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

thanks Randy. I had a look at it and I thought it was a keyed press fit, but it wouldn't hurt to double check!
 
good job you mentioned it Randy, freewheel was a screw on and it came off really easily! I might see if I can cannabalise a PC fan to slip over the shaft and then put the pulley on after that. it would certainly simplify things.
 
One word of caution regarding reversing a treadmill motor. The brush placement is optimized for one direction of rotation. Being a PMDC motor, it can of course be reversed. But it will be less powerful, less efficient in reverse. If at all possible, when you install it on a tool, arrange that the "forward" motor rotation runs the tool in the normal/most frequently used direction.

PS - when I installed a treadmill motor on a drill press this last year, I wired the controller in parallel with the (110 volt) light. The original on/off switch was then isolated from 110 and used to interrupt the center wire on the speed control pot.
 
good point, I'm going to keep the original CW rotation for forward and CCW for reverse. I'm rigging up a fan on each treadmill to replace the flywheel and those will also work best CW.

Tore out the motor from the treadmill I found (turns out it had an intermittent speed problem that nearly killed the wife!) and it's a USA made 1.5hp motor with a MC40 controller. Pulled the rheostat too and it runs just fine on the bench, although it took some heat to get the flywheel off. Used the same pot and power lead to test the one jpfabricator gave me (1hp and MC68) and that works just fine too. Little bit of sparking from one of the brushes so I'll check that out at some point. Going to put the 1hp on the lathe and the 1.5hp on the drill press.
 
I found the rheostat that came off that motor. If you need it I can drop it in the mail for you.
Im still trying to find the pictures I told you I would send, just neen syrapped on time.

Sent from somewhere in East Texas Jake Parker
 
that would be awesome Jake, thanks! that would be guaranteed to be the right value too. Don't worry about the wiring diagrams, I've got it pretty much figured out. I have a couple of things to do first then I'll work on the mounting brackets and boring the pulleys to fit. Very excited :)
 
Be looking for a padded envelope soon. BTW we havent seen any pictures yet!

Sent from somewhere in East Texas Jake Parker
 
thank you so much! Ah, pictures. Not much to look at yet, but I'm getting there :)
 
I have made this modification to 2 speed controllers, one on my drill press and one on my band saw. I just cut the lead on the Q6 transistor collector (looking at the flat face of the transistor, it is the lead on the left), or you can cut the lead on the 5.6K resistor attached to the collector. I left it in place in case I had to go back. Now I can start the motor at whatever speed the pot is set at. Works great. Drawing is attached.
 
neat, thanks for the info - could you attach the drawing again please? I found the resistor to cut on the MC68, it's labelled RPS3 and is right next to the speed pot terminals, but I haven't figured it out for the MC40. It's not a big deal as I can do what Kernbigo suggested and put an on-off switch in the wiper wire, but it would be a little more elegant I guess :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top