Weiss VM32 CNC mill conversion

[David]

Have you got a treadmill motor eyed up? Ive got all sorts if ya need one.

A quick eBay search revealed this one:

Turdan Industry / Treadmill DC Drive Motor A1D06 2.5HP / 4400RPM / 90V / 17AMP | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Turdan Industry / Treadmill DC Drive Motor A1D06 2.5HP / 4400RPM / 90V / 17AMP at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

www.ebay.ca

 

[whydontu]

Part of my planned conversion is a swap of the BLDC spindle motor to enable control of the motor via the controller interface.
The servos that I bought in the kit are DMM so I looked at a DMM 1.8 HP AC servo and driver. North of $1000 USD is too expensive for my blood.

I can get a no-name AC servo and driver off eBay for about $750 CDN which is a bit more palatable but still expensive. And the sketchy documentation, tuning software is not great.

I considered an AC motor and VFD but the motors in the 1.5 HP range are heavy beasts and I'm not keen on putting that much weight on the head of my bench mill.

Ran across a lathe CNC conversion that used a 90V DC treadmill motor with a KBB driver that uses a potentiometer to control speed. The conversion I saw used a board to take a PWM signal from the CNC controller as input to the KBB driver board allowing full control of rpm and direction of the DC motor.

KBB board:

eMotors Direct - Canada's Online Source for Electric Motors, Gearing, and Controls

www.emotorsdirect.ca

PWM control board:

https://cnc4pc.com/c41s-pwm-variable-speed-control-board.html

That's the setup I have on my larger CNC engraver. DC motor, KBB driver and PWM output from an Arduino GRBL controller. Works flawlessly.

 

[David]

That's the setup I have on my larger CNC engraver. DC motor, KBB driver and PWM output from an Arduino GRBL controller. Works flawlessly.

So a completely viable idea. OK that's encouraging.
This is the video I found.

 

[whydontu]

A quick eBay search revealed this one:

Turdan Industry / Treadmill DC Drive Motor A1D06 2.5HP / 4400RPM / 90V / 17AMP | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Turdan Industry / Treadmill DC Drive Motor A1D06 2.5HP / 4400RPM / 90V / 17AMP at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

www.ebay.ca

Not sure about $100 for a treadmill motor, there's probably a couple of dozen treadmills for $25 or less on Marketplace Victoria

 

[David]

Not sure about $100 for a treadmill motor, there's probably a couple of dozen treadmills for $25 or less on Marketplace Victoria

There are some free ones but I don't really feel like dealing wit ripping it apart and then having to dispose of the remains.
Though the belting could be useful... hmmm

 

[whydontu]

And if you want a truly bizarre example, my 1936 Cratfsman bandsaw has two motors - 3/4 HP 120vac 1750 RPM fixed speed, and a 90 VDC treadmill motor with KBB controller. No pwm, I just use a pot for speed control. Treadmill drive belt and pulley connected to AC motor. One end of AC motor drive shaft connects to the treadmill motor, other end has the pulley to drive the bandsaw input pulley. Interlock so AC motor and treadmill motor can't be powered at the same time. Simple sliding tensioner on the treadmill pulley so If I want to use the AC motor I just pop off the treadmill drive belt.

Variable speed works great for cutting metal.

Custom Staples office tray belt guard.

 

[David]

And if you want a truly bizarre example, my 1936 Cratfsman bandsaw has two motors - 3/4 HP 120vac 1750 RPM fixed speed, and a 90 VDC treadmill motor with KBB controller. No pwm, I just use a pot for speed control. Treadmill drive belt and pulley connected to AC motor. One end of AC motor drive shaft connects to the treadmill motor, other end has the pulley to drive the bandsaw input pulley. Interlock so AC motor and treadmill motor can't be powered at the same time. Simple sliding tensioner on the treadmill pulley so If I want to use the AC motor I just pop off the treadmill drive belt.

Variable speed works great for cutting metal.

Custom Staples office tray belt guard.

View attachment 53878View attachment 53879View attachment 53880

I love that! Very clever and now you have got me thinking about my own bandsaw...

 

[quitereal]

Not sure about $100 for a treadmill motor, there's probably a couple of dozen treadmills for $25 or less on Marketplace Victoria

Ya I collect em. Pull the driver board when I do. They vary in diameter from about 3-5 inches, may or may not have cooling fans on one or both sides of the shaft and may or may not have a rotary encoder or rpm sensor.

That ones nice, no fans and a wheel encoder, about 4 dia.

Heres a couple smaller ones approaching 3" dia, no fans

They more often have fans

I hit up the dump or buddies when throwing them out or see em for free. Recently stopped collecting because i have far too many. Also have a few incline motors. Cost of shipping and you can have your pick.

 

[David]

Ya I collect em. Pull the driver board when I do. They vary in diameter from about 3-5 inches, may or may not have cooling fans on one or both sides of the shaft and may or may not have a rotary encoder or rpm sensor.

