Upgrading A 12x36 Harbor Freight Lathe With A Treadmill Motor

So my original 12x36 harbor freight lathe motor just crapped out on me and literally caught fire just from me turning too big of a bowl for it to handle. I remembered I had an old treadmill in my shop so I decided to see if I could swap the motors and be able to achieve the speed and torque needed for my style of turning.
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#woodturning #lathe #harborfreight

[@JamesCouch777]

There are a lot of treadmill motor lathe conversions but yours is the best one I've seen. I'm in the middle of a conversion and your video was very helpful 👍.

[@justinfletcher7630]

Jsyk depending what size you want there are conversion kits that will allow your motor to stay where it always was and change to variable speed for like 170 bks

[@bonose12]

Ok...it works! I'll send pics but looks VERY similar to your setup. I mounted the power supply/electronics on wall behind lathe. I tried a microwave fan for cooling but promptly fried it. The control panel is huge compared to yours but works fine mounted above on wall. More power! As a bonus the treadmill rails are now on my hf log splitter as control lever extensions. The belt is on too as a debris deflector.

[@PetesShopMakes]

That's awesome! Yeah, I'd love to see your setup. you can find me on Instagram or Facebook and send me pics through private message or my email is in my profile.

[@harrolin]

Brillent video and will help me so much as im starting the very same upgrade , thank you very much Pete

[@justinfletcher7630]

They stopped making that lathe and I've been looking for one everywhere. There are some in FB marketplace but way on the other side of the state so I'm going it with a non variable 14 inch delta.. but I'm gonna use a brand new conversion kit just because it doesn't have the extra headstock space the CM 12x33 has

[@tomdickharryjane]

You put a permanent magnet DC motor on the lathe. Very simple to speed regulate. All that needs to be done is vary the armature voltage and the speed will be proportional. The motor supplies full torque from stall to base speed. Another option for lathe speed control is, if available, get a small VFD. I had a small 1/2 HP 3 phase AC motor. I put that on my lathe. It is powered by a small 1/2HP Automation Direct GS1 drive. I used a 2:1 transformer to step up my house power from 110 to 220 (now you don't even have to do that) as that is what the drive needs in, and puts out 3 phase 220. So far so good.

[@PetesShopMakes]

Yeah, Thanks man. I definitely need to swap out that original board and just wire up a simple little potentiometer knob to replace that big clunky board with the slider switch that I'm currently using even though it works really really well and I haven't had any issues with it. However, It just doesn't look very clean or professional I don't think. I think for me though currently, it's just a matter of priorities when it comes to Shop projects and right now that's just not very high on the list as far as things that I need to get done. I'm too busy with commissions and other customer projects right now to really have the time to do anything like that but I wish I did. However, I suppose it's better to be too busy than not busy enough you know. I do truly appreciate your input, comments, and suggestions though, and when it comes time for me to make that upgrade I will definitely look into them a little bit deeper. Thanks again for watching and for the positive feedback. It's greatly appreciated and doesn't go unnoticed. Take care.

[@offgridmangogrower]

@@PetesShopMakes I have a way better solution…..find a lab variac 5 to 10 amp rating. Make sure it’s USA made.with a full wave bridge rectifier No noise no BS….full torque…I use a pmdc motor 90 or 180v

[@FixItYerself]

nice upgrade!

[@PetesShopMakes]

Thank you very much. It truly is.

[@dudestewpodcast]

awesome!

[@PetesShopMakes]

Thank you very much!

[@carrollanderson7358]

Nice upgrade . Where did you get the hand wheel for spindel ?

[@MossManK]

Hi, where did you find that handwheel for the headstock? I can't stand not having one and I don't see one online.

[@MD-en3zm]

Nice upgrades - considering something similar myself. Where are you that you can get camphor? Usually that’s Australia, but you don’t have that accent.

