Treadmill Motor Conversion Mistakes, Going over Common Mistakes people make on their Conversions

[@garsonprice3441]

Two years ago you inspired me to convert two wood lathes to variable speed, Daze. Then you helped fine tune them with the proper gearing, a cooling fan, a quick start bypass switch (disabled safe start), a tachometer and a reverse switch. The speed control has made a huge difference in tooling a fine wood finish instead of using 80 grit sandpaper. I rarely touched the four gang pulleys before knowing you and now speed changes are made 10-20 times each project. If you come to east coast Canada (New Brunswick), Daze, you have a place to stay. Thanks for sharing your knowledge. Salute! 👍👍

[@tomnorton8218]

Garson, I'm in the process of doing the same conversion. Any chance I could see a few pics of your setup?

[@dazecars]

Glad I could help and thanks for the generous offer. I will likely not ever be in your area but anything is possible. If you ever have the opportunity to share my channel with other groups and individuals it would really be appreciated. I am one channel among thousands and it can be hard for people to find my videos.

[@zjtr10]

Another great easy to understand simple explanation. Thanks for taking the time to educate all of us.

[@dazecars]

My pleasure

[@hoss1905]

Thanks for this video , I just finished a wood lathe conversion , on a cheap mechanical variable speed lathe . Love the power and speed control , one more thing to complete is a dual resistor as I’m getting a small lag at the start of the speed control . Thanks for the help .

[@dazecars]

Are you saying that when you turn the nob it turns a bit before the motor comes on? if so take a look at this kzbin.info/www/bejne/ZmXHYahnh6-sjtk

[@EricStrebel]

Very good info! Thank you!

[@dazecars]

Glad it was helpful!

[@kevinsellsit5584]

These are all great lessons and you offer the correct solution for this application (machine power conversion). Almost any application really. There is another solution for some applications, although cooling and gearing is applicable to every electric motor application. Specifically, when electric motors are used as traction motors which will require the motor to run from 0 RPM through the max RPM, using two of the smaller motors might be a better option. In the early 2000's my tiny business built high performance stand up scooters before it became the thing it has now become. We had limited resources to source our products from. To keep costs down it made sense to use the standard Chinese scooter parts, but simply installing a 300 Amp (golf cart) controller would ignite the brush housing in the first ten feet. Likewise, any attempt to modify existing controllers resulted in MOSFET fires. Now you know why we call them Metal Oxide Smoke & Fire Emitting Transistors. What did work in this application was to run 2 of the best cheap China motors available which were rated at 800 watts. Since the entire vehicle and rider only weighed 300lbs, we could dump stupid amounts of current into two motors for just a few seconds and get away with it. All we were really trying to do was teach the gasoline scooter people a lesson about electricity in a short drag race. It worked.

[@dazecars]

Interesting concept, I had not thought of running two motors but assuming they were the same I could totally see the benefit.

[@theautodidacticman_]

Horsepower is for braggin’ & torque is for draggin’. You can have all the horsepower you want but you ain’t going anywhere without torque.

[@dazecars]

agreed!!

[@MWhitsett-vv8lm]

When you are talking about the 3:1 gear ratio 3 is what side of the ratio? The motor or the work side?

[@dazecars]

on a 3:1 ratio the motor spins 3 turns for every 1 turn of whatever it is spinning.

[@josem5287]

I have one of this 4.25 hp can i connect it direct to a 120 line?

[@dazecars]

Most but not all treadmill motors are DC and require an ac to dc converter. Most ac units are 3 phase requiring a 3 phase hook up and a VFD for variable speed.

[@josem5287]

@@dazecars thank you so much

[@dazecars]

my pleasure

[@captainprototype187]

I like to use vacuum motors with my projects , they are nice and small and they are universal.

[@dazecars]

good option. One of many sources to up cycle things and get free parts

[@bearvassar6690]

What would you use for the gearbox

[@dazecars]

Most treadmill motors turn way to many RPMs for a metal on metal gear box. To gear mine I use just a pulley and belt system and if you cant get the ratio you need a Jackshaft/ AKA countershaft would get the job done.

[@joeclark9042]

Okay I know this is an older video and I don't know if you'll get this but can you take a treadmill motor and hook it up to a solar controller like a 60 amp for a 100 amp

[@dazecars]

Is the solar controller also adjusting voltage? Those amps would power a treadmill motor no problem but you won't get variable speed without varying the voltage, and what are your max volts. Most treadmill motors are 90-180 volts.

