Is My Blender Motor Viable for a Rotary Tool Shaft Mod?

[theycallmevirgo]

TL;DR

How can I test and repurpose a consumer kitchen motor with limited information?

I got a new Ninja blender (model ss351) a few months back that was DOA. The manufacturer sent a replacement immediately, but I found a blog post on hackaday showing a simple mechanical mod that would enable me to use the motor to drive a flexible rotary tool shaft (Dremel etc). The attached images are the motor, the control board and the power board. The purple wire to the control board is directly from the wall outlet.

Simple questions;

How can I tell if the motor is brushed or brushless without disassembling it any further?

How can I test the motor itself to make sure it wasn't the specific component that failed? Will simply driving it from a bench psu do it? What minimun V/I?

Is this motor viable for this application? Optimally, I'd like continuous speed/torque control with a foot pedal. I'm not scared of building a circuit from scratch (_yet_).

If not viable, can I use it for a pedal powered generator?

I can link to the hackaday post and the rotary tool shaft if necessary. Also, obviously please let me know if additional pictures are needed.

Thanks so much in advance

JoePS - the motor pic with my thumb in it is odly distorted. The plastic disc on top is at least 4x the size of my thumb and the plastic cylinder immediately below the ziptie is about half the size of my thumb.

 

[Tom.G]

Very unlikely that the motor has brushes. Here are some images of motors with brushes.
https://www.google.com/search?tbm=i...r+in+dc+motor&gbv=2&oq=brushes+and+commutator

Is there ANY activity at all when you turn it on?... Motor humming, any LEDs (lights) coming on?

1) If not,
Could be a bad power cord.

check that incoming power is getting to board(s).​

trace wiring from power cord to any switch, fuse, or connector to first board it connects to​

2) If motor hums but doesn't turn AND there are three wires to the motor AND there is a somewhat large capacitor (usually not mounted on a circuit board), the capacitor should be connected to the motor and a circuit board.

2A) Verify its wiring to motor, it is Usually connected to two motor wires, and one of those motor wires will connect only to the capacitor and the other motor wire will also connect to other circuits on the circuit board.​

​

2B) If the capacitor exists, it may be wired to a circuit board and connected to the motor by the board.​

2B1) the capacitor could be defective, or may be an open connection to, or in, the motor.​

3) If the motor does not hum, everything completely dead:

There is probably a bad component on, or bad connection to, a circuit board. This will require detailed troubleshooting on your part, the first step of which is close visual inspection of the boards and all connectors.​

​

3A) Then you draw a schematic diagram of the circuitry to understand its intended operation and start troubleshooting at the component level.​

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Cheers, (and good luck!)
Tom