I picked up a treadmill today , for free - well , OK , I got a couple
gallons of gas invested . I know it's probably overkill from a power
standpoint , but has anyone used one of these drive motors to power an
X-axis powerfeed ? Variable speed , and reversible with some switching
hardware . Got other features too , none of which I'll be needing . Who
cares what my heartbeat is while I'm milling a slot in a chunk of aluminum ?
--
Snag
sometimes ya gotta
shovel manure
to pay the bills

Terry, I have removed two of those type motors in the past. The first one is
powering my craftsman 6 inch lathe. It works great, totally adjustable
speeds. I can go from about 25 rpm, with lots of power, to around 3600,
again with lots of power. The 3600 speed is of course way to fast for the
bronze bearings of the lathe. The other feeds my craftsman bandsaw.
What I have found is that these motors don't have a lot of low speed torque,
which is what you need for an X power drive. My craftsman lathe didn't have
any of the screw gears, so I found a small gear reduction motor that I
coupled to the feed screw for the carriage. Its only one speed, but it does
go back and forth. It turns a lot steadier then I can, so it put a nice
final finish on!!
I wouldn't suggest using the tread mill motor, because you cant stop it on a
dime, it will bog down and slow down on a heavy cut and that will effect the
finish of the cut. you might get away with it if you add a gear box????

I would suggest a stepper motor. That's what my brother uses on the Sieg x3
mill and its trick as all get out....

just my thoughts,,, but your idea may still be a good one
Bob in phx
"Terry Coombs" wrote in message
...
I picked up a treadmill today , for free - well , OK , I got a couple
gallons of gas invested . I know it's probably overkill from a power
standpoint , but has anyone used one of these drive motors to power an
X-axis powerfeed ? Variable speed , and reversible with some switching
hardware . Got other features too , none of which I'll be needing . Who
cares what my heartbeat is while I'm milling a slot in a chunk of aluminum
?
--
Snag
sometimes ya gotta
shovel manure
to pay the bills

"Terry Coombs" wrote in message
...
I picked up a treadmill today , for free - well , OK , I got a couple
gallons of gas invested . I know it's probably overkill from a power
standpoint , but has anyone used one of these drive motors to power an
X-axis powerfeed ? Variable speed , and reversible with some switching
hardware . Got other features too , none of which I'll be needing . Who
cares what my heartbeat is while I'm milling a slot in a chunk of aluminum
?
--


the motor will work, but you will want to gear it down quite a bit - 100 to
1 or 200 to 1 seems about right - I'd encourage a worm gear for this
application. And you will need to protect it from chips by fully enclosing
it, and then you will need to add a muffin fan for cooling (with a filter to
keep chips out). Beware also that it is a DC motor and so it will have
significant stall current - I presume this is a PM motor, not a motor with a
separate field coil. Also, these are commonly "rated" at 2 HP, but in
reality they are closer to a real 1/4 HP or less motor, if you try and run
them anywhere near 2 hp for very long, they will not be at all happy. They
are good for wood lathes, where the load is not continuous, but I'd be
careful for a power feed.


** Posted from http://www.teranews.com **

"Bill Noble" wrote:

the motor will work, but you will want to gear it down quite a bit - 100 to
1 or 200 to 1 seems about right - I'd encourage a worm gear for this
application. And you will need to protect it from chips by fully enclosing
it, and then you will need to add a muffin fan for cooling (with a filter to
keep chips out).

Worm gear, nice touch.

Wes

Bill Noble wrote:
"Terry Coombs" wrote in message
...
I picked up a treadmill today , for free - well , OK , I got a
couple gallons of gas invested . I know it's probably overkill from
a power standpoint , but has anyone used one of these drive motors
to power an X-axis powerfeed ? Variable speed , and reversible with
some switching hardware . Got other features too , none of which
I'll be needing . Who cares what my heartbeat is while I'm milling a
slot in a chunk of aluminum ?
--


the motor will work, but you will want to gear it down quite a bit -
100 to 1 or 200 to 1 seems about right - I'd encourage a worm gear
for this application. And you will need to protect it from chips by
fully enclosing it, and then you will need to add a muffin fan for
cooling (with a filter to keep chips out). Beware also that it is a
DC motor and so it will have significant stall current - I presume
this is a PM motor, not a motor with a separate field coil. Also,
these are commonly "rated" at 2 HP, but in reality they are closer to
a real 1/4 HP or less motor, if you try and run them anywhere near 2
hp for very long, they will not be at all happy. They are good for
wood lathes, where the load is not continuous, but I'd be careful for
a power feed.
Thanks , y'all ! I was planning on reduction with a belt/pulley , but I can
see that might not be enough . First step will be to see what RPM it turns ,
and if there's reduction built in .
The motor might end up powering my little drill press if I can't figger a
way to adapt it for the mill .
Might end up still powering the treadmill , AFAIK that part isn't broke ,
just the incline motor system . If that can be repaired easily , I might be
able to get some cash outta this thing .
Cash is good ...
--
Snag
sometimes ya gotta
shovel manure
to pay the bills

