treadmill motor on press drill

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canadianhorsepower

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This is one of the best mod ever to replace any ac motor
on press drill, Taig lathe or any mill. Easy cheap and works like a charm.
enjoy
the description is pretty clear :thumbup::thumbup:

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I replaced the original drive on my South Bend 9"fifteen years ago with a treadmill motor and it is still going strong ... nice range and plenty of torque in all speeds. I think I paid $25 US for it at a Salvation Army or Goodwill store.
 
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Hi Luc great mod. Treadmill motors have great low end torque and almost scary top speeds.
Just had a quick look on Kijiji and there are 4 older but supposedly working in my area under $20.00 (2 free) if you come and get them.
I guess setup and delivery are included in the price but when you get sick of hanging clothes on it you’re on your own to get it up from the basement Rof}.
One tip I read about picking one up on the cheap was to take along a good cordless screwdriver/drill and a cordless impact wrench. *knuppel2*
 
A few people told me it was wrong to use
RED as increase
GREEN as decrease.
My opinion to this is like a traffic light.
GREEN is safe
RED is dangerous
SO increasing speed could be dangerous to you and the equipment.

as for the PAUSE button
it is a {soft slow and a soft increase to the latest RPM use}

the Panic button will stop the motor power instantly
IE{if your material wants to jam on you the motor is OFF instantly
compare to a pause it will slow down evenly
 
A few people told me it was wrong to use
People will say things that are perfectly true where they are but may be wrong in your location. The standards for industrial controls vary widely country to country as does enforcement. There is effort afoot to standardize pushbutton coloring but uptake seems to be slow.
RED as increase
Red is pretty much reserved for E-Stops these days. It use to also be the stop button for motor on/off circuits. Generally you don't want to use RED for anything other than E-Stops these says.
GREEN as decrease.

My opinion to this is like a traffic light.

GREEN is safe

RED is dangerous
Unfortunately traffic controls are another standard one that is surprisingly well adopted world wide.
SO increasing speed could be dangerous to you and the equipment.



as for the PAUSE button

it is a {soft slow and a soft increase to the latest RPM use}



the Panic button will stop the motor power instantly

IE{if your material wants to jam on you the motor is OFF instantly

compare to a pause it will slow down evenly

Generally you want an E-Stop to kill power, often by a Master Control Relay, so that the machine can be powered down if an electronics failure is the cause of the panic.

An interesting aside just last night i had a mold machine go down at work. One stuck switch on the keypad put the controller into an odd state where some things worked and some didn't leaving an extruder running. Having an E-Stop prevented a huge mess from forming. This was nothing more than old age but it highlights how even professional done controls can end up not responding to the user. Thus the need for an E-Stop circuit that is independent of the controller.

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In any event a great post with excellent pictures. Id be very interested to hear how this drive does at very low speeds, say 40-60 RPM on the spindle. Think running large hole saws into steel where you want to keep SFM down

It is good to see another move into the variable speed camp. Once you have the ability you never look back.
 
Hi Ill be more than Happy to post a video with 40 RPM and a hole saw. Thanks for the comment.
video to come
 
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In any event a great post with excellent pictures. Id be very interested to hear how this drive does at very low speeds, say 40-60 RPM on the spindle. Think running large hole saws into steel where you want to keep SFM down

It is good to see another move into the variable speed camp. Once you have the ability you never look back.

here is the video

https://www.facebook.com/luc.gyre/videos/10211818626396832/
 
[QUOTE
@@@@@@@@@@@@
In any event a great post with excellent pictures. Id be very interested to hear how this drive does at very low speeds, say 40-60 RPM on the spindle. Think running large hole saws into steel where you want to keep SFM down

It is good to see another move into the variable speed camp. Once you have the ability you never look back.[/QUOTE]

I did one with 1/4 alu perfect
here is another one enjoy
https://www.facebook.com/luc.gyre/videos/10211818626396832/
 
Thanks for the pics/videos!

I have a drill press that needs rebuilding ( bad spindle run out) and will consider a variable speed solution when the time comes. Time is the big issue though, to many house maintenance projects in flight at the moment.
 
Thanks for the pics/videos!
I have a drill press that needs rebuilding ( bad spindle run out) and will consider a variable speed solution when the time comes. t.

you are welcome:thumbup:
I don't know you're electronic background,
need any help................simply drop a line ;)

Luc
 
I did my conversion three or four years ago . My wife had stopped using the treadmill in favour of the Wii , which , being connected to the TV , is in more salubrious suroundings than my workshop.
I decided to reclaim my work space by dismantling and scrapping the now redundant gym kit.
The DC motor after a little teasing with a hacksaw fitted on the back of my BCA jig borer like it was meant to be there,
DSCF6072.jpg

the guts of the speed control I managed to fit into the case of scrap welding inverter I had been given ,
DSCF6073.jpg

The speed of the treadmill was operated by a sliding pot which I replaced with a similar value rotary unit to replace the one on the inverter case,
DSCF6074.jpg

The set-up has been in use daily , sometimes for several hours with no problems , and the amount of power available from such a compact motor is amazing (to me).
The only thing I would change in retrospect is the soft start on the motor , the potentiometer has to be turned to zero before selecting speeds.
Dan.
 
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The only thing I would change in retrospect is the soft start on the motor , the potentiometer has to be turned to zero before selecting speeds.
Dan.

you can solve that issue
HTML:
the potentiometer has to be turned to zero before selecting speeds.

by simply cut the power to the motor
{ one on/off switch on the motor only}
. It will act as a "pause'" but
the soft start will be a little faster then the one I design.

that would be the same set up I'm using on my Taig Lathe.
If you want to go one step further {Idid} use a DPDT switch
and the will give you CW and CCW rotation pretty neet set up
for tapping
 
you are welcome:thumbup:

I don't know you're electronic background,

need any help................simply drop a line ;)



Luc


Actually i work automation at work and do well with the controls. Figuring out how to do a new drill press spindle is a bit more of a challenge.
 
Thanks for the post! I've been considering doing this to my taig lathe, but I wasn't sure if the treadmill motor would handle it.

Could you post the specs on that treadmill motor?
 
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