# Ok, Got The Neighbors Old Tread Mill...



## Whyemier (Jun 24, 2015)

He put the tread mill out for the trash men on Monday.  I let it sit there in the rain etc.  but then went and talked to him today about taking it home with me.  He said the motor worked and so did the tread mill but his grandaughters had mess up the controls.  Now the question;

Should I keep it as a treadmill, which my wife thinks I sorely need, or take the motor and use it on my old SB9 lathe.  Would it work ok on the lathe, does it have the torque?  

Anyone done this before?


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## wing98 (Jun 24, 2015)

more lathe less walking


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## kvt (Jun 24, 2015)

I'm still looking for one,  I think it would do good on a grinder.  But I'm nuts. or at least my wife thinks so.


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## pineyfolks (Jun 24, 2015)

Put it on your lathe and walk to the garage more often. You'll get the best of both worlds.


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## Mike Amick (Jun 30, 2015)

pineyfolks said:


> Put it on your lathe and walk to the garage more often. You'll get the best of both worlds.



I have done a lot of treadmill converts .. if you need any help,  I'm sure I can.   You may want to post a 
pic of the motor and the motor control .. some are better than others for what you want to do.


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## Whyemier (Jul 1, 2015)

Thank You all For words of encouragement and advice given and postponed.  We'll see what we'll see.


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## kvt (Jul 1, 2015)

My problem is that I kept seeing them by the curb all the time,   Till I found that I could use them for stuff, now I cannot find one at all.


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## 47convertible (Jul 9, 2015)

Whyemier, I encourage  you to do a DC conversion. Maybe on your drill press.

I just finished converting a Jet 17 inch floor model drill press to DC power using a donated treadmill motor and controller plus a simple coil that sits between controller and motor and helps smooth out the operation. It was a fun project and not too difficult. If I didn't want to do my first conversion on my good Jet 20 inch DP so purchased the well used 1988, 17 inch mentioned above. It was more work getting it in shape to convert than doing the actual conversion.

I fabricated a test board to check all components, a box for the controls, sourced an off/on switch and a potentiometer (both cheap on ebay) and also bought a digital tach with sensor also on ebay. The motor was a piece of cake to mount using the mounts from the original 3/4 hp AC motor and the original drive pulley and spindle pulley. DC motor also had a 5/8 keyed shaft and I took off the heavy counterweight as its not needed. I also did away with the intermediate pulley. A new longer drive belt was required. I can get it to run from about 35 rpm to over 1000 just using the pot to control rpm. Its a permanent magnet DC motor rated at 1.5 hp. As such it makes most of its torque at low rpm but has plenty of grunt at 400 and above. No problem drilling a 5/8 hole through 3/8 thick mild steel plate. Doesn't even slow it down or make the belt slip. I intend to not only do drilling but also power tapping using either my 3E Procunier or the Grizzly auto reversing tapping head.
Jerry


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