"Terry Coombs" wrote in message
...
Bill Noble wrote:
"Terry Coombs" wrote in message
...
I picked up a treadmill today , for free - well , OK , I got a
couple gallons of gas invested . I know it's probably overkill from
a power standpoint , but has anyone used one of these drive motors
to power an X-axis powerfeed ? Variable speed , and reversible with
some switching hardware . Got other features too , none of which
I'll be needing . Who cares what my heartbeat is while I'm milling a
slot in a chunk of aluminum ?
--


the motor will work, but you will want to gear it down quite a bit -
100 to 1 or 200 to 1 seems about right - I'd encourage a worm gear
for this application. And you will need to protect it from chips by
fully enclosing it, and then you will need to add a muffin fan for
cooling (with a filter to keep chips out). Beware also that it is a
DC motor and so it will have significant stall current - I presume
this is a PM motor, not a motor with a separate field coil. Also,
these are commonly "rated" at 2 HP, but in reality they are closer to
a real 1/4 HP or less motor, if you try and run them anywhere near 2
hp for very long, they will not be at all happy. They are good for
wood lathes, where the load is not continuous, but I'd be careful for
a power feed.
Thanks , y'all ! I was planning on reduction with a belt/pulley , but I
can see that might not be enough . First step will be to see what RPM it
turns , and if there's reduction built in .
The motor might end up powering my little drill press if I can't figger a
way to adapt it for the mill .
Might end up still powering the treadmill , AFAIK that part isn't broke ,
just the incline motor system . If that can be repaired easily , I might
be able to get some cash outta this thing .
Cash is good ...

Terry - I sold a number of these motors in the past for a surplus store I
used to hang out at
they turn around 5 to 6000 RPM max, and I sold them for $20 tested and
working, $5 if there was anything wrong, and some just ended up a scrap.

In the treadmill, they have a pulley, no gears. this really is NOT your
best choice for a power feed - find a damaged power feed unit and fix it,
you will be way ahead


** Posted from http://www.teranews.com **

Bill Noble wrote:
"Terry Coombs" wrote in message
...
Bill Noble wrote:
"Terry Coombs" wrote in message
...
I picked up a treadmill today , for free - well , OK , I got a
couple gallons of gas invested . I know it's probably overkill from
a power standpoint , but has anyone used one of these drive motors
to power an X-axis powerfeed ? Variable speed , and reversible with
some switching hardware . Got other features too , none of which
I'll be needing . Who cares what my heartbeat is while I'm milling
a slot in a chunk of aluminum ?
--


the motor will work, but you will want to gear it down quite a bit -
100 to 1 or 200 to 1 seems about right - I'd encourage a worm gear
for this application. And you will need to protect it from chips by
fully enclosing it, and then you will need to add a muffin fan for
cooling (with a filter to keep chips out). Beware also that it is a
DC motor and so it will have significant stall current - I presume
this is a PM motor, not a motor with a separate field coil. Also,
these are commonly "rated" at 2 HP, but in reality they are closer
to a real 1/4 HP or less motor, if you try and run them anywhere
near 2 hp for very long, they will not be at all happy. They are
good for wood lathes, where the load is not continuous, but I'd be
careful for a power feed.
Thanks , y'all ! I was planning on reduction with a belt/pulley ,
but I can see that might not be enough . First step will be to see
what RPM it turns , and if there's reduction built in .
The motor might end up powering my little drill press if I can't
figger a way to adapt it for the mill .
Might end up still powering the treadmill , AFAIK that part isn't
broke , just the incline motor system . If that can be repaired
easily , I might be able to get some cash outta this thing .
Cash is good ...

Terry - I sold a number of these motors in the past for a surplus
store I used to hang out at
they turn around 5 to 6000 RPM max, and I sold them for $20 tested and
working, $5 if there was anything wrong, and some just ended up a
scrap.
In the treadmill, they have a pulley, no gears. this really is NOT your
best choice for a power feed - find a damaged power feed unit
and fix it, you will be way ahead


** Posted from http://www.teranews.com **

But , but , where's the challenge in that ?
insert smiley or other whimsical indicator of humor here
--
Snag
sometimes ya gotta
shovel manure
to pay the bills

On Thu, 27 Nov 2008 16:44:05 -0600, the infamous "Terry Coombs"
scrawled the following:

Bill Noble wrote:
In the treadmill, they have a pulley, no gears. this really is NOT your
best choice for a power feed - find a damaged power feed unit
and fix it, you will be way ahead

But , but , where's the challenge in that ?
insert smiley or other whimsical indicator of humor here

Yeah, it's much more fun hanging 250-300# of crap on the side of the
mill and seeing if it tips over on each pass, and seeing how many
times it blows the circuit breakers as it hits on the power cord when
it does tip.

