.
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@mrpipes I took it apart and didn’t see any signs of dirt or anything else, to my knowledge. I took pics of it as I disassembled it if that might help. The only particles I saw were inside the housing which is a white one and I cleaned them out. If it were a black housing I’m sure I wouldn’t have seen them.
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@mrpipes do you think it’s okay to mix with it on the medium and low settings? I’d really like to use it soon. It seemed to run okay on the lower speeds.
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Yes I think so but lets make sure. Assemble it and turn the shaft by holding the black drive adapter attached to the shaft. If you feel any resistance or rough spots please let me know. It should turn smoothly. That’s what I meant by turning it by hand.
The black spec can not get down to the mix. The material the drive adapters are made from is Delrin. It is very slick and self lubricating. Nevertheless, I think this is much better than having metal to metal. I was the first to use delrin. Now a “big maker” is using it.
If you are using a 70 to 30 VG/PG ratio, mid speed or a touch more should be all that’s necessary. When you see the mix get cloudy, its working. These are gasses and not air bubbles though there is oxygen in the mix. Water is H2 O.
At the end of your mix session remove the shaft and rinse and dry. Or you can do this between mixes. It doesn’t take long at all.
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Turn the shaft before inserting in the housing or while it’s inside the housing?
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And before the thumbscrew is tightened on the side?
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Outside the housing. When you re insert the driveshaft just turn it and make sure its smooth. I think it likely is. If a bearing failed it would be hard to turn at any speed.
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It spins freely. Lol, now I can’t remember how to reassemble the whole thing to the rotor. I’ll figure it out.
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Drive shaft from the top. Rotor in the bottom. Screw the shaft to the rotor fully.
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I remember now Truth be told, I haven’t disassembled since I got it but as you can see it was very clean, visually speaking. I did notice that the shearing blades smelled of tobacco flavoring
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I think it was the speed control plus when the mix thins from the PG combining fully with the VG it will have less resistance and therefore change the rpm’s. You’ll need to play with speeds for whatever you are mixing. Start slow and bring the speed up to where the mix begins to cloud from gas and cavitation micro bubbles. You were likely running too fast.
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Oh boy, if that’s all it was I’m happy to hear it. Thx for your help, Dan. Normally I’m not nervous about taking things apart but I cherish my GC so much I’m afraid I’ll “drop the baby” 
Hey, I got the lab clamp you suggested for the stand and I love it! Thx
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