treadmill motor = lathe? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: XOIIO
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 14, 2014, 01:35:20 am
content: Hey all, picked up a treadmill off kijiji for free finally, it's in good enough shape, and still works, a few years old apparently, has a thumb pulse monitor that didn't seem to work.Anyways popped the cover off, and it has a pretty nice 2 1/2 hp motor in it, disconnected from the treadmill belt it gets up to some pretty intense speeds.It sort of gets the mind going, aside from having a treadmill (not sure if I would even use it), maybe making a diy lathe of sorts? Possibly a wind generator? It's not all that windy around here and not sure what I would do for blades, but that's another possibility. Trying to think of other uses for it.

author: Psi
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 14, 2014, 03:31:05 am
content: Treadmill motors usually make good rotary spark gap motors for tesla coils

author: NiHaoMike
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 14, 2014, 03:41:45 am
content: Put the motor back in, connect a voltmeter to it, and see how much voltage could be generated just by walking on the treadmill. Not a particularly efficient generator (a stationary bicycle would be better) but it should be usable for something.

author: XOIIO
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 14, 2014, 03:51:24 am
content: Quote from: Psi on July 14, 2014, 03:31:05 amHmm, that's an idea. I also have a couple small flybacks from portable TV's, I think I'd like to mess around with those first before going to tesla coils.Quote from: NiHaoMike on July 14, 2014, 03:41:45 amI'll give that a try tomorrow, I doubt it would be much, and definitely hard work to make electricity, but the motor has the (spool?) for one of those regular seeming belts with several grooves on the inside, not unlike some vehicles, I bet you could find a nice longer one.I am also tempted to keep it in one piece, I stuck an R/C car on it for the heck of it and found it can go 4 km/h or so, and the batteries weren't brand new, it's a good way to test stuff like that up to 10 km/h. I'd like to make a wooden frame to keep the vehicles on the actual belt of the treadmill and give it some nice yellow stripes like they did on mythbusters. Not sure how I would do that though.

author: pickle9000
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 14, 2014, 04:38:05 am
content: Or you could get into the knife makin' business. Many of the diy belt grinders use them.https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=knife+belt+grinder

author: AlanR
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: July 14, 2014, 05:16:12 am
content: If you can find a surplus SCR motor speed controller