[@joeclark9042]

@@dazecars bud i dont know if it would power a solar charger i was seeing if u could do a video on it like make the treadmill motor power the solar charger please let me know

[@dazecars]

so you are wanting to use a treadmill motor as a generator?

[@joeclark9042]

@@dazecars yes

[@dazecars]

thats not the kind of videos i do but thanks for the comment

[@rayg436]

great explanation keep up the great videos.

[@dazecars]

Thanks, will do!!

[@orangetruckman]

I’m sure there’s a guy out there about to screw up his treadmill motor powered whatever, all because he hasn’t watch any of your awesome videos.

[@dazecars]

High praise, thank you!!

[@mrmidnight32]

If my treadmill has 3 wires of 3 separate phases does that make it an AC motor? The label doesn’t say what it is

[@dazecars]

maybe. a 3 phase motor is by its very nature is AC HOWEVER there are some DC motors that are referred to as 3 phase even though they are not a true 3 phase but that is how they are labeled. Can you email me through my website and send me pix of the motor, pix of any tags or stickers and any wire labelings. I may be able to clear it up for you.

[@mrmidnight32]

@@dazecars I really appreciate that! Do you have your email address? I looked at your web page and couldn’t find anything regarding a contact email or web address.

[@dazecars]

About/contact is in the menu bar at the top of the website. A lot of my other pages have it as well and it’s part of my “about” information on KZbin.

[@Drjtherrien]

Nice explanation. I would have fallen for that horsepower trap if I didn't see this video.

[@dazecars]

That is exactly why I made the other video I referenced in this video, easy mistake to make.

[@nunyahbuidness7959]

So uh question for the expert in the field, I just salvaged a commercial 220 volt treadmill and pulled a 3phase motor, I can tell that the VFD is on the control board but am helpless as far as figuring out what to do to get it turning. Have you messed with these? Do I just need to bite the bullet and purchase a new VFD?

[@dazecars]

I have not messed with getting any 3 phase AC motors from treadmill working.

[@nunyahbuidness7959]

@@dazecars Drat foiled again!

[@dazecars]

👍

[@dharielvillanuevagarza9897]

Thinking on building a liam f type wind turbine power regerator using any kind of motor, which motor model would you recomend? And material for the wind turbine? Fiberglass maybe?

[@dazecars]

Not sure I have not done anything with wind turbines

[@bob-the-Millwright]

Thank you! really enjoy your channel.

[@dazecars]

Glad you like it!!

[@georgedennis2719]

How do you determine the torque needed for a particular machine to tool?

[@dazecars]

Take the specs on the original AC motor and calculate the torque. This is a good starting number but more is better so from there you can increase torque with gearing assuming the new motor has more RPM

[@ibringthelastwords1358]

Can we use water pump motors as replacement for treadmills?

[@dazecars]

It all depends on the motor specs

[@angeloAfanador-t5y]

how can i get ac corent from a tread mill motor?

[@dazecars]

I am assuming you are wanting to use the treadmill motor as a generator? If so some sort of inverter would be required to convert the DC from the motor to AC. The problem would be most inverters are designed to work at 12V and the voltage of a treadmill motor being used as a generator will be variable depending on how fast it is turning.

[@angeloAfanador-t5y]

@@dazecars thank tou friend what if i use a rectifier from dc to ac and another rectifier to do ac to dc would that make it smooth transaction

[@dazecars]

It doesn’t work that way. A rectifier only converts AC to DC. It will not convert DC back into AC

[@angeloAfanador-t5y]

thank you brother

[@angeloAfanador-t5y]

@@dazecars thank you brother

[@tiggerkzn]

New subscriber here. Thanks for the vids. Quick question, can an EMI filter be used in place of a choke on a TM motor?

[@dazecars]

I have not tried it but you would think it would help some. The important thing would be to make sure the EMI filter has the correct amp rating. Being undersized at the very least would reduce motor torque but more likely would burn out the filter.

[@tiggerkzn]

@@dazecars The emi filter i have came with the same tredmill. Its rated to 2250vdc. Curious as to why it would have had a choke and an EMI

[@dazecars]

@@tiggerkzn In most cases an EMI filter is designed to eliminate electromagnetic interference from this device to other devices so it probably won't do much for the motor but would reduce the interference other devices in the area experience.

[@analoghardwaretops3976]

A choke is a sort of EMI filter too.....without the caps.... to use an "EMI" type filter.. all components would need resizing to larger sizes , higher capacities etc.

