Other treadmill/DC motor uses?

[skeer]

I'm wondering, maybe stupidly, with the good specs of DC motors like ones from a treadmill, what else have people used these on to replace a typical AC or PCS motor? How about a washing machine motor? Sump pump perhaps?

I know ECM motors in your furnace are in fact DC.. but I was just thinking of the possibilities out there. What's dumb, what's not.. what's been tried and successes.

 

[kbs2244]

I have a treadmill motor on my drill press
it makes the speed change from wood to metal simple

 

[finn]

Bead roller power conversion using treadmill motors was a thing a few years ago.

I built a little grinder, using an arbor from my grandfather and the motor from my mother’s circa 1950s washing machine, way back in about 1969. Ugly as sin, and I have considered throwing it out probably twenty times over the years, but I am still using it with a wire wheel.

The motor on (my) concrete mixer was salvaged from another 1950s washing machine by my wife’s uncle. It’s been on the mixer since about 1968, at least. Needs a little nudge to get it going, but it still works.

Also a circa 1970 Craftsman wood lathe motor and pulley that’s been modified to power a circa 1900 cider press kicking around in the family. Gets used every fall when the apples ripen.

 

[gleman]

I salvaged a 24 volt motor out of a electric razor scooter. That thing has gobs of torque at low rpm and decent gears.

On YouTube there's a guy called Post Apocalyptic Inventor that makes all his stuff from a German scrapyard.

 

[skeer]

I salvaged a 24 volt motor out of a electric razor scooter. That thing has gobs of torque at low rpm and decent gears.

On YouTube there's a guy called Post Apocalyptic Inventor that makes all his stuff from a German scrapyard.

I have a 24vdc motor out of one of those electric chairs on eBay right now. Builtin gearing and all. I can't think of a use for it myself.

 

[blazemaster83]

I have been looking for a decent sized dc motor for a large industrial sewing machine. Something around 1.5hp

 

[cgrutt]

I've been saving a DC motor, transformer and controller from a Precor treadmill for several years. Don't recall specifically but believe it's a USA made motor between 1 and 2 HP. Originally wanted to convert and old Walker-Turner drill press to something more modern and controllable but thought better about ruining a vintage machine. I'll figure out something to do with it eventually lol.

 

[skeer]

I've been saving a DC motor, transformer and controller from a Precor treadmill for several years. Don't recall specifically but believe it's a USA made motor between 1 and 2 HP. Originally wanted to convert and old Walker-Turner drill press to something more modern and controllable but thought better about ruining a vintage machine. I'll figure out something to do with it eventually lol.

I'm interested in taking a look at the controller off an ECM blower motor. The motor itself is DC. possibly could wire it up to a TM motor and have an ECM blower.

 

[cgrutt]

I'm interested in taking a look at the controller off an ECM blower motor. The motor itself is DC. possibly could wire it up to a TM motor and have an ECM blower.

It was just the circuit board from the treadmill console not sure if that's what you're talking about looking at? Could post a pic but need to dig it out of garage it's in a roughneck somewhere lol.

 

[gleman]

I have been looking for a decent sized dc motor for a large industrial sewing machine. Something around 1.5hp

I've been on the lookout for an old Juki or Consew and was thinking the same thing.

 

[DAVE VAN]

I used a treadmill motor and speed controller on my 12in disc sander. The speed control works great to slow the disc down to keep from burning wood. Plenty of power.

 

[bubinga]

I have a treadmill motor on my drill press
it makes the speed change from wood to metal simple

l have a drill press motor on my drill press too!
It worked out quite well!

 

[skeer]

It was just the circuit board from the treadmill console not sure if that's what you're talking about looking at? Could post a pic but need to dig it out of garage it's in a roughneck somewhere lol.

No no the controller from an actual ECM Blower motor, like in newer furnaces.

 

[dougf]

They are popular with people wanting speed control for a drill press, lathe, etc...

A nice belt sander would be a fun build for one too.

 

[skeer]

l have a drill press motor on my drill press too!
It worked out quite well!

^ this guy..

 

[tool_scrounge]

I'm wondering, maybe stupidly, with the good specs of DC motors like ones from a treadmill, what else have people used these on to replace a typical AC or PCS motor?

unfortunately a lot of the treadmill motors i have seen have wildly inflated specifications. Right up there with the 5HP Craftsman shop vacs that ran off of wall power that realistically could only power a 1.5hp motor before the circuit breaker blows.

For specifications I actually could believe, I scoured eBay for low cost NOS Baldor, Leeson, Pacific Scientific, etc, industrial DC motors. They usually run at 1750rpm and have a standard NEMA 56C frame size for easy mounting.

