Repurpose Treadmill Motor

[Flute Maker]

I see a treadmill beside the road for trash pickup. Can the motor just be used without all the other electronic stuff? I could get it all but I wanted to make sure it was worth messing with. I won’t know if it even works until I get it home… It “looks” good but won’t know until I try it. I was just going to grab the motor for a project in the future….maybe. I know nothing about these motors

 

[Hmerkle]

go ahead and grab it - usually good motors, but you will need a controller for it - easily purchased on E-Bay!

 

[Wilsoncb]

I know someone who used one for a lathe. It works, but I don’t think he has as satisfed with it. I’m sure it depends on the size and strength of the motor. I know they vary a lot. Anyway, worth checking out to see what it is.

 

[jcz]

I modified one to use as a buffing/sanding motor. I robbed the control board and everything needed For the motor to operate. It worked okay but I couldn’t apply mush pressure to the “turning“ or it would slow it to a complete stop. It was from a cheap treadmill so I’m sure it was not a great motor.
I no longer have it so I can’t say for sure what size it was.

 

[Oka]

This issue with the Treadmill motors is they need to be above 50% rated rpm in order to reach their rated torque. This is basically true for most dc motors. Their 0-50% rpm is usually very low torque. I had one on one of my Lathes in the past, not a deal breaker but you needs to tool lightly at low rpm. I ended up converting to a 3ph 230v with a vfd. That really improved the low end torque.

The usual fix is to have a lower and higher mechanical gearing. That way you can keep the rpm in the torque sweet spot.

 

[Flute Maker]

I did grab the motor…. May go back and the other stuff….Have no clue as to a use for it….Just hate to see it go to landfill.

 

[Wilsoncb]

Hey, if nothing else, it’s a fun project. Who knows, maybe you can use the control panel from the treadmill to control the speed.

 

[Craptastic]

 

[smallboat]

I put a treadmill motor on my lathe and am pleased with it. Actually have gone through a few versions of it. There are some photos in my albums but not sure if the current “final” version is included there. Haven’t had any trouble with torque using the controller that came with it. I did try another version with a cobbled together controller and it was not great. With your flutes, I imagine you are running pretty high rpm so torque shouldn’t be an issue anyway. One thing I haven’t figured out is reverse if that is something you are looking for.

You won’t need the touch panel controls. but if you can get the wiring harness that might be useful. definitely grab the controller board (s).

 

[Flute Maker]

I put a treadmill motor on my lathe and am pleased with it. Actually have gone through a few versions of it. There are some photos in my albums but not sure if the current “final” version is included there. Haven’t had any trouble with torque using the controller that came with it. I did try another version with a cobbled together controller and it was not great. With your flutes, I imagine you are running pretty high rpm so torque shouldn’t be an issue anyway. One thing I haven’t figured out is reverse if that is something you are looking for.

You won’t need the touch panel controls. but if you can get the wiring harness that might be useful. definitely grab the controller board (s).

Well Only thing I got was the motor…The city trash pickup hauled the treadmill away early this morning!

 

[smallboat]

Well Only thing I got was the motor…The city trash pickup hauled the treadmill away early this morning!

If you have an idea what model treadmill it was, there are some resources online to ID the controller and they can be bought on ebay and such.

 

[Flute Maker]

go ahead and grab it - usually good motors, but you will need a controller for it - easily purchased on E-Bay!

Hank if I go to eBay for a controller how do I start the search and know I have the right one? Just pondering right now.

 

[Hmerkle]

Hank if I go to eBay for a controller how do I start the search and know I have the right one? Just pondering right now.

put in the specs off the motor - for example: "motor controller for a Marathon 0-90 VDC motor"

 

[Flute Maker]

Oh ok I’ll try that Thanks

 

[Flute Maker]

Well the motor was all I could get! The rest got hauled away