On Jul 19, 5:42*pm, Robert Macy wrote:
...snip...
Nothing more valuable than experimentation! *Just now I purposely
stopped the fan and could hear the grinding noise continuing. *Just
for 'some reason' I touched the butt end of the motor to find it was
still turning with the fan stopped! *This motor drive path has a
CLUTCH!!! to the fan [may be NOT on purpose]. *The noise is the sound
the 'clutch' makes as it's slipping!

That also explains why there is only one speed. At higher speed
setting the grinding moves up a bit in pitch but the fan never speeds
up, because, again, that clutch is slipping!

This may not be a clutch by design, but rather a rubber 'alignment'
shaft. *When new, the press fit kept the fan and motor locked
together, but with age and rubber deteriorating from actions of oil,
the press fit is slipping. *Now to lock the fan to the motor shaft???

Thank you all.

Should I use super glue on the rubber?

Robert

FINALLY!

Simply removed the grommet, cleaned under it, put some tacky glue
stick on the shaft, reassembled, and VOILA! Working great now.

Removing the grommet was the key. The fan comes out easily, but
remains attached to the motor shaft, so remove the mounting screws for
the motor and tilt the assembly up out of the mounting points. Then
DON'T PULL instead use a pair of plier tips to gently wedge the rubber
off the retaining ring and PUSH the fan away from the motor. For me,
it popped right off, probably due to all that oil in there. That
allowed me to clean the squirrel cage fan blades in a sink of
detergent and wipe off the motor shaft. After sliding paper towel
rolled up to the size of the shaft through the rubber several times [a
lot of residue came out] I then used the only tacky stuff around, a
glue stick, rubbed it on the shaft, reassembled, and let it set a few
hours. Compared to before the friction between the motor and the fan
was now incredible. So turned it on. And all works well. Very
quiet, too.

Thank you to all who jumped in to help. And especially thank you
about suggesting acetone on my HP DeskJet rollers.

Robert