I found MiNT and Retrospekt's motor supplier! Brand new motors for your SX-70!

My name is Jake and I overhaul and repair instant cameras! Want your SX-70 overhauled? Then message me through the links below!

In this episode I dive deep into SX-70 motors. Everything you didn't think you needed to know!

In addition to this, I show off the Mabuchi FK-130SH-16140 - a BRAND NEW high RPM motor that can be adapted to fit an SX-70.

UPDATE: I've since discovered that the product code printed on the motor is easily removed with isopropyl alcohol. It would be very easy to make the motor appear totally blank and devoid of serial numbers, so it may not be something that was done by Mabuchi in the factory.

Like what I do? Find this video helpful or entertaining?
Feel free to buy me a beer (or two!):

*Getting artifacts in the video? For best quality, manually select 1080p quality, as depending on your bandwidth, YouTube may default to 720p - and YouTube's 720p compression looks like garbage*

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Chapters:
00:00 - intro
00:15 - Everything you never wanted to know about SX-70 motor variants
01:42 - The 'Model 1' motor
04:15 - The 'Transitional Alpha Spec' motor
05:33 - The 'Alpha spec' motor
06:52 - The 'Mabuchi" motor
11:20 - The mystery of the modern replacement motor...
15:00 - Obfuscating part numbers
18:07 - How to adapt the FK-130SH-16140 to fit an SX-70
35:52 - Final thoughts
39:33 - Outro

Parts/tools list:
- 1x Mabuchi FK-130SH-16140 motor
- 1x small length of wire
- good quality solder
- good quality variable heat soldering iron with thin tip
- kapton tape

Want to learn more about how to fully overhaul an SX-70?
Check out my previous video on the subject:

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Got a Polaroid that needs some love? Hit me up!

[theinstantcameraguy]

Hey guys, a few important things that I wanted to add:

1) If you want to buy one of these motors then google is your friend. Search for "Mabuchi FK-130SH-16140". They can be found on eBay, ali-express etc. You can also contact Mabuchi direct too if you wish to buy thousands of them
2) Note that other FK series of motors exist of identical size, but they are NOT compatible due to the far lower RPM. The '16140' is rated somewhere around 10 000 RPM depending on the exact voltage. Others I have found were much too slow to work on an SX-70
3) This bullet point is for those that insist on leaving negative comments about the visual quality of my videos - while offering absolutely 0 constructive feedback. Your comments offer nothing of value. I don't mind feedback if its actually helpful, but you don't need to be rude about it(see Prash's pinned comment in my first upload for an example of good feedback).
I have purchased a new 1600 lumen LED light bar for use in future videos, to try and increase video brightness, help with my cameras auto-focus and reduce harsher shadow casting while I do my videos. I believe this will help improve the visual quality of my videos in the future.
Sadly my 'temporary' workshop is now my current permanent workshop for the time-being due to the West Australian housing crisis. Truthfully, I never intended on being in my current workshop for long, and thus it is not set up as ideally as I'd like it to be. I simply didn't want to invest money into a location that was not meant to be permanent.
As a result, in previous videos, my camera sometimes misses focus, or light balance turns weird. Despite the occasional lighting hiccup and wonky focus, I still feel that my main message and technical ability still comes through in the videos. So shut up about the lighting already. I'm already aware.

[Niei]

I really love your attitude about sharing knowledge. Many repair shops are reluctant to share their knowledge, probably because they're affraid of losing business. But the fact is that most people just don't have the required skills and tools to do it themselves. And the ones who do won't have someone else repair their stuff anyway so they need to figure it out themselves, or learn from someone like you. Your videos serve multiple purposes:
1: You show people you really know what you're doing, which gains trust and can help you get more customers.
2: Skilled people learn from you
3: People interested in Polaroid cameras find it entertaining to watch a skilled person showing them how things work.

[gabvideo]

Never thought a video on a tiny dc motor could be so interesting. Thanks for sharing all this info.

