A DIY hack for modifying, wiring and adapting a treadmill incline motor to your project.

[@gpworks]

Dear Respected sir. I recently got a free treadmill, I thought i will use the motor for a small wood lathe. I'm new to this, so I was looking for various videos and finally thank god for showing your channel. I'm really mesmerized about your knowledge, Patience and making a valuable content videos. Your videos are very clear and top notch. Your channel is highly underrated, it should be one of the most loved channel for DIYers. I'm watching all your videos now. Please share your knowledge when ever possible. I wish you a long life and great success in everything.

[@dazecars]

Glad you liked it and that it was helpful. You can help my channel be less underrated, tell your friends 😁

[@kevinyim8880]

Thank you for this video. It was exactly what I was looking for on wiring my incline motor for a diy project. Your other videos on treadmill motors were also a great help. Much appreciated.

[@dazecars]

glad I could help

[@KW-ei3pi]

Awesome! You always come up with interesting and useful info for the shop. I've had one of these actuators on a shelf for a few years, not knowing if I could use if for anything. Now I'm thinking about a Power Drawbar for my Mill. I have an air operated power drawbar that I love, with one exception .... the noise. If I can make this work, I will let you know. Thanks!!!

[@dazecars]

power draw bar...hmmmmm I may try that myself

[@thomastieffenbacherdocsava1549]

Came across your channel when looking for infromation on motor controllers for treadmills. Wanting to make drive belt for a flatbed drum sander. Have gotten sooo much from information you've shared. torque being one of them. LOL! This video also answered my wtf am I going to do with the step motor and you've come to this old guy's resque again! Picking up my second tredmill later today. You didn't post where you got the momentary switch. Have purchased the other Amazon components. Thanks!

[@dazecars]

Glad I could help. are you after the stop switches or the up down switch?

[@eugene4154]

I made one a few years back drum sander and used most of the treadmill steel in my project, works extremely well and I can swivel the drum and drive to lay flat for compact storage (not used it much in past 2 years but I have it and 2 minutes is all it takes to pop on bench and drum sand my timber)

[@dazecars]

👍

[@H_B_G.]

Hello, first, very good explanatory videos. Second, I could use the lifting motor of the treadmill...for the rotating belt of my drum sander it does not take power I just need it to constantly rotate when I use it

[@dazecars]

No I don't think that would be a good option. Treadmill incline motors are high torque slow speed and designed to run for short bursts of time. Most have a duty cycle of around one minute on six minutes off.

[@thomastieffenbacherdocsava1549]

Got my second freebee. LOL! two very different motors. wondering if that bigger motor you demonstrate here has similar or same mechanism? also got what appears to be an mc control board with a transformer on it. Thanks for working with my mentor Murphy and sharing your knowledge.

[@dazecars]

glad I could help

[@daxliniere]

Great stuff, I think I'll use the incline motor I have for a power lift system on my drill press mill. 👌 Thanks!

[@dazecars]

I used one for somthing similar, check out this video kzbin.info/www/bejne/eImyYpqibK5jd68

[@morcha5107]

How would you hook this up with the scr to the treadmill?

[@dazecars]

It would not be tied into the SCR. This would have its own up and down switch. If your incline motor has internal stop switches no problem but if the max each direction was controlled by the treadmill board up and down limiting switches would need to be added.

[@morcha5107]

@@dazecars thank you! I’m trying to make a soccer ball shooter for some kids. I’m learning a lot from your videos!

[@dazecars]

glad I could help

[@morcha5107]

@@dazecars I know treadmill motors aren’t your main career, but from all the comments, people really enjoy the work you are doing. Keep it up!

