Will a record weight harm the motor in a direct drive turntable?

@larry

+1 Excellent response. I couldn't have said it better. 

Assuming that this is a low cost experiment find (or make) a center weight that comes in @ under 8 ounces (this is quite low as far as record weights go and I have been succesfully using such for 20+ years on a belt drive Thorens TD125II).

Aside from the motor "added weight" can also hasten wear to the main platter bearing, which was my main concern when experimenting with much lighter record weights years ago.

I made the weight I still use today from an old/small Mapleshade brass cone footer centered and mounted to a 45 RPM Thorens record insert and the combo came in @ just under 8 ounces. 

The lighter weight works well with the various platter mats I use and it definitely improves sound quality on LP's of all ages and thicknesses.

Been years since I searched for <8 ounce record weights, but they were around/available 15+ years ago.

DeKay

I have used record weights on both my VPI HW40 and Technics SL1200GAE without trouble.  However I have also found a KAB record clamp to work as well or better for a lot less money and frankly prefer it.  

I think it's one of the snake oils. I never found any benefit in clamps or weights. 

Well whether there is any benefit to weighting or clamping is definitely record dependent.  For perfectly flat records, I agree that there is little or no benefit and in fact a weight can actually dampen or choke the sound a bit.  A clamp has no deleterious affect on the sound that I have been able to detect, however.  On records that are not perfectly flat, a weight or a clamp helps to bring the record more firmly into contact with the platter and that does two things:  It makes it easier for the arm/cartridge to track the grooves, and it dampens resonances in the record itself.  So saying they are snake oil is over stating the case.