[@dazecars]

👍

[@kit-geoffbullough8788]

very good information - thanks

[@dazecars]

glad it helped!!

[@MichaelS-bz4pk]

I built a trike with a treadmill motor belt drive with pulley on rear wheel. I cut the flywheel and used the threaded part, and attached it to my 36v ebike battery with an intermittent push button on the bars. It goes about 18mph, as fast as a trike can be safely ridden.

[@dazecars]

sounds like a fun project

[@champspec]

Have you messed around with any 3 phase AC drive motors? You can find them in almost all Life Fitness commercial treadmills. Matrix treadmills probably have the most powerful commonly seen treadmill motor(made by Johnson Controls) out for the past ten years. Cybex is owned by Life Fitness so their stuff is cross compatible sometimes. And Precor and Startrac commercial treadmills also have some of the most powerful motors out there. Most are AC motors though… there are two Precor treadmill models called the 932i or 946i that is about 20 years old now. If you come across one of those, they have Massive DC drive motors made by Leeson. Very rare to see one of those motors ever fail and the bearings are easy to service/replace.

[@dazecars]

I did scrap one Life fitness treadmill with an AC motor but was not sure what I was looking at other than an AC motor so I didn't do anything with it. I know now a VFD would have been an outstanding option for that motor but some times you just don't know what you don't know.

[@836dmar]

Great info!

[@dazecars]

Glad it was helpful!

[@martinneethling1731]

Thanx a stack 👍🏻 Very helpfull.

[@dazecars]

my pleasure

[@adventureandglass]

Dude your'e like the treadmill motor master.. hahahaha.. just found your channel looking for answers on how to disable the time out limit on a weslo cadence G40.. it shuts off after 1 hr and 40 mins. Would you know how to bypass that feature. ?

[@dazecars]

The only way I know to bypass those types of integrated treadmill functions is to ditch the treadmill controls.

[@adventureandglass]

@@dazecars that's what I was thinking.. thanks so much for responding. I subbed and I'll be watching more of your vids fo sure..

[@dazecars]

👍

[@FNR]

1. I'm with you on motor cooling: kzbin.info/www/bejne/jYPXcqWlrJeIg7c 2. An advantage of running remote cooling through a duct or hose is that it seals up the brush end of the motor, which really does not like dirt or swarf getting into it 3. You are correct about the tradeoff between low torque/high RPM and high torque/low RPM - and you are quite right that the motor manufacturers overstate the HP numbers on these motors. However, higher speeds have a use all their own, especially on cutting tools like lathes and mills. Being able to drive the tool faster opens up the door to carbide tooling (which likes high SFM) which can often be more productive than a speed-limited, higher torque motor. Your typical hobby lathe 100mm chuck is frequently rated for 3500-4500 RPM, and spinning it that fast (with the commiserate feed speed) can generate a much higher MRR than a lower speed, even if the lower speed can take a heavier depth of cut. Within limits, RPM is king!

[@dazecars]

Good info I appreciate you sharing it. The one thing I caution people when it comes to hobby lathes and RPM speed is to do one of two things. Either maintain the OEM speed max, in other words don't drive the spindle faster than its max speed from the factory OR do your due diligence and make sure the bearings are up to the task. This involves getting the bearing part numbers and then trying to find the speed specs. Unless the manufacturer is clearly marked on it you can only get a range. If I was wanting to overdrive my spindle I would simply replace the bearings so I was absolutely sure the bearings were up to the speeds I planned on running it at. Lastly the further you go from the original max speed the the higher the risk of the structural integrity of the spindle not being up to the task especially if you have upgraded to a bigger chuck with more mass. I am sure a typical import spindle with correctly rated bearings can handle quite a bit more speed but the faster you go the more cautious a person needs to be.

[@patrickbeaumier8616]

Nice vid. Thanks. 👍👍👍

[@dazecars]

Thanks

[@WasaMada]

Link me the blue wire video I can’t find it

[@dazecars]

Here you go: Hooking Treadmill Motor Blue Wires: SCR, MC60 and MC-2100 Treadmill Motor Controller Power Supply kzbin.info/www/bejne/g6mXYWVohcd7hZY

[@chrishayes5755]

What would typically cause surging? I'm using Power cord -> switch -> scr motor controller (stock potentiometer) -> bridge rectifier -> dc choke from microwave transformer -> 2hp 90v treadmill motor

[@chrishayes5755]

I isolated the problem. The DC choke I made actually causes the surging, it runs better without it for some reason. Any ideas?

