Another possibility is a wheelchair motor. They are DC so fairly easy to speed control and already geared down. That oddity, A1 Electronic Parts (anyone remember places on Queen street like Active Surplus? Kind of like that) at the south end of the 427 used to have some. Picked one up years ago for the purpose a Z lift (Project 649 on the list, expected completion date 2357)
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Looking for an appropriate motor
- Thread starter skippyelwell
- Start date
skippyelwell
Ultra Member
Active surplus, those were the days, they carried great stuff.
slow-poke
Ultra Member
There is very little I miss since moving out of the GTA, but A1 is definitely one of them, I really miss my regular visits there, like a kid in a candy store.
Dan Dubeau
Ultra Member
I miss active surplus. Keep meaning to drive over and check out A1 someday, but the motivation to voluntarily drive into the city is low. Very low.
OK, you guys have convinced me to give this a shot. Hopefully not Project 649 on the list, expected completion date 2357. Just a Power Z on my old drill press whenever I can get it done.
No common supply of such things around here Shawn. I'd get a lifelong bann from the local landfill transfer station for touching anything (see relevant thread and the stupidity of modern society).
So if your offer is still on, send me the bottom one in your photo. Txt me the cost of shipping and purchase and I'll make you whole. I think you have my address. I'll have a go at a crude power Z for my drill press. Nothing fancy but it would save my back big time and increase the utility of my big old drill press at the same time.
My nickel's worth (no more pennies so it has to be a nickel):
I like the simplicity and low-cost option of a linear actuator (I have no experience with them but they look easy enough)
If your goal is just making the task easier, then I like these 2 options:
1 - A gas strut (as DavidR8 suggested). At Princess Auto an 85-pound x 19" stroke strut lists @ $18. You could make a bracket to attach it to the column & use the 19" stroke for the most commonly sized parts. The bracket could be lowered if you need to drill a larger part. They come on sale regularly - I bought this one a year ago at half price. I'm not sure how it got into my shopping cart, but that is a dangerous reoccurring problem for me at PA.
2 - A counterbalance. On my mill, the head weighs about 250 pounds and the Z hand crank took a lot of effort. I installed a counterbalance. I only needed to buy 4 PA cable pulleys. It works great. Here is a couple of pics (the weights are from scrap rock drill steel).
I like the simplicity and low-cost option of a linear actuator (I have no experience with them but they look easy enough)
If your goal is just making the task easier, then I like these 2 options:
1 - A gas strut (as DavidR8 suggested). At Princess Auto an 85-pound x 19" stroke strut lists @ $18. You could make a bracket to attach it to the column & use the 19" stroke for the most commonly sized parts. The bracket could be lowered if you need to drill a larger part. They come on sale regularly - I bought this one a year ago at half price. I'm not sure how it got into my shopping cart, but that is a dangerous reoccurring problem for me at PA.
2 - A counterbalance. On my mill, the head weighs about 250 pounds and the Z hand crank took a lot of effort. I installed a counterbalance. I only needed to buy 4 PA cable pulleys. It works great. Here is a couple of pics (the weights are from scrap rock drill steel).
Kernel Sanders
Member
Hmmmmm, great idea! Perhaps the linear actuator from an old treadmill, they look similar and likely can be adapted to the task. I've seen many free treadmills over the years on kijiji. I picked one up last year for the main DC motor and kept the actuator as well... just because lol (I didn't have a plan for it but kept in 'just in case' I could eventually find a use for it. Now you may have given me that idea. lol)
Hmmm now I read back and see this already suggested....oops lol
Hmmm now I read back and see this already suggested....oops lol
Yes, I saw that at your place when I visited. It is an awesome system that clearly works. I'd prolly use a bag of rocks though because I have no scrap rock drill laying around.
I like the gas struts too, but they don't last as long as rocks do.
Lots of fun!
I'm gunna add this project to my list.
slow-poke
Ultra Member
Initially I was going to drive the old hand crank spindle, however that would have been useless accuracy wise because of the lash in the gears. It turned out on my knee mill there was enough space in the knee and it was quite easy to implement. I can jog or moves as requested to within 0.001" . Unfortunately it's really noisy in comparison to the near silent direct drives on the other axis. Knee will move > 100IPM but I usually move it slower as per the attached action video...
www.dropbox.com
I have a spare gear if you decide to go that route.
Dropbox
I have a spare gear if you decide to go that route.
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I don't even have a crank spindle yet. And I really don't care about accuracy. It's a round column drill press. The table gets raised and lowered, clamped, and then used. It's just that it's as heavy as the dinosaur it is.
Love the cogged belt drive gears.
So many options!
Beautiful! The crude switch is all I'd really need.
Is that yours? Can you show us the actuator itself?
Ya, ain't that the truth!
Cloth bags are cheap. 250 pounds of drill steel would be waaaay better!
Just a WAG of the weight of my cast iron drill press table, X-Y table, and drill press vise. First two cause hernias.
slow-poke
Ultra Member
Yes, that's mine, put it together a few years back. It's a Buffalo drill press. You can see the actuator in $50 solution in post #11 above.
The collar that use to support the table in now near the bottom supporting the black nylon block that the actuator sits on. Basically milled a hole same dimension as the column, and then cut the block in half. A couple of 1/4" bolts clamps the block loosely on top of that collar. The top follows the table when you rotate the table. 12V wall adapter for power. Simple as simple gets and still makes me smile every time I use it.
John, @skippyelwell scooped that one already. DM me if you want another one. But I should keep the others for those projects, that, you know, I have been saving these ones years for anyways......