That ones nice, no fans and a wheel encoder, about 4 dia.

Heres a couple smaller ones approaching 3" dia, no fans

View attachment 53884
They more often have fans

View attachment 53887
View attachment 53888
I hit up the dump or buddies when throwing them out or see em for free. Recently stopped collecting because i have far too many. Also have a few incline motors. Cost of shipping and you can have your pick.

These ones look promising.
Particularly the silver one, stamped 12492.
I would need to see the shaft end of the other two if you have pics.

 

[whydontu]

Only big concern is the treadmill motors tend to be higher rpm than ac motors, so you need to consider this when setting up the drivetrain.

 

[quitereal]

These ones look promising.
Particularly the silver one, stamped 12492.
I would need to see the shaft end of the other two if you have pics.

12492 is 3.170 dia body, the mount bracker is spotted to the body. Dimensions in pictures

1/2-13 LH one shaft. The others Id need to pop the flywheels, I can do that tomorrow for ya, are there specifics youre after? I think threads are usually LH...

 

[David]

12492 is 3.170 dia body, the mount bracker is spotted to the body. Dimensions in pictures
View attachment 53891View attachment 53892View attachment 53893View attachment 53894
1/2-13 LH one shaft. The others Id need to pop the flywheels, I can do that tomorrow for ya, are there specifics youre after? I think threads are usually LH...

That's great!
Basically looking for minimum 1.5 HP, 2 is better.
Longer, larger diameter shaft for ease of adapting.
I'd probably make an aluminum 'can' for the shaft end to drop into for mounting purposes so a round housing is ideal but the spot welded bracket could probably be dealt with.

 

[quitereal]

Only big concern is the treadmill motors tend to be higher rpm than ac motors, so you need to consider this when setting up the drivetrain.

They need extra cooling consideration when run lower. Davids gonna do some homebrew water cooling though I bet. 300rpm for 8 hours straight might cook it. Gearing down would help/alleviate. Something to think about.

 

[quitereal]

That's great!
Basically looking for minimum 1.5 HP, 2 is better.
Longer, larger diameter shaft for ease of adapting.
I'd probably make an aluminum 'can' for the shaft end to drop into for mounting purposes so a round housing is ideal but the spot welded bracket could probably be dealt with.

The "peak" hp is bs on these, thats with the flywheel somehow. Ill poke around a bit.

 

[David]

The "peak" hp is bs on these, thats with the flywheel somehow. Ill poke around a bit.

I figured the HP rating's were like like Craftsman 5hp shop vacs

 

[David]

They need extra cooling consideration when run lower. Davids gonna do some homebrew water cooling though I bet. 300rpm for 8 hours straight might cook it. Gearing down would help/alleviate. Something to think about.

I'll wrap copper tubing around the motor and circulate coolant through it
(not even half joking about this... I have about 30 ft of 3/8 soft copper tubing...)
Or

 

[TorontoBuilder]

There are some free ones but I don't really feel like dealing wit ripping it apart and then having to dispose of the remains.
Though the belting could be useful... hmmm

I pull the motor, belts, tread and boards, then I cut the old tread belts up and cut to size and glue onto top of storage cabinets.

Then I dump everything else by the curb and the friendly neighbourhood scrappers take care of the rest

 

[David]

I pull the motor, belts, tread and boards, then I cut the old tread belts up and cut to size and glue onto top of storage cabinets.

Then I dump everything else by the curb and the friendly neighbourhood scrappers take care of the rest

Unfortunately we don't have friendly neighbourhood scrappers.... that means I take the rest of it to the recyclers

 

[quitereal]

So ya I dont quite follow the hp ratings, some are rated at 4000rpm some 6000.
Like this one seems alright, 2.25hp continuous, at 3150rpm

But what I dont get is I have a Baldor 1/2hp at 1750rpm and its bigger than all these

Also have a monster leeson 1hp 1750 rpm must be 6 dia, 18 inches long...

 

[Perry]

This might interest you. Scott Permanent Magnet DC 1HP 24Volt. I use a Curtis 1206 (golf cart controller) to control it.

It's part of a past project I have listed on Kijiji.

You can see the Kijiji ad here...

Electric bike project | eBike | Calgary | Kijiji Classifieds

This is a diy electric bike conversion that was completed to a Specialized HardRock. Solid build with a lot of get up and go. :) You can read more about it here. http://www.evalbum.com/789 There is a lot of money in it. Just the Scott Permanent Magnet DC 1HP 24Volt motor sells for over $500. The...

www.kijiji.ca

Also....if you are using the larger Horizon treadmill motors (Johnson) and use the motor control board you will need the upper control board. I have managed to get a ESP8266 to feed the correct PWM signals to the motor control board and have it working fine. No need to use the upper control board.
If you go this route feel free to ask me and I can help you out with that.

P.