Re: [ATM] Treadmill Motors

[Jeff Rowe <jroweapp@swbell.net>]

Josh;
How big  are your intended blanks?
I tried this appoach and ultimately took a different route. I have seen 
1 motor machines but decided on 2 , its nice to have an overarm that can 
be independently regulated. I have heard that treadmill motors have 
limited life, since I did not end up going this route, I can't comment. 
The motors I first used had flywheels press fitted with the end pulley 
being maybe 5 thin grooves. You can find belts for these, finding other 
pulleys that mate with these might be tricky. I turned my own on a 
lathe.  Some of these motors don't like running in the vertical positon. 
If you mount these to a gear reducer you will probably have to make a 
custom coupling.  Even though a lot of these motors come with brackets, 
you might also have to come up with supplemental brackets/mounts. 

After trying this route I decided to bite the bullet and not cheap out 
totally.  I bought a couple of new gear reducers at an online auction 
site really inexpensively. These mount easily to their respective 
motors. I still use belts and pulleys. I also bought a 1 HP DC motor and 
a speed controller, (not cheap) .  I had a good 1/2 HP AC motor, I use 
this with a gear reducer on the turntable and control its speed by 
different sized pulleys/sheaves. I use the DC motor for the overarm. 
This might be overkill but I don't think you can have an overarm that 
pushes and pulls too hard. Another consideration  is the size of your 
turntable drive shaft and how it mates with your turntable, I chose 
1.5", I believe the bigger the better in this case. YMMV This will have 
a lot to do with the cost of your flange bearings and pulleys/sheaves, 
fortunately I could turn my own. My ambitions were modest, max ~30 inch 
stuff.  Hope this is helpful.

Jeff



Josh Herron wrote:

>I have been toying with the idea of building my first grinding machine
>employing one or two motors.
> 
>I have two family members who work for a treadmill manufacturer and they
>can get me treadmill motors at cost.  I am curious to find out if
>anybody has any experience with these and knows of any problems that I
>may encounter.
> 
>Since I can get the motors from the factory I have a wide range to
>choose from.
> 
>The low end motors are ~ $10 and the factory has to add a cooling fan
>and the pulley.
> 
>On the high end I can get the motor from a health club machine that
>produces 3 HP and can run a treadmill up to 12 MPH (no idea on the motor
>rpm).  I can pick up one of these with the controller, transformer, and
>the pulley already attached for $75.
> 
>I am leaning toward one of the higher end motors since they are intended
>for more frequent use.  Is there any disadvantage in overpowering the
>grinding machine?
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