Treadmill motor on Drill Press (Pillar Drill)

[shenion]

Been discussion on the lathe forums about using Treadmill motors. Thought this might be interesting to others.

Neighbor threw out a Proform Treadmill. Needed new belt and control panel a bit beat up, but it worked.
Took it apart and found the motor and controller basically worked standalone and did not need all the rest of the control panel. Only control is the speed pot.

On the back of the controller is a choke. The controller is an MC-60 and is straightforward. Two AC in lines, +/- to motor and 3 lines to the speed pot.
The motor is 130VDC, 2 1/4HP, 6500 RPM. With the controller, it looks to only reach about half speed.

Shaft is an odd size and too big for the drill press pulley. So it was chucked up in the lathe. The bearing worked well with the steady rest:

I made a fan out of sheet metal and welded it to a collar. Note the motor has a flywheel with a centrifugal fan. It got in the way.

This really pulls a lot of air through the motor; most does go straight out the sides.
Will need to make some sleeves to support the flange properly:

Final result with controller mounted in an old ammo box:

Old motor was made into a bench grinder.

Has much more torque, less vibration and slower speed. Can finally drill steel without melting bits.

First time I felt my $0.99 ebay deal was worth using

 

[Highpower]

Very nice! The dial-a-speed feature will come in handy for sure. Makes to me want to kick myself for tossing out a previous treadmill we had.

I'm currently doing similar mods on my lathe by converting to a 3-phase motor & VFD. I just finished installing the RPM / SFM readout yesterday. It will be nice to finally be able to do threading at less than 66 rpm.

 

[shenion]

Yes, I have a Toshiba VFD and 3-phase motor on my Atlas lathe (link in sig.)

On the back gear and minimum frequency, i get about 2 RPM

The lathe came with an old Dunlap single-phase motor and reversing drum switch. Lathe was at one time dropped on its back. The motor shaft was a slightly bent. The pulleys were slightly off too.

Took motor apart to see if I could beat it straight only to find cloth-covered wire sthat were falling apart. They ran through the windings and would require a rewind to fix.

The VFD (new, demo) and motor (used) were both off ebay and cost about $90; cheaper than a decent single-phase motor.

If you find a deal on a VFD, motors are dirt cheap. Many buy a drill/lathe/mill/shaper etc with a 3P motor. Buy a single-phase to replace and sell old on ebay. So, on ebay, single-phase are expensive and 3P are cheap.

Has transformed the lathe. Now stops quick, ramps up slow and has much less vibration. I also don't need to change belt/pulley combinations often, just "dial a speed". Easy reversing, over-current protection and easy on belts.

Took me 2 days to get the dozens of settings tuned right

 

[Highpower]

Unfortunately I bought both around 9 months ago and they have been collecting dust until now. I got a Hitachi VFD because I want to mount the control head remotely. I spent some time today making up a new double pulley since the original metric pulley (Chinese 12X36) won't fit the new motor.
Since it doesn't have a back gear it needs all the help it can get.

 

[R Kraft]

Anyone who has put a treadmill motor on their drill press,loves the set up.
I just used the original pulley with the flywheel and fan on it,my drill-press was the 5ft tall one with the center jack shaft.

 

[Highpower]

Took me 2 days to get the dozens of settings tuned right

I see what you mean now Scott.
I just got the motor and VFD installed. Well, most of it anyway. Still have to set up and wire my logic inputs for the controls. I was doing the power up tests and thought I had bought a junk motor, as it was squealing like Ned Beatty in "Deliverance".

I finally discovered that I could change the carrier frequency on the output and now the motor is quiet as a mouse.

Still a lot of parameters to go though.... lol.

That is a nice looking Atlas you've got there. I like your set-up!

 

[shenion]

Yes the PWM frequency is one I played with. Low freq were real noisy.

Note: on the frequency, it effects current. I set mine to the top freq and it promptly tripped my breaker.

I think I'm using 4khz, maybe 8. 12 would draw too much current. My motor is not VFD-certified. That means there are more losses at high freqs.

I had it working fine but it kept tripping for over current when spinning up/down. I finally found the setting, one of those Fnnn parameters that you need the manual for. It defaulted to a 1/4HP motor.

I started with a 3/4HP motor and assumed it would work withe 1/2HP VFD. It probably would have but it was tripping the current limit. I picked up a 1/2HP before I realized the current limit was set so low.

Yes,that Atlas/Craftsman was a Craigs list steal. The pict shows the first time i used the steady rest. It came with most of the options available at the time (1941).

After 2 mistakes with low-end lathes, this one has proven real useful

 

[barrygibson]

Good stuff shenion.Are these motors similar to the ones in motorised wheelchairs?

 

[graffian]

Good stuff shenion.Are these motors similar to the ones in motorised wheelchairs?

I don't think so. Near me is a place that mends them and I went and scrounged a battery charger a few years ago[I can't remember what I wanted it for] it's something like 24V.