I installed a surplus center DC treadmill motor and controler on my drill
press about 5 years ago and it is a wonderful thing Thanks to Don and
others for help with modifying the controler to work better as a tool motor.
The treadmill controller had a slow ramp up and would only start at zero and
you had to bring the speed up with a pot. This motor is no longer available
from surplus center but it is rated at 2HP. The controler limits the
current to 10 Amps so the actual HP is much less ~3/4hp. It is a series
wound motor with a tach feedback to the control to maintain the set speed
under variable loads. It has a max of 6KRPM and I set it on the slowest
belt speed on the drillpress. I get very useful power from about 100 to
1000 spindle RPM without moving belts. The motor is biased (brushes offset)
to run in one direction but is reversable and seems to do ok with that at
slightly reduced power if you only use the reverse occasionally. You should
be able to source a motor and controler from a used treadmill. I put one on
the drill press, one on a 6"Atlas and one on a wood lathe. All are still
quite happy.
HTH
Glenn
"mechanized_robot" wrote in message
oups.com...
Can anyone point me to a web resource that lays out the basics of DC
motor controlling or possibly put down the bullet points of same?

I would like to convert my drill press to DC and after reviewing the
myriad of options on ePay, decided I need experienced help.

I would like to buy surplus/used parts if at all possible and need some
guildlines as to what to look for such as DC field voltage of motor,
typical controller types used, pitfalls, etc.

If anyone could comment on what they did when they converted their
machine(s) it would be greatly appreciated.