Carry on.

--
Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in getting up every time we do.
-- Confucius

Larry Jaques wrote:
On Thu, 27 Nov 2008 16:44:05 -0600, the infamous "Terry Coombs"
scrawled the following:

Bill Noble wrote:
In the treadmill, they have a pulley, no gears. this really is NOT
your best choice for a power feed - find a damaged power feed unit
and fix it, you will be way ahead

But , but , where's the challenge in that ?
insert smiley or other whimsical indicator of humor here

Yeah, it's much more fun hanging 250-300# of crap on the side of the
mill and seeing if it tips over on each pass, and seeing how many
times it blows the circuit breakers as it hits on the power cord when
it does tip.

Carry on.

Did you miss the insert smiley or other whimsical indicator of humor here
??

From the feedback I've received , I've decided to find another use for
that motor/controller . I'll find another way to power feed the mill .
Many thanks for the responses I got , even the humorless ones .
--
Snag
sometimes ya gotta
shovel manure
to pay the bills

On Thu, 27 Nov 2008 23:15:46 -0600, the infamous "Terry Coombs"
scrawled the following:

Larry Jaques wrote:
On Thu, 27 Nov 2008 16:44:05 -0600, the infamous "Terry Coombs"
scrawled the following:

Bill Noble wrote:
In the treadmill, they have a pulley, no gears. this really is NOT
your best choice for a power feed - find a damaged power feed unit
and fix it, you will be way ahead

But , but , where's the challenge in that ?
insert smiley or other whimsical indicator of humor here

Yeah, it's much more fun hanging 250-300# of crap on the side of the
mill and seeing if it tips over on each pass, and seeing how many
times it blows the circuit breakers as it hits on the power cord when
it does tip.

Carry on.

Did you miss the insert smiley or other whimsical indicator of humor here
??

Of course not, and I even included that line. I was carrying on the
whimsical notion you started, Terry.


From the feedback I've received , I've decided to find another use for
that motor/controller . I'll find another way to power feed the mill .
Many thanks for the responses I got , even the humorless ones .

Jeeze, the one time I didn't think I needed to add a smiley...

--
In all affairs it's a healthy thing now and then to hang a
question mark on the things you have long taken for granted.
-- Bertrand Russell

Larry Jaques wrote:
On Thu, 27 Nov 2008 23:15:46 -0600, the infamous "Terry Coombs"
scrawled the following:

Larry Jaques wrote:
On Thu, 27 Nov 2008 16:44:05 -0600, the infamous "Terry Coombs"
scrawled the following:

Bill Noble wrote:
In the treadmill, they have a pulley, no gears. this really is
NOT your best choice for a power feed - find a damaged power
feed unit and fix it, you will be way ahead

But , but , where's the challenge in that ?
insert smiley or other whimsical indicator of humor here

Yeah, it's much more fun hanging 250-300# of crap on the side of the
mill and seeing if it tips over on each pass, and seeing how many
times it blows the circuit breakers as it hits on the power cord
when it does tip.

Carry on.

Did you miss the insert smiley or other whimsical indicator of
humor here ??

Of course not, and I even included that line. I was carrying on the
whimsical notion you started, Terry.


From the feedback I've received , I've decided to find another use
for that motor/controller . I'll find another way to power feed the
mill . Many thanks for the responses I got , even the humorless
ones .

Jeeze, the one time I didn't think I needed to add a smiley...

A thousand pardons ! I was more than a little bit tipsy last night . I can
see the whimsy in having a few hundred pounds of "stuff" hangin' off the
left end of the table .
I still haven't unloaded that thing from the truck . Dinner at the kids ,
getting a comp set up with bookkeeping software and Office , rearranging the
shed yet again , and then it was dark out . Hopefully the youngest son will
help me get it on the ground before he leaves for work today . I'm not even
sure it works at all , might be just scrap for the "usable materials" pile
out behind the shed .
--
Snag
every answer
leads to another
question

On Fri, 28 Nov 2008 07:54:02 -0600, the infamous "Terry Coombs"
scrawled the following:

Larry Jaques wrote:
On Thu, 27 Nov 2008 23:15:46 -0600, the infamous "Terry Coombs"
scrawled the following:

Larry Jaques wrote:
On Thu, 27 Nov 2008 16:44:05 -0600, the infamous "Terry Coombs"
scrawled the following:

Bill Noble wrote:
In the treadmill, they have a pulley, no gears. this really is
NOT your best choice for a power feed - find a damaged power
feed unit and fix it, you will be way ahead

But , but , where's the challenge in that ?
insert smiley or other whimsical indicator of humor here

Yeah, it's much more fun hanging 250-300# of crap on the side of the
mill and seeing if it tips over on each pass, and seeing how many
times it blows the circuit breakers as it hits on the power cord
when it does tip.