[@dazecars]

will do

[@paulmanhart4481]

Daze. This looks like an excellent choice to drive a drill press table up and down. Momentary switch for up and down with stop in the middle? Or does the 1 second on/5 seconds off make this unsuitable? Paul

[@dazecars]

its 1 minute on 5 minutes off

[@mikeconroy2651]

One important note; When using this type of motor as a right-angle drive, you won't really know what the breaking point is until you reach it. The casting and overall design is made for a "screw drive" application and that's why it has a beefy bottom casting and that generous thrust washer design. Hooking belts and such to the output shaft will exert new forces on the assembly that it wasn't designed to take so while it may generate tremendous force as a screw drive, it may only be capable of a fraction of that when adapted for use as a right-angle drive output device, before a bearing fails or the case cracks.

[@dazecars]

excellent point!

[@nat7278]

This is exactly what i needed. Ty. Im going to convery table saw to powefed blade adjustments.

[@dazecars]

glad it helped, sounds like a good use of one of these motors

[@stejac51]

Very informative ... very well explained video ... WELL DONE !

[@dazecars]

Glad you liked it!

[@eugene4154]

I take it you in the USA?? if true what dc voltage are your treadmill motors my side of the world they are 180volt

[@dazecars]

mine range from 90-130V AC and that perfect for an SCR and rectifier as 110 passes through the SCR and rectifier it drops down to a max of 100V DC. A 240V SCR should work for the 180-250V treadmill motors you are working with.

[@miguelcastaneda7257]

Looks ideal to use for a bench top milling machine to raise or lower head

[@dazecars]

Exactly!! DIY Adjustable Height Column Mill Phase 2 homemade kzbin.info/www/bejne/fJ-whKqHgLh4h6M

[@maxsmith4400]

Fantastic tutorial.I had been trying to think of a way to power the lead screw on my lathe to a lower rpm . My lathe has a single lead screw, unlike the more desirable lead and separate feed screws on more expensive lathes. I thought this may have been the perfect motor choice to use as a retrofit to my lead screw,but as you pointed out, the duty cycle times wouldn't be real appropriate for using this for any length of time(bugger!) Thankyou again and you've got yourself a new subscriber 👍

[@dazecars]

Yes the duty cycle would be an issue. It is 5 minutes of continuous use so every time you shut it off it begins to cool. Also you could add a cooling fan and shroud. That is what I did for the one I uses to lift the mill head on my DIY adjustable column mill. A better option might be a stepper motor to drive your leadscrew. I have ELS on my lathe and use the stepper for threading but I also have autonomous controls that allow me to use it as power feed.

[@sharkbaitsurfer]

You just earned another subscriber with this video - thank you

[@dazecars]

Welcome aboard!

[@paulmanhart4481]

But even if you remove the limiting switches, you are still under the 1 minute on, 5 minutes off rule, right?

[@dazecars]

Duty cycle and limiting switches are completely unrelated. Limiting switches limit total travel nothing more but duty cycle is all about heat soak. The 1 on 5 off only applies to a full minute on. When you use it in short bursts it becomes less critical because heat buildup is less and you have time in between to cool.

[@hasger1941]

hello any idea why when incline switch is pressed for up its giving an E6 error, we checked motor for both direction (las demonstrated) with direct power all working ok wonder could it be needing calibration ? we could not find documentation on the model how to enter engineering mode, its say Columbus USA without model number anywhere.. TIA

[@dazecars]

my guess is that it has to do with the potentiometer in the motor but I can not say for sure. I scrap treadmills rather than repair them 😁😁

[@wrakca6049]

Is there a place that will tell you about the poundage it will lift ?

[@dazecars]

Yes and no. A lot of them have a lift capacity on the label BUT it includes the mechanical advantage of the lead screw so it doesn’t translate directly to turning force. The bigger on in this video is good for over 1000 pounds.

[@836dmar]

I wonder if this could power a longer screw for the scissor of a motorcycle lift?

[@dazecars]

I can't see why not. I have the smaller one lifting the mill head on my DIY mill and that is well over 100 pounds and the added friction of dual leadscrews. The biggest issue is duty cycle, I try not to run my very long at a shot AND I have a cooling fan on it.

