[How do I?] Wiring Up A Treadmill Motor (i Know, I Know)

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mattthemuppet2

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Hi all,

I was recently the lucky recipient of a treadmill motor and controller (MC60 by the looks of it) from the very generous jpfabricator and I'm idly thinking about how to wire it up instead of working. I also have another motor from a treadmill that I found at the side of the road if my wife doesn't end up using it. Both 1 to 1.25hp, one to go on the drill press, one to go on my 618. I'll be setting up both machines with tachs and I'd like both to be reversible once I've modded the motor flywheels so they don't unscrew themselves.

I've done a bunch of reading, but figured it would be best to have things checked out before ordering switches. 3 things I want to double check:

1) To reverse the motor I need a DPDT switch between the controller and the motor, wired so that the polarity to the motor is reversed. Switch would be wired Forward-STOP-Reverse. Can I do this with power to the controller or do I need to cut the power to the controller first, then change reverse the motor?

2) Speed control pot - 5k or 10k? Does it matter?

3) I've read that these controllers require the speed setting set to zero before starting each time. A work around is to either remove a resistor (not sure which one) or to put a SPST switch on the wiper wire to turn the motor on and off. Only downside would that this would leave the controller energised (see Q1)

Also, for that size motor, what current rating do I need for the switches. I'm thinking 10A from what I've read, but that's more guess than anything. Similarly, what fuse rating?

I've sketched out a wiring schematic, please find any flaws I've made!

thanks!

IMG_3941.JPG
 
mattthemuppet said:
1) To reverse the motor I need a DPDT switch between the controller and the motor, wired so that the polarity to the motor is reversed. Switch would be wired Forward-STOP-Reverse. Can I do this with power to the controller or do I need to cut the power to the controller first, then change reverse the motor?
Click to expand...


Matt, the only comment I can really make here is that I would not try to reverse the motor under power, it will try to change direction instantly. This would throw a heck of a load on everything both electrical and mechanical.

Your diagram looks like it would work.

I need to get up to speed on these MC60 controllers. I have one sitting within arms reach as I type this. Guess I'm going to have to do a little research then drag it out the the shop and play a bit.
 
Thanks Jim. I agree on the motor reverse and I've read several times that doing so with the controller powered up can toast it. There's tons of info on the MC60 controllers out there, even though the KB ones are supposed to be better, and they seem pretty simple. I just keep forgetting where I read certain things, like putting the motor on-off switch on the pot wiper, so I end up reading things over and over again! I need to start keeping notes :)

Hopefully Ulmadoctor or Masteryoda will chime in as I've seen lots of comments by them on how to do this.
 
mc60 wireing.jpg mc60 wireing.jpg break the wiper wire on the pot than you can start at the speed you left it at from old setting, and install your motor start and stop switch
 
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speed control and tach sfpm

speed control and tach sfpm


My controller swaps between the mill and the lathe with both the speed control and the tach, I used the Machtach kit as it also calcs the feet per min for different size cutters on the mill and diameter workpieces on the lathe. I use 3 double pole double throw switches for the change over. one for the the sensor leads for the tach and the one that switches between the mill and lathe feeds the one that reverses the output. these could be connected either way. I also have a on off switch the switches the 110 to the speed control and the power supply for the tach. I have about $85.00 in it including the Machtach kit. the reverse switch is a " on-off-on" switch so that when I'm threading i can go to off and then reverse to back out the tap. The torque circuitry in the MC60 seems to handle taping very well.

Art B
 
thanks Kernbigo! One of your earlier posts is where I got the idea from in the first place :) On the MC68 (updated MC60?) a resistor has been snipped in a white screen printed box saying "max 8mph" or something similar, so I wonder if that was done to disable the "turn speed to 0 to start" thing or for some other reason. I've read of people cutting a resistor on the board to do that, it's just hard to figure out which resistor! If not, then breaking the wiper wire to start the motor is the way to go.

thanks Art, I was hoping you would chime in :) That's a sweet set up you have there! I'll be using one of those cheap eBay tachs, so nothing fancy but better than guessing. What does the dial next to the tach readout do? Control Machtach? Also, with reversing the motor for tapping (one of the things I want to do on the "mill", as well as metric threading on the lathe) do you turn off the motor by turning off the controller, then reverse, then power up the motor again or do you just hit the reverse switch (using the center "off" position to turn off the motor)? The latter would be much easier, but I don't want to blow up the controller!
 
i switch it to the off on the forward reverse switch. the knob on the tach is for setting the diameter of the cutters etc for the fpm readings and selecting between the tach and fpm. the mach tack kit is only 50 and was money well spent.
 
neat, thanks Art, that would make it a lot easier. I'll have to go read up on the machtach kit - I don't think it would be worth it for the lathe, but it would be really useful for the "mill".
 
ordered the switches and rheostats, need to get some fuse holders and then figure out how to mount a pulley to treadmill flywheel. I want to keep the flywheel as it's also a fan for cooling the motor and should help a bit with interrupted cuts. My idea was to make a stub arbor with a matching thread (LH, don't know what pitch yet), then use a couple of set screws to prevent it from unscrewing on reversing the motor.
 
Be aware that that fly wheel is probably just threaded on. The first time I reversed mine the flywheel unthreaded itself 8^0

Randy
 
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