Pool pump motor used for belt grinder?

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Never done it myself, but see little reason it wont work at least to some degree.
TEFC and stainless steel motor shaft sounds good to me.
Bonus points, if its controller has freeze protection, you can set your grinder to automatically run when your shop gets cold.
 
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Most are 110V, single phase. Any attempt to control the speed would result in shortened lifespan, unless you go with pulleys. The only possible exception would be motors used on swim-spas or endless pools to adjust the water speed for stationary lap swimming.
 
I doubt very much that it would be ideal. They are typically single phase, and although there may be some digital form of speed control (likely through pulse conrol), the torque on the low end will drop off dramatically, and be just about useless for grinding.

Adapting the shaft would likely be much more trouble than it's worth as well. If I'm not mistaken, aside from the no key/threaded end issues, the diameter may be an issue, as is shaft stick out relative to the face flange, which would probably have to be removed or cut off, in order to use the full length of the shaft on a grinder frame, as I believe it's recessed back from the face of the flange a little bit.

Personally, I'd sell it for what I could, and get a proper single to three phase variable speed set up.
 
Bob Duguay said:
Yes the ones I am talking about have the speed control on top of the motor. They run about 300.00 bucks.
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I was under the impression you may have already had one sitting around from a swimming pool no longer in use, but if you're looking to buy something around the $300 range, there are much better options.

I'd go with a chinese VFD from eBay like this:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1-5KW-2HP-V...831131?hash=item23472a9fdb:g:XJ8AAOSw0vBUkjm0

The manuals can be a little difficult to read through if you're not familiar with programming VFDs, but the units themselves are quite versatile, and there's plenty of info elsewhere on programming and such. The main drawback is lack of dust protection, but you can stick it in a separate enclosure, or just wrap it with filter material and just keep it blown off periodically.

That will leave you about $200 for a 3 phase motor and the required plugs, cables, outlets, switched, etc...
If you keep an eye out on ebay, craigslist, and local motor repair and surplus shops, you may be able to find a decent 2hp 3 phase TEFC motor for as low as $50. On average, I see them for $150 to $200 all the time. The remaining parts and pieces will probably run you around $40 to $50 if you don't already have some things laying around, but keeping around $300 or less for the whole set up is certainly possible if you shop around.
 
We’re in the pool biz and my bud built a no weld and is using one quite successfully. I’ll see if he can chime in. I’ll add it was a freebie.
 
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As wkfl said I built a direct drive no weld grinder with a variable speed pool motor. It works great. Variable speed pool motors are the same as variable speed grinder motors. It’s a three phase motor with a vfd drive that is single phase. I’m in the pool business so it was free. I don’t know if it would be cost effective to buy one for this purpose . The op said they are $300 but I’ve never seen one that cheap. The one I used is over $900 wholesale for drive and motor. Also as someone else said it doesn’t have a keyed shaft. I had to cut it into the shaft and it was a pain.
 
j60AHW1wlT4


Here is a video when I first built it
 
My main concern is pool pumps push water. There is little resistance and no need for high torque. Grinder motors get loaded down whole hogging. The controller may not be able to handle the current spike.
 
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