Carry on.

Did you miss the insert smiley or other whimsical indicator of
humor here ??

Of course not, and I even included that line. I was carrying on the
whimsical notion you started, Terry.


From the feedback I've received , I've decided to find another use
for that motor/controller . I'll find another way to power feed the
mill . Many thanks for the responses I got , even the humorless
ones .

Jeeze, the one time I didn't think I needed to add a smiley...

A thousand pardons ! I was more than a little bit tipsy last night . I can

Whatever you do, don't breathe on the customer with alky breath if
you're quoting security hardware to 'em at the time. =:-0


see the whimsy in having a few hundred pounds of "stuff" hangin' off the
left end of the table .

I envisioned a truly Goldbergesque monstrosity, sir.


I still haven't unloaded that thing from the truck . Dinner at the kids ,
getting a comp set up with bookkeeping software and Office , rearranging the
shed yet again , and then it was dark out . Hopefully the youngest son will
help me get it on the ground before he leaves for work today . I'm not even
sure it works at all , might be just scrap for the "usable materials" pile
out behind the shed .

I worked out some ropes and comealong to get my old cast arn table
saur in and out of the back of my truck a dozen years ago. A V of rope
from the front tiedowns to the comealong, a rope around the saur, and
the winch in the middle. Took about 5 minutes total, in and out.

I unloaded a broken Searz Lifestyler treadmill myself, lowering the
heavy end first via the strong arm method, then rolling it away from
the truck on its own wheels by the light end. Dem beasties is heavy
muthuhs.

HF had lift blocks on sale for $3 last week so I picked on up. I'll
use it and some 1/4" cable to roll medium weight stuff on and off the
truck away from home. I sold the old F-150 with the crane in the
back, but now that I have the 2T HF shop crane here, I can play with
larger items more easily.

--
In all affairs it's a healthy thing now and then to hang a
question mark on the things you have long taken for granted.
-- Bertrand Russell

I wasn't able to remember a motor name for days now, Snag.

The name that escaped me was Bodine, but there are a number of motors by
other manufacturers that would also work well for a power feed, Oriental
Motor (Japan), also numerous other names.
Permanent magnet DC motors with a right-angle worm gear setup are versatile
for lots of machine feed uses.

A good gear reduction for feed screws would be worm drive, but other
gearhead motors would also be adaptable.
A right-angle worm drive allows the motor weight to be closer to the table,
reducing the length that a straight/parallel gear reduction gearhead motor
would have.

It wouldn't be simple to get all of the features of a specifically-built
power feed drive as compact as one, by using an improvised design with
various separate components.

The commercially available power feed drives typically have variable speed
and a lever to engage/disengage the gear train from the table feed handle,
along with the start/stop control in one compact package.

--
WB
..........
metalworking projects
www.kwagmire.com/metal_proj.html


"Terry Coombs" wrote in message
...
I picked up a treadmill today , for free - well , OK , I got a couple
gallons of gas invested . I know it's probably overkill from a power
standpoint , but has anyone used one of these drive motors to power an
X-axis powerfeed ? Variable speed , and reversible with some switching
hardware . Got other features too , none of which I'll be needing . Who
cares what my heartbeat is while I'm milling a slot in a chunk of aluminum
?
--
Snag
sometimes ya gotta
shovel manure
to pay the bills

Wild_Bill wrote:
I wasn't able to remember a motor name for days now, Snag.

The name that escaped me was Bodine, but there are a number of motors
by other manufacturers that would also work well for a power feed,
Oriental Motor (Japan), also numerous other names.
Permanent magnet DC motors with a right-angle worm gear setup are
versatile for lots of machine feed uses.

A good gear reduction for feed screws would be worm drive, but other
gearhead motors would also be adaptable.
A right-angle worm drive allows the motor weight to be closer to the
table, reducing the length that a straight/parallel gear reduction
gearhead motor would have.

It wouldn't be simple to get all of the features of a
specifically-built power feed drive as compact as one, by using an
improvised design with various separate components.

The commercially available power feed drives typically have variable
speed and a lever to engage/disengage the gear train from the table
feed handle, along with the start/stop control in one compact package.



Thanks , Bill . The treadmill is sittin' in my driveway , still intact
until I decide just what I want to do with it . Looking , it's seen a good
many miles ... shouldn't affect the motor and controls though .
--
Snag
sometimes ya gotta
shovel manure
to pay the bills