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03.05.2011, 05:46 AM

Today I took apart a Leopard 4074 2150Kv and compared it to the Castles 1515 rebuild kit. First thing that struck me is the wrapping on the rotor magnets. I believe Castle uses Kevlar and Leopard seems to use carbon fiber from the looks of it. Well it's black so that is why I am thinking it is carbon fiber but not sure. The second thing that struck me was the quality of the wrapping job. Castles rotor is a work of art and the Leopard looks like ..........well it looks like I did it.

But seriously though it looks much rougher than the Castle job. On this alone I doubt that Leopard could see the same kind of RPM that Castle motors are rated for (60,000rpm I think). At least I wouldn't take it there.

Everything looked very close at first and at a quick glance it does look like a Leopard just cloned the Castle motor but the more you look the less you think this is likely. Rotor shafts are different lengths and magnets are positioned in a different spot on the shaft (bit lower on the leopard). For a second I thought you could use the Castle rotor shaft in the Leopard but it looks doubtful. Maybe with some crafty spacing work on the shaft. The Castle rotor shaft wants to stay a bit higher in the leopard can (talking about where the magnets want the shaft to stay). I am pretty sure you could work something out with the spacers to position the rotor shaft in the right spot but not sure how the spacers pushing onto the sides of the bearings would affect things. Also seems like there might be an issue if the rotor isn't aligned right with the windings inside. Not a motor guru but I think there might be some issues there. With the Castle rotor inside the leopard motor there was definitely more resistance from the magnets then with the Leopard. Godd or bad? I have no idea but just stating it.

Castle motor uses 3 screws on the front end wheres the Leopard uses 4 to secure it's end bell. Also the diameter of the inside lip is different and the Castle end bell will not fit the Leopard. Not that it matters as they don't use the same bolt pattern. One thing I did like about the Leopard is that it has six holes on the front for mounting the motor vs. Castles 4. Not a big deal but I thought I would mention it. Sometimes more mounting options can make some jobs easier.

Bearing sizes are the same. I have read else but was surprised to see that they were the same. They are also made by the same company too. Can't remember the name now (Just three capital letters) and they have one set of same numbers as well. Castle has another set of numbers wheres Leopard bearings have the word Thailand written instead of those numbers. Hope that makes sense.

So in my opinion these motors are not clones at all. Not by a long shot. They do look similar but so do all the motors in the 540 class. Maybe they had a looksy inside of the Castles motors before they made theirs but they did not pick up a set of vernier calipers and backwards engineered them. To me Leopard did their own take on this.

Still I do have to say that the looks of the rotor on the Leopard worry me a little. That wrapping job looks really sub-par when compared to Castles. This alone would make me want to spend the extra money on the Castle motor. Also I really like how Castle use wires and not just extend the motor windings out side of the can. They don't feel too stiff or like they will break easily on the Leopard but it would certainly be easier to make a neater installation with the Castle motor.

I will be putting the Leopard through the paces sometime soon on a friends XTM Rail (GV Cage on some markets) and will report back on findings. Don't have a Logger but just the general feel for the motor + temps. Will be running it on 4S and 5S.

If anyone would like to see some pics of the insides of both motors let me know and I'll try to do it tomorrow.

	(#41)
BIG-block Guest Posts: n/a	03.05.2011, 05:46 AM Today I took apart a Leopard 4074 2150Kv and compared it to the Castles 1515 rebuild kit. First thing that struck me is the wrapping on the rotor magnets. I believe Castle uses Kevlar and Leopard seems to use carbon fiber from the looks of it. Well it's black so that is why I am thinking it is carbon fiber but not sure. The second thing that struck me was the quality of the wrapping job. Castles rotor is a work of art and the Leopard looks like ..........well it looks like I did it. But seriously though it looks much rougher than the Castle job. On this alone I doubt that Leopard could see the same kind of RPM that Castle motors are rated for (60,000rpm I think). At least I wouldn't take it there. Everything looked very close at first and at a quick glance it does look like a Leopard just cloned the Castle motor but the more you look the less you think this is likely. Rotor shafts are different lengths and magnets are positioned in a different spot on the shaft (bit lower on the leopard). For a second I thought you could use the Castle rotor shaft in the Leopard but it looks doubtful. Maybe with some crafty spacing work on the shaft. The Castle rotor shaft wants to stay a bit higher in the leopard can (talking about where the magnets want the shaft to stay). I am pretty sure you could work something out with the spacers to position the rotor shaft in the right spot but not sure how the spacers pushing onto the sides of the bearings would affect things. Also seems like there might be an issue if the rotor isn't aligned right with the windings inside. Not a motor guru but I think there might be some issues there. With the Castle rotor inside the leopard motor there was definitely more resistance from the magnets then with the Leopard. Godd or bad? I have no idea but just stating it. Castle motor uses 3 screws on the front end wheres the Leopard uses 4 to secure it's end bell. Also the diameter of the inside lip is different and the Castle end bell will not fit the Leopard. Not that it matters as they don't use the same bolt pattern. One thing I did like about the Leopard is that it has six holes on the front for mounting the motor vs. Castles 4. Not a big deal but I thought I would mention it. Sometimes more mounting options can make some jobs easier. Bearing sizes are the same. I have read else but was surprised to see that they were the same. They are also made by the same company too. Can't remember the name now (Just three capital letters) and they have one set of same numbers as well. Castle has another set of numbers wheres Leopard bearings have the word Thailand written instead of those numbers. Hope that makes sense. So in my opinion these motors are not clones at all. Not by a long shot. They do look similar but so do all the motors in the 540 class. Maybe they had a looksy inside of the Castles motors before they made theirs but they did not pick up a set of vernier calipers and backwards engineered them. To me Leopard did their own take on this. Still I do have to say that the looks of the rotor on the Leopard worry me a little. That wrapping job looks really sub-par when compared to Castles. This alone would make me want to spend the extra money on the Castle motor. Also I really like how Castle use wires and not just extend the motor windings out side of the can. They don't feel too stiff or like they will break easily on the Leopard but it would certainly be easier to make a neater installation with the Castle motor. I will be putting the Leopard through the paces sometime soon on a friends XTM Rail (GV Cage on some markets) and will report back on findings. Don't have a Logger but just the general feel for the motor + temps. Will be running it on 4S and 5S. If anyone would like to see some pics of the insides of both motors let me know and I'll try to do it tomorrow.