Treadmill motor - alternative option for VFD and 3 phase motor

M

mrlocchoc

Joined
Oct 26, 2015
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28
I know many say no, it doesn't work and is not designed for this sort of job but still give it a try.
I pick this one free on the way home. Made a controller and clamp it to the grinder to test. As you can see in the video even at the slowest speed, it still has enough torque and the top speed around 3000 rpm. Need more modifications to work properly but I think it has potential.

[video=youtube;MLZhK8-JJ7M]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLZhK8-JJ7M[/video]
 
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That looks like it will work great! When you're finish it let me know how it's doing.
 
P.Brewster said:
Nice! How did you figure out how to build the controller?
Click to expand...

It's very simple to drive. mine one has 1 pair for power, 1 pair for lock signal and 1 wire for PWM. I use the Arduino to drive the PWM wire to control the speed it cost me around $10 for the setup
 
mrlocchoc said:
It's very simple to drive. mine one has 1 pair for power, 1 pair for lock signal and 1 wire for PWM. I use the Arduino to drive the PWM wire to control the speed it cost me around $10 for the setup
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info! A few additional questions please:

1 pair for power - the supplied voltage on this pair is constant? Do you use the motor nameplate to determine the required voltage?
1 pair for lock signal - what is a lock signal? Is is something you need to modulate or turn on/off?
1 wire for PWM - got it!
 
P.Brewster said:
Thanks for the info! A few additional questions please:

1 pair for power - the supplied voltage on this pair is constant? Do you use the motor nameplate to determine the required voltage?
1 pair for lock signal - what is a lock signal? Is is something you need to modulate or turn on/off?
1 wire for PWM - got it!
Click to expand...

The motor run at 180 VDC.
1 pair of power feed from driver to controller is 15 VDC so I have to convert it to 5vd to run mine Arduino.
The lock signal is original connect with the key of the treadmill so when remove the original controller I just short them together to bypass it.
The PWM wire is 5 volt PWM.
I forgot there is another wire to send the signal from the hall effect sensor to count speed but I just ignore it.
 
mrlocchoc said:
The motor run at 180 VDC.
1 pair of power feed from driver to controller is 15 VDC so I have to convert it to 5vd to run mine Arduino.
The lock signal is original connect with the key of the treadmill so when remove the original controller I just short them together to bypass it.
The PWM wire is 5 volt PWM.
I forgot there is another wire to send the signal from the hall effect sensor to count speed but I just ignore it.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info!
 
Did you keep the cup holder?

I like the ingenuity. Make sure that you build a dust proof enclosure for your motor and controller.
 
My very first disk grinder I made from one of thoes motors. I did not have a controller so I wired up a fell wave bridge rectifier and hooked it to the wall. Worked like a charm and ran like a bat out of hell. But a work of caution with thoes motors. A lot of them if not most are open to the inveroment and some even have magnets inside. Thy will suck in metal grit and short out so keep an eye on it.
 
This is funny, because I just came here to ask this question. I have a working treadmill that a tenant left in a rental.

Doesn't it already have the controller with these? The treadmill speed is variable with the controls it already has. What am I missing?

Also, would think it should have torque to spare. It's made for 300lb fat guys walking on them. But yeah, they probably aren't made to keep out dust and especially metallic dust. An enclosure to prevent that sounds like a good idea. Also seems like this would be good to replace the standard motor on a woodworking bandsaw to dial it down for metal.
 
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JTknives said:
My very first disk grinder I made from one of thoes motors. I did not have a controller so I wired up a fell wave bridge rectifier and hooked it to the wall. Worked like a charm and ran like a bat out of hell. But a work of caution with thoes motors. A lot of them if not most are open to the inveroment and some even have magnets inside. Thy will suck in metal grit and short out so keep an eye on it.
Click to expand...
Thank for you advice. I noticed the same thing when I tested the motor.
 
lukus said:
This is funny, because I just came here to ask this question. I have a working treadmill that a tenant left in a rental.

Doesn't it already have the controller with these? The treadmill speed is variable with the controls it already has. What am I missing?

Also, would think it should have torque to spare. It's made for 300lb fat guys walking on them. But yeah, they probably aren't made to keep out dust and especially metallic dust. An enclosure to prevent that sounds like a good idea. Also seems like this would be good to replace the standard motor on a woodworking bandsaw to dial it down for metal.
Click to expand...
if you have the working one so you don't have to do anything but I would prefer a simple controller rather than the whole treadmill dashboard. another thing that most treadmill controller gives error when speed sensor is not attached. So you have to move the little magnet from the belt pulley to the motor pulley.
 
If your treadmill has multiple boards inside then you only need identify the PWM and ditch the rest. I'm told that some newer treadmills have the PWM built into the mainboard so with those either replace it with an MC60 or use the original control panel. Apparently using an Ardinuo is also an option. I'd like to see a picture of the ardinuo setup and how to wire it.
 
Wormil said:
If your treadmill has multiple boards inside then you only need identify the PWM and ditch the rest. I'm told that some newer treadmills have the PWM built into the mainboard so with those either replace it with an MC60 or use the original control panel. Apparently using an Ardinuo is also an option. I'd like to see a picture of the ardinuo setup and how to wire it.
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Even with the built in pmw you can just intercept the pmw from the original controller. This line comes from the power FET then a optocoupler I think it the best to put your pmw here not direct to the FET
 
mrlocchoc said:
Even with the built in pmw you can just intercept the pmw from the original controller. This line comes from the power FET then a optocoupler I think it the best to put your pmw here not direct to the FET
Click to expand...

You're over my head with FET's and optocouplers, I'm more of an analog guy. All the treadmills I've torn apart had multiple boards and were easy to suss out what was needed and what wasn't; so I haven't had to mess with a single control board. But I will remember that it is possible since inevitably I will run across one of these things.

One other thing, I removed the speed sensor/magnet from my treadmill motors and they run just fine.
 
mrlocchoc said:
It's very simple to drive. mine one has 1 pair for power, 1 pair for lock signal and 1 wire for PWM. I use the Arduino to drive the PWM wire to control the speed it cost me around $10 for the setup
Click to expand...

Can you go into a bit more detail about it? For the rest of us who don't even know what an Arduino and PWM is? I have a treadmill motor sitting on a shelf and plan to build a belt grinder.
 
Ardunio is programmable input to outputs dohickey. Its quite versatile.
PWM Pulse Width Modulation, essentially a very fast on-off DC switch. Its used somewhat like a light dimmer switch in your livingroom.
For example,
Repeatedly switched on then off your benchgrinder it never gets fully up to speed before its switched off again, & so on.
PWM does the same thing for DC, in this case motors. Excepting PWM switching can be very fast, thousands times per second. Results accurate & highly variable motor speed control.
 
I used a treadmill motor to resurrect the Rockwell 1x42 I got for $30. I used the controller it came with, just like many other people. It works fine, but there is one annoying thing about it: the speed pot doesn't consistently give the same speed at the same position. You have to turn it back to zero sometimes to reset it. This doesn't interfere with the function of the machine, though.

I made the drive pulley bigger than it had to be. I believe my motor goes to 5000 RPM. I have never turned it up all the way. It flies.

If you get an old treadmill controller to go with your motor, you may have to snip one of the resistors on the board to make it work. Also, DO NOT GROUND THE CHASSIS. You will fry some big diodes, and then you'll have to take the controller apart and put new ones in. I managed to locate PDF documentation. That was helpful.

I put fan blades on my pulley, and I tried to situate the motor so it would suck clean air in and push it out toward the grinder.

It is said that the HP ratings on these motors are highly optimistic. Don't know if it's true.
 
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