[monochromebluess]

Excellent presentation of the SX-70 motor saga. Your camera set up in what you felt was going to be a short term location looks great. No issues for the viewers.

[juankyperrote]

Excelentes tus videos, hechos con la mejor intención para ayudar a usuarios como yo. Muy agradecido. Animo!!

[deramontefamily]

holy hell the lighting in this video.. im sitting here trying to learn all the free info your willingly handing out from your years of trial and error and not charging me a cent for, and you cant be bothered to properly light the scene and not record with a potato? unbelievable....

/s

Thanks for what you do. #goat

[Svend-hf]

That kind of knit picking of inconsequential detail(s) stems from JEALOUSY.

[flyingspaghettimonster]

Insane I have been searching for motors for ever....

[PuncherOfSharks]

This is great info, thanks for sharing. I am an enthusiastic amateur in repair and after having sent my slr680 and sx70 to chromatic parts for refurb I am keen to try one myself. This, I am sure, will be invaluable info as part of my research. Really appreciate it.

[mirei_]

Very Very informative. Thank you so much for sharing the knowledge.

[AnotherBrokenToaster]

I try to work on my sx70s in my free time and have a really crusty motor in one of my model 1s which I refurbed but wanted to replace. I got a donor from another sx70 but wanted to look into motor replacements(I remember a blog post on opensx70 where Joaquín talked about replacements but wouldn't reveal the source). So I ordered a bunch of motors from aliexpress that seemed to match the spec. I wanted to try doing load/rpm testing and compare the original motor with the potential replacements but never got around to it. When you showed the motor I looked in my bag of motors and sure enough I had the exact same one hahaha.

I really appreciate how much effort you put into it to bring us this obscure, niche info. I don't really have a lot of experience and don't have too many cameras so I'm always scared of messing a camera up permanently which stops me from trying a lot of experimental things. Your videos really fill in that gap so thanks a lot!

I had a question, instead of crimping the spring, have you tried using heatshrink over the shaft (with a little hanging off the end as a guide)? it should get it in the same ballpark as the original shaft.

Edit: Oh, also, do you know if the motor in sx70 box type cameras are the same mabuchi 2mm shaft motors like in the 600 cameras or the 2.5mm type?

[redzombik]

Wow great video. Thanks for knowledge/resource sharing. I wonder if mint and retrospect replace the sonar auto focus motors too?

[kabaottoemulsion]

Thanks Jake for research! I will replace it if mine die!

[kostaschicagobulls]

Hey Jake. As always, thank you for sharing your valuable knowledge with us. Just an idea, maybe standard o rings would be suitable as well for bushings? They come in many standard sizes, and I would guess that they are the correct material as well. I have been using them as rubber idlers for cassette decks for years without fault.

[nickademuss]

I wonder if some of the 32nd scale slot car motors would fit? I have rebuilt many of them...

[carstenbohemus]

Thank you for your video. I have the Alpha Executive SX70 under repair. I noticed there should be a spring on the side face of the frame toward the back of the drive train -next to the mirror-flip mechanism. I also notice it seemed to be absent in the example you have. Is this by design? My drive train spins continuously, I mean the train is working but it’s not actuating the mirror which remains in the ’up’ position. I’m stumped. What, in your opinion could be the problem? Much appreciated.

[zhufengeverest]

love this video. Hi one question here, do you know what's the model for SX70 (sonar) motor driver (it's located just beside the motor in flex circuit), I think it's a customized H bridge motor driver. I had mine burned when I was trying to use external battery pack, due to misoperation, the motor was stucked and then the driver burned. Thanks you.

[davepompea]

Please tell me that after you sandpaper the communtator that you polish it so it has a mirror finish, Otherwise it definitaly will go Tango Uniform real quck.

[revolverrr]

Do you know what material the bellows are made of? I'm just curious, it feels like and looks like some synthetic rubber. And do you think there is any replacement for it that isn't from a donor camera?

[ericcho]

I had tried，it works Normal without film，always failed to eject film