[@dazecars]

The results have been mixed with the DIY choke. Some people have had good luck with them others have had issues. I would assume its because microwave transformers come in all different shapes and sizes and that can effect a lot of things like coil wire size. Try running it on the negative side and see if that allows it to do its job without surging.

[@chrishayes5755]

@@dazecars I have around 15 microwave transformers laying around. I took the biggest ones possible with the thickest wire. One thing I've noticed is that 50% of the transformers I checked have ALUMINUM wire instead of copper. I did a bunch of testing and it turns out the motor I used is the issue. It's either from removing the encoder on the back or maybe the brushes are getting super low, because its' arcing and surging badly. I tested 2 other motors, one is a smaller treadmill motor. It worked perfectly with either choke (I have 2 now, 1 with aluminum, 1 with copper wire). The largest treadmill motor had very light surging with either choke. I connected both chokes together and all surging disappeared. Aluminum wire is far less efficient so I'll probably make another choke and connect both copper ones or add wire to the one I already have.

[@dazecars]

good information to know. When you ran both chokes at the same time did you connect them in parallel or series?

[@analoghardwaretops3976]

​@@dazecarsmicrowave transformer secondary winding is on a laminated steel core that's designed for use as a transformer ... For use as a choke..one has to provide an air gap in between the two halves of the laminated core pieces.. This is best and easiest done by filing one of the limbs ( preferably center limb ) of only one side. Gap distance is actually a function of the core hysteresis curve , frequency , and peak/max. continuous current.. this is to prevent core saturation , & effective choke working. .. Since the choke is on a laminated core it is better to connect it after the TRIAC/SCR & before the bridge rectifier...i.e. on the AC side & not on the DC side. DC side choke would turn out to be really physically (calculated) big. & a ferrite or iron powdered or air core..will work better...

[@SuperGrover]

The other reason to gear them down aside from torque is cooling. A DC motor turning at 100 rpm isn't going to last too well. I've used these motors a lot but find they tend to vibrate too much, especially without the flywheel. I guess in things like treadmills they're built to a price.

[@dazecars]

excelent point. there is an RPM range where cooling is most efficient.

[@snowdragon930]

What would be your advice if I wanted to make a chicken & turkey plucker? I am a new subscriber and have not gone through your playlist yet and I have no knowledge in this area....yet.

[@dazecars]

Not sure, I know lots about treadmill motor conversions and almost nothing about chicken pluckers, what questions do you have?

[@snowdragon930]

@@dazecars a plucker doesn't need to have high rpms but it does need torque which is why I'm interested in your expertise. Do I still need the circuit board if all I need is an on/off switch without a potentiometer? Also, can it be run off of a battery off-grid?

[@dazecars]

@@snowdragon930 It can be run directly off of batteries. Just keep in mind that voltage effects speed. I would try and run it as close to the motors's max RPMs. that would be at the voltage listed on the motor and then gear it down to the RPMS you want, this will maximize torque.

[@jerxxxone515]

On mc80 I got 1 red-light on and motor won't start

[@dazecars]

usualy its one of the switching transisters attached to the heat sink side of the board that need to be replaced.

[@salimriyadi99]

Terimakasih

[@dazecars]

You are welcome!!

[@johnrussell6620]

At 1:05 and later you say the green wire is for electrical short circuit protection. That is just 1 aspect of safety that it can provide. It is also for static electric charge dissipation. A tread mill is a great Van de Graaff generator and could kill you with static electric charge buildup suddenly discharging through your body! I know you are not building tread mills in this video presentation, but talking about treadmill repair or repurposing requires additional non-traditional safety concerns to be considered. Be safe! Good luck! Wear safety glasses!

[@dazecars]

Excellent information I will add it to a future video!! I have watched several KZbin videos where the presenter said of green wires on treadmill motors "you don't need it, don't use it, just cut it off" I was beyond horrified

[@patriciamariemitchel]

I don't care about any of this. I just want to use it as a winch to occasionally help me bring appliances up the stairs. Do you have any practical suggestions for that?

[@dazecars]

A treadmill motor is not a good candidate for a wench. It will not have the torque. maybe if you used in in conjunction with a hand crank wench and geared it way down but a that point a cheap wench from HF would likely work better.

[@patriciamariemitchel]

@@dazecars, I just noticed that. Thank you.🙂

[@dazecars]

👍

[@majidsignshop4903]

😍😍🤩🤩

[@dazecars]

👍

[@wh0tube]

Cut the red wire!

[@dazecars]

👍