Similarly, I usually find new or used DC motor drives off of eBay.

Shown is a Leeson DC motor with a Minarik drive for a vintage Craftsman 15” drill press

 

[bubinga]

^ this guy..

lt was actually a 56-frame motor too, with a 5/8" shaft.

 

[nadogail]

I have been told Treadmills are good material to build a Stroke Sander from.

 

[skeer]

I have been told Treadmills are good material to build a Stroke Sander from.

Never heard of such a thing until now. Here I sit kicking myself for not grabbing the rollers, and the frame.

 

[nateo]

I have a treadmill motor and control board piled on a bench in my too crowded shop waiting for the day when I finally follow through on my idea to shoe horn it into my wood lathe along with a jackshaft. Right now my problem (along with not having enough room in front of the lathe to actually work on it comfortably) is finding a matching grooved pulley for the jackshaft. Anyone know what those things are even called?

 

[Slednut]

My SIL bought this old mini lathe at a yard sale, rebuilt it and gave it to me for Christmas, Has a treadmill DC motor which gave the old lathe variable speed. He also had to make the inverter.

 

[skeer]

Oh man.. I would love to have one of those. Nice resto!

 

[Bill T]

Many have used the treadmill motors on small lathes to get adjustable speed, but now, VFDs are so cheap, that is the way to go. Use a good AC motor with the correct VFD. I use VFDs on my Bridgeport and my drill press. Both are single phase in-three phase out. No phase converter required. I still have a 15-hp phase converter for my big lathe. It is a Monarch CK.

 

[RaisedByWolves]

Many have used the treadmill motors on small lathes to get adjustable speed, but now, VFDs are so cheap, that is the way to go. Use a good AC motor with the correct VFD. I use VFDs on my Bridgeport and my drill press. Both are single phase in-three phase out. No phase converter required. I still have a 15-hp phase converter for my big lathe. It is a Monarch CK.

Yeah, back in the day a rotary converter was the cheap option at about half the price of a vfd.

Now vfd’s are dirt cheap and way out perform a rotary.

 

[bubinga]

I have a treadmill motor and control board piled on a bench in my too crowded shop waiting for the day when I finally follow through on my idea to shoe horn it into my wood lathe along with a jackshaft. Right now my problem (along with not having enough room in front of the lathe to actually work on it comfortably) is finding a matching grooved pulley for the jackshaft. Anyone know what those things are even called?

Step Pulley? You might not even need a jack shaft, why do you want a jackshaft? To multiply torque?
Treadmill motor develops max torque at high speed. I would just try the smallest pulley you can run on the motor, to the large pulley on your spindle, and see how that works. I have a TM motor on my drill press, with a single small pully on the motor, and never have an lssue with torque.

 

[bubinga]

My SIL bought this old mini lathe at a yard sale, rebuilt it and gave it to me for Christmas, Has a treadmill DC motor which gave the old lathe variable speed. He also had to make the inverter.

Now you need to hook up a variable speed with reverse to a wiper motor for the leadscrew.

 

[RaisedByWolves]

Step Pulley? You might not even need a jack shaft, why do you want a jackshaft? To multiply torque?
Treadmill motor develops max torque at high speed. I would just try the smallest pulley you can run on the motor, to the large pulley on your spindle, and see how that works. I have a TM motor on my drill press, with a single small pully on the motor, and never have an lssue with torque.

This usually is a case of trial and error.

It’s the controller that might balk at trying to deliver too much torque and drop out, which can have varying results.

If it’s an 1760-1800 rpm motor that might work fine. But if it’s a 2800 rpm or higher it won’t really develop it’s rated hp until much higher in the rpm range.

 

[nateo]

Step Pulley? You might not even need a jack shaft, why do you want a jackshaft? To multiply torque?
Treadmill motor develops max torque at high speed. I would just try the smallest pulley you can run on the motor, to the large pulley on your spindle, and see how that works. I have a TM motor on my drill press, with a single small pully on the motor, and never have an lssue with torque.

No, the pulley on the treadmill motor is a parallel groove style. I was going to add the jackshaft so that I could keep the step pulley from the current motor on the jackshaft and not have to putz about trying to fit a new pulley to the treadmill motor. Then I would aim to size the grooved pulley on the jackshaft to give me the best usable speed range with my existing step pulleys, hopefully reducing the need to swap the belt unless I want to go really slow or really fast.

But like so many projects, right now it only exists as ideas in my head and clutter in my shop!

