stir plate repair

We don't have enough working stir plates. I attempted to repair one by stripping it down and washing the moving parts with hexane. No dice. I regreased it with some Loctite N-5000 (the packaging proudly proclaims "Nickel-based anti-seize lubricant for the Nuclear Power Industry") but still, no dice. I began removing parts I thought looked extraneous. This worked somewhat, and as it turns out the piece that was obstructing the bar magnet was the cooling fan. When I say it worked "somewhat" I mean that it worked until the motor overheated and seized, in spite of the newly applied Ni-based nuclear power grease. At the very least this is now a valid state of disrepair to warrant tossing the old plate and ordering a new one. A view of the carnage...


The pieces in the foreground are some of the amputated bits. The washer and lock washer appeared to have no purpose whatsoever. The shiny bits are what remains of the cooling fan after being torn out of the middle of the stir plate.