I bought the treadmill motor and controller setup from Surplus Center
and now need to buy the potentiometer. What do I need? All it says is
5k ohm pot but what am I actually looking for and where do I find it?
I'm going to use this on a 6" Atlas lathe.

Thanks
Tom

Radio Shack is probably the easiest place to buy one ... just ask for a 5K
(5,000 ohm) potentiometer.

If don't know what they look like, do a google search to find out. A pot
is just a variable resistor... 0-5k ohms in this case.

make sure y ou get a LINEAR taper...not an audio taper... Linear means the
speed goes up "in sync" as you turn the knob up.

Audio taper is based on Db's, which is logmarithic scale -- a small turn at
the middle to end of the rotation means a LARGE change.

New pots cost around 3-4 bucks at Radio Shack.... any surplus electronics
house (look in t he yellow pages) will have used one for 50 cents or so.

And be sure to wire it correctly.. usually the left most terminal WITH THE
SHAFT UP AND FACING YOU, and the pot turned all the way counterclockwise is
wired for zero speed, the middle terminal is the wiper and the rightmost
termimal is wired for max speed. Use a simple ohm meter to check it,
although if you are not sure what a pot is... you probably don't have
one...

Steve

wrote in message
oups.com...
I bought the treadmill motor and controller setup from Surplus Center
and now need to buy the potentiometer. What do I need? All it says is
5k ohm pot but what am I actually looking for and where do I find it?
I'm going to use this on a 6" Atlas lathe.

Thanks
Tom

There are several good documents in the dropbox retired files from about 98
or so. I put one on a 6" Atlas lathe and it was wonderful. There are mods
you will probably want to do to the PCB and they are detailed in the dropbox
files too. I wired mine so I could reverse it and that was really handy.
You wouldn't want to reverse it for extended use as the brushes are biased
to run in one direction so you loose a little efficency in the reverse
direction.
Glenn
wrote in message
oups.com...
I bought the treadmill motor and controller setup from Surplus Center
and now need to buy the potentiometer. What do I need? All it says is
5k ohm pot but what am I actually looking for and where do I find it?
I'm going to use this on a 6" Atlas lathe.

Thanks
Tom

I had the same issue. You need a 2 watt 10 K pot linear taper with a
knob and legend plate.You can get them from McMasters or Mouser for a
few bucks. Radio Shack doesn't seem to carry many components just a
small selection. Too little profit from small sales I believe.

Hope this helps.

A 5K ohm pot...
JR
Dweller inthe cellar

wrote:
I bought the treadmill motor and controller setup from Surplus Center
and now need to buy the potentiometer. What do I need? All it says is
5k ohm pot but what am I actually looking for and where do I find it?
I'm going to use this on a 6" Atlas lathe.

Thanks
Tom



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"I'm sorry, Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that.."

"JR North" wrote in message
.. .
A 5K ohm pot...
JR
Dweller inthe cellar

wrote:
I bought the treadmill motor and controller setup from Surplus Center
and now need to buy the potentiometer. What do I need? All it says is
5k ohm pot but what am I actually looking for and where do I find it?
I'm going to use this on a 6" Atlas lathe.

http://www.digikey.com/scripts/DkSea...577544&Site=US
is probably a good match. Allied Electronics or Mouser would also
likely carry them. You will want a linear pot (not logarithmic), the
other common choices will be related to style of mounting and shaft
type. These can often be found surplus for $0.50 or so.

Regards,
Bob Headrick