[@JiggyBiggy317]

You are a treadmill part recycling legend! Even better when its for making tools in the shop! Question, if I replaced the input motor on the gearbox with the treadmill DC variable speed motor and a drill press pulley on the output side, could this be used for low speed/ high torque drilling for metal? Do you think the plastic gearbox gears would hold up?

[@dazecars]

High praise, thanks!! As to your question no.. yes... sort of. First of all let's look at what kind of torque the incline motor is putting out before it enters the gear box. The specs on one of my motors are 1/10 HP at 1500 RPM so (.1*5252)/1500 = .35 foot pounds. The smallest treadmill motors I have seen put out about a foot pound of torque so it is not likely the gear box would survive 3 times the torque. Second the RPM of the incline motor before the gear box is 1500 and most cheap smaller treadmill motors race at 7000 RPM MAX so you would need to significantly limit the top speed of the treadmill motor to not literally burn up the gear box and if you limited that speed with pulleys it will multiply an already high torque number. With all that said your idea is intriguing. A smaller DC motor with a max RPM of around 2000 and less than 1HP would have the option for speed control and work well with one of these gear boxes. I did a quick internet search and there are smaller motors available that would meet these requirements. I think the gears would hold up okay BUT if you can find a rack and pinion type incline motor the gears inside are metal.

[@JiggyBiggy317]

@@dazecars Intriguing indeed! Thanks for the thoughtful insight. I've learned a lot from your videos and look forward to more in the future. Thanks!

[@dazecars]

Make sure you check out the video that drops tomorrow morning. I use an incline motor to add z axis power feed to my new mill.

[@JiggyBiggy317]

@@dazecars Sweet! Cant wait to check it out!

[@dazecars]

👍

[@UnoDos96]

Great video, my AC incline notor has a purple wire connectes to both the red and Black, what are those, should i leave them? It is the same as yours but just with a purple wire connected to the red and black coming out of the motor.

[@dazecars]

hard to say based on your description. Contact me through my web site and send a pic.

[@pjwoo276]

my treadmill is stuck on highest incline. Any tis on how to get it to go back down ?

[@dazecars]

I am not a treadmill repair guy but my guess is the incline motor capacitor needs to be replaced, or a bad connection or a stuck limiting switch. But honestly it could be any of about 5 or 6 things, that is just the first few guesses off the top of my head. Hard to diagnose electrical issues through comments and emails. Its like trying to fix some ones onion dip because it doesn't taste right over email. 😁😁😁

[@pjwoo276]

​@@dazecars Thank you for your reply and I will try to take a look at those things you mention..

[@dazecars]

👍

[@minskmade]

this is a great video..im going to use one of these to raise and lower my rongru-40 milling machine head...thats for another awesome video...keep on making..

[@dazecars]

My DIY adjustable colum mill uses one of these motors and a dual leadscrew setup for the height adjustment. works well. kzbin.info/www/bejne/eImyYpqibK5jd68

[@minskmade]

@@dazecars i have watched most of your machinist maker videos...ironically i jsut scored a profrom treadmill last night with an icon board...i have the pulse generator coming form amazon so i dont have to use the proform panel :P

[@dazecars]

@@minskmade have fun with the project, and let me know if any questions come up as you get your project together.

[@Daniel_Cars]

in the case where the power source is Battery (DC) what will the job of the would you still need the bridge rectifier if so what would the job be

[@dazecars]

A rectifier changed AC to DC. If you are running a DC motor and powering it with a battery no rectifier is needed but the incline motors from a treadmill are AC not DC so they would not work off of a battery without an inverter and in that case a rectifier would not be needed because it is AC to AC

[@jarredsegal6842]

You could have replaced the thrust bearing as it will no longer be needed to take a load and in fact isn’t designed to be used any other way so could be replaced with a much cheaper bearing or bushing that will take a side to side load

[@dazecars]

good point, thanks

[@veramasoner2653]

Hello. Can anybody tell me if i can replace a tredmill incline motor on a tredmill with another incline motor from an other company? And for what should i pay attention?