 

[bubinga]

No, the pulley on the treadmill motor is a parallel groove style. I was going to add the jackshaft so that I could keep the step pulley from the current motor on the jackshaft and not have to putz about trying to fit a new pulley to the treadmill motor. Then I would aim to size the grooved pulley on the jackshaft to give me the best usable speed range with my existing step pulleys, hopefully reducing the need to swap the belt unless I want to go really slow or really fast.

But like so many projects, right now it only exists as ideas in my head and clutter in my shop!

Oh ok. This motor l found I was lucky, it was pretty much a 56 frame motor, with a 5/8" keyed motor shaft. I could use almost any pulley on the motor I want.

 

[bubinga]

This usually is a case of trial and error.

It’s the controller that might balk at trying to deliver too much torque and drop out, which can have varying results.

If it’s an 1760-1800 rpm motor that might work fine. But if it’s a 2800 rpm or higher it won’t really develop it’s rated hp until much higher in the rpm range.

I got lucky with mine thin l guess. Used the controller from the treadmill too. Plenty of torque at all speeds.

 

[RaisedByWolves]

Oh ok. This motor l found I was lucky, it was pretty much a 56 frame motor, with a 5/8" keyed motor shaft. I could use almost any pulley on the motor I want.

Pacific scientific?

 

[Innovate1]

I'm wondering, maybe stupidly, with the good specs of DC motors like ones from a treadmill, what else have people used these on to replace a typical AC or PCS motor? How about a washing machine motor? Sump pump perhaps?

I know ECM motors in your furnace are in fact DC.. but I was just thinking of the possibilities out there. What's dumb, what's not.. what's been tried and successes.

No. ECM motors such as in your furnace are 3 phase AC synchronous motors. People call them "DC brushless" because they run from a DC bus (rectified and filtered from the AC line) and then use an inverter to generate variable frequency 3 phase AC for the motor. Despite the common name they are NOT DC motors.

 

[bubinga]

Pacific scientific?

Can't say for sure, but I'm 95% sure it is!

 

[engineer2]

For something totally different...
When I sold our treadmill (aka clothes hanger) the guy who bought it said that the motor was popular for wind power generation projects.

 

[skeer]

Permanent magnets is why they do alright for power generation.

No. ECM motors such as in your furnace are 3 phase AC synchronous motors. People call them "DC brushless" because they run from a DC bus (rectified and filtered from the AC line) and then use an inverter to generate variable frequency 3 phase AC for the motor. Despite the common name they are NOT DC motors.

Interesting... So where is the lower electrical usage coming from on these?

 

[Innovate1]

Permanent magnets is why they do alright for power generation.

Interesting... So where is the lower electrical usage coming from on these?

Efficiency comes in several ways.

They use permanent magnets rather than Induction motor way of generating rotor magnetic flux. In an induction motor there is slip - the rotor rotates at slightly less speed than the rotating field from the stationary stator windings. This slip and the rotor conductive bars create an magnetic field in the rotor. And there are losses in this process in contrast to the magnets creating the field without loss.

And the slip is an additional loss - or it could be considered to be part of the same process and loss.

With variable speed the motors usually have a way to increase speed and airflow when the flow is restricted by more and/or smaller ductwork. The furnace must have enough airflow to keep the heat exchanger below a max temperature. But furnace ratings are done with a relatively small amount of airflow restriction. So the ECM motor reduces power in that situation. So efficiency in the end application depends on the duct work being large enough. But for cost reasons ductwork can be scrimped on.

With an induction motor the speed is nearly constant (for a given tap). When the ductwork has less restriction the air moved is more and the power goes up. This is opposite of what would seem to happen since is seems the fan is being unloaded but it is actually getting more load. In some blower catalogs and data sheets it will be noted that the fan should not be run with nothing attached as it will overload the motor.

 

[skeer]

VERY cool, thank you for the explanation @Innovate1

 

[skeer]

Think a TM motor would power an old Fairbanks drill press? Obviously there would be some reengineering of how it’d drive the thing. But there’s a Fairbanks near me in decent shape for $40

 

[csp]

Think a TM motor would power an old Fairbanks drill press? Obviously there would be some reengineering of how it’d drive the thing. But there’s a Fairbanks near me in decent shape for $40

The basics of any belt driven drill press aren't brand specific. As you said, it's just a matter of how to mount the motor to the press and drive the pulleys.

 

[skeer]

My SIL bought this old mini lathe at a yard sale, rebuilt it and gave it to me for Christmas, Has a treadmill DC motor which gave the old lathe variable speed. He also had to make the inverter.

I see you put the pulley onto the ribbed OG part. Do you happen to recall the bore size of that v pulley? I cannot for the life of me find a pulley with a bore size of 17mm.