[@erockhikes8515]

What handwheel did you get

[@grandpaticktock0184]

Hi thank you for a great video looking to do the same thing on my jet 14 x 42 Lathe, when you thought that you weren’t getting enough torque power and you made the adjustment did you lose your low end RPMs meaning are you RPMs now the lowest over 250 rpm making it hard for larger out of round bowls blanks. Blessings

[@PetesShopMakes]

Hello Sir and thank you for your question. To be honest with you, At first, it was hard to really say if I lost any RPMs because the belt was actually slipping each time the gouge made any contact with the wood whatsoever and since I don't have a tachometer on the lathe to be able to read the actual RPMs and know for sure, I can really honestly only go by what I was seeing and feeling the machine do but I had noticed the problem immediately and made the appropriate adjustments right away so I've only ever really known the machine to work properly since then. I hope that made sense. Right now, I can turn anything whether it be a piece of green wood that's 18in in diameter that I'm doing outboard turning on, all the way down to a pen blank and turn them both at the exact same lowest speed and same high speed without any difference in speed or torque loss. I can literally have the motor spin at a snails speed of 10 RPMs if I wanted all the way to its top speed of what I would say is well above 2500 RPMs just using the stock speed control from the treadmill using the little slide potentiometer as I showed in the video. The stock slowest speed on that lathes original motor was 600 RPM which was way too fast for rough unbalanced wood which caused the machine to walk all over the place at times till I got it round enough and also I would stall that motor constantly when turning greenwood of any size it seemed which was incredibly frustrating and when that motor finally kicked the bucket, It was really a "blessing in disguise" (for lack of a better phrase) because putting that treadmill motor on has really been a game-changer for me and my business as far as the increased production rate at which I can start and finish projects and just the quality of turnings in general and I really wished I had made the change sooner. I apologize for such a long-winded response. I'm not even certain I really answered your question and If not then please forgive me and don't hesitate to let me know so I can try to give you the actual answer to your question. Thanks again for your comment and question. Take care and God bless.

[@grandpaticktock0184]

Yes you answered my question,thank you for such an in-depth response I really appreciate it.May God bless you and your family take care

[@PetesShopMakes]

Very well. I’m glad I could be of help. Thank you very much and same to you and yours good sir. Take care.

[@IH1940HAY]

Is your treadmill motor a permanent magnet motor? Are you running it in reverse, if so has there been any negative things with the motor when running it in reverse?

[@PetesShopMakes]

Yes Its a permanent magnet DC motor that I just run in what I assume is forward because I just wired everything back up the exact way it was on the treadmill. I didn't have to change anything and it runs like a champ. I love using that thing now. Its such a better experience when you have a motor that can handle big logs with enough torque and speed to power through deep cuts and have the ability to remove massive amounts of wood without stalling out the motor and catching on your tool. Good Luck. I hope this helped you and I answered your question. Let me know if you need anything else. Thanks!

[@bonose12]

Ok. I’m pretty much at the mount stage. What type belt did you use and how’s it holding up? The reeves drive and ribbed pulleys don’t match up, so...... it looks like the motor pulley is not going to be practical to get off. I got the spindle pulley off thinking I could get a new ribbed one to match. Not easy, the shaft is 24mm and can’t find a match online. So back on goes the Reeves’s and your belt solution. Oh the joys of Rube Goldberg engineering.

[@PetesShopMakes]

I just used the drive belt that came with the motor from the treadmill. It’s been almost a year now and it’s holding up just fine and runs like a champ. I saved the stock harbor freight belt as a backup though just in case.

[@bonose12]

Thx for quick response! Great news.

[@PetesShopMakes]

@@bonose12 No problem. If you need any more info or want me to send some pictures of anything, Let me know. I'm glad to help.

[@bonose12]

So you used the treadmill ac to dc rectifier. Basically did you use most of the treadmill electronics? I saw some of the updates. Also did you run that motor in reverse and have you had any troubles? If reverse how did you do it. Forgive me if you covered it already.

[@PetesShopMakes]

No I didn’t change a single thing. I just fabricated a new motor mount to be able to fit the treadmill motor like I showed in the video just by drilling two holes and bolting on the original mount from the treadmill itself and then wired the control board and everything up in the same order I took it apart and it works great. So much more speed and tons of torque. Wish I had done it years ago honestly.

[@bonose12]

Thx so much.

[@PetesShopMakes]

@@bonose12 you're welcome. I hope that helped you in some way.

[@ledbelied5771]

Very nice. Any rough estimate on the rpm range?

[@PetesShopMakes]

If I had to guess based on the readings and speeds that the original says that it put out, Id say when its wide open at top speed its for sure going over 3000RPM. I think before I swapped the motor out it topped out at around 2000-2200RPM or something like that but this one screams passed that. It’s really pretty hard to say though for sure without having a digital readout of some sort to tell me though. What is hooked up is just the sensor from the treadmill and that only reads in MPH so its really no help to me at all. If I’m able to come up with a method of finding out or am able to borrow someones timing device then ill let you know what I come up with. Sorry for the late response. I apologize.Take care.

[@justinfletcher7630]

You don't need that main wheel