[@dazecars]

Could it be made yo work? yes, is it a direct 1:1 swap, probably not. First you would want to verify that the new motor has as much lifting capacity as the old motor otherwise it is not likely to work. Second verify that incline motors are set up with the same wire configuration. Third I would measure the resistance of the potentiometer in the motor as that is what tells the treadmill controller how much incline there is. If the potentiometer is different it could cause false readings or an error. Some testing and troubleshooting would be required but the swap is likely a possibility.

[@minskmade]

im confused how the ac wires, wire into the momentary switch....is ground wired to the momentary switch? does Black(hot) goes in the middle and White one the top stem..gorund on the bottom stem? also got the tread mill motor working perfect with the pulse generator...great tip..

[@dazecars]

You can’t think of AC the same way you do DC you put your switch on the hot side the black hot coming from the wall goes to the center on the momentary switch the red from the motor goes to one terminal and the black from the motor goes to the other terminal. the ground is grounded to the chassis and the white from the motor is connected to the white from the wall. There is a wiring diagram showing all of this including wire colors at 4:49 on the video

[@minskmade]

@@dazecars thank you so much for replying so fast....got it all working...i was over thinking it...somehow i skimmed by the diagram...facepalm...again thank you

[@dazecars]

👍

[@mannurse7421]

So that thing has a potentiometer in it? It’s made to drive a threaded rod? How far away from a motor that can do CnC is it? And thank you for the safety tips!

[@dazecars]

The potentiometer only serves as a signal for the treadmill to let it know the incline height and is not needed to use the incline motor outside of the treadmill

[@normwats3577]

Need hep to connect this motor on my milling

[@dazecars]

what would you like to know?

[@hoghearse6316]

What are some applications where this would be of use?

[@dazecars]

The requirements would be high torque, low RPM, and low duty cycle so as an example I am using mine to drive a set of leadscrews that will raise and lower the mill head on my mill. The mill head and carriage is heavy, well over 100 pounds and will require (high torque). I want it to move slowly so I can easily adjust it (Low RPMs) and it will not be on all the time as I will run it 30 seconds to a minute to adjust the height of the mill head and then it will sit unused while I am milling something allowing it to cool (low duty cycle). make sense?

[@hoghearse6316]

@@dazecars yes sir. Perfect sense. Appreciate it. I have a couple laying around but just haven't figured out a use for them yet. Thanks!

[@samehdarawshi3537]

hope you will post a video about this

[@dazecars]

@@samehdarawshi3537 about the adjustable mill head? It has been a long prosess and im't about 3/4 of the way through building it and working the bugs out but yest it will eventualy be a video, stay tuned 😁

[@david84ss]

Im trying to turn one into a power feed on a mini mill

[@vk3hjqjohn548]

Thanks for the great video, in Australia our single phase 230V AC supply is (Active - Brown) (Neutral - Blue) (Earth - Green & Yellow) John vk3hjq

[@dazecars]

I would assume tradmills in your area would have a 220V incline motor.

[@rickhettwer854]

I am thinking this motor gear drive system would be great on a powered bead roller.

[@dazecars]

Great idea, the one challenge to overcome would be duty cycle and managing heat. The motor that I disassemble in the video is currently on my adjustable column mill to raise and lower the mill head. The duty cycle is 1 min on and 8 minutes off. I was able to improve that by adding an external cooling fan but I still can't run it for more than a couple minutes without letting it cool and even with the fan that can take a couple minutes.

[@rickhettwer854]

@@dazecars I was thinking of the heating problem as well, I appreciate your responce to this. I think I will toss that idea.

[@dazecars]

​@@rickhettwer854 I would not toss the idea, in fact I like it so well, am thinking of doing it myself. The trick would be too build a shroud around the motor and add a fan. if you go to 18:03 of my most recent video kzbin.info/www/bejne/fJ-whKqHgLh4h6M you will see the fan i'm using. I have actually added a rudimentary shroud to it in conjunction with the fan and it has made quite a difference. I would think almost completely enclosing the motor and blowing a lot of air across it would probably get the job done.

[@rickhettwer854]

@@dazecars Ok, well perhaps you have persuade me into going for it afterall. I like the ides for my bead roller because of the low RPM the motor can put out, just about perfect for a single speed bead roller. Thank you again, I'll check further into the cooling fan part of this. 👍

[@dazecars]

@@rickhettwer854 You can email me through my website if you need any pix of what I have done or if I can be of any help. Also let me know how it goes.

[@ryanmccarthy2033]

This was a great video

[@dazecars]

Thanks

[@MrDavew402]

I'm trying to figure out what I can scavenge a 12 volt motor from to make my own automatic ( solar & battery) chicken coop door opener. I realize I can use an inverter because these motors are AC. I don't really want to go the vehicle electric car antenna motor or vehicle window motor.

[@dazecars]

I think sn older windshirld wiper moter would be your bst choice. 12 V already, easy to get and powerful enough for your project.

[@MrDavew402]

I looked at those already. Wiper motor would need a worm-gear, a sliding-track, and other parts. So I had an idea, the power-seats in vehicles have all the parts needed. Motor, sliding-track, worm-gear & block,, all kinds of parts already made. Now I just have to figure out what vehicle would be best to get it from. Some cars are longer or shorter stroke, some have chain-drive & some have multiple motors. Apparently some Camry's & Sienna's are known for seat parts breaking. A bit more research to do.

[@dazecars]

@@MrDavew402 I would think most any could be made to work. If it does not have enough travel or if the travel is too much use a lever to get it to the correct length.

[@markhedquist9597]

@@MrDavew402 Ah! I love hearing someone using power seat motors/actuators for a diy project! I have all the guts of a car seat waiting by for the day I will need it. I hope your project works/worked out! I'd like to hear the details!

[@dazecars]

👍

[@IAMElectric369]

Those are good motors to use to rotate your solar panels and maximize efficiency. Also those switches are good for booby traps. Little pressure switches. 😏

[@dazecars]

lots of good uses as long as you don't exceed the duty cycle

[@petersack5074]

I have 2 treadmills ; one works very well = Keyes 1200 Milestone. Digital controls. (use it daily ) The other one, is a one pot control for speed. This machine, is wonky. Slows down sometimes, sometimes stops. UN reliable.....May use this, to make an electric Vice. About 6 inches of threaded motion. Good video, sir. !

[@dazecars]

sounds like you have a fun project ahead

[@Wrighmachining]

Well done video buddy !! thank you

[@dazecars]

Glad you liked it!

[@GutPyle]

If I'm not mistaken, treadmill incline motors are universal motors, which can be operated on either AC or DC. Like most vacuum cleaners, washing machines, etc. I can't tell if the one you have in this video is or not, but its something to look into for those who may be considering a project using one. I use DC wherever possible because as you know, its easier to control speed, reverse, etc. If the field coils (4 of them) are fixed to the housing, chances are its a universal motor. In any case, no one should assume anything based on what I'm saying...please. Do your homework and be 100% sure before anyone applies DC to a motor that was used in AC originally. Anyway, I just thought I'd mention it.

[@dazecars]

interesting information. Every treadmill incline motor I have ever had has a start capacitor and all those capacitors are AC so IF they are universal as you are suggestion (I would need to look into that further) the start capacitor would need to be changed.

[@dazecars]

Upon further research universal motors do not ever require a start capacitor so if a motor has a start capacitor it is not a universal motor.

[@michaelhodge9902]

The treadmill you took apart has a three phase ac induction motor.

[@dazecars]

All of the incline motors are AC

[@rexhorning7228]

Looks like it could be a broach press auto feed

[@dazecars]

That is a good idea. There are so many uses for these motors. Sad part is with all the treadmill motors I have scrapped I didn't keep the incline motor in most of them so I only have a few.

[@Glens1965]

👍

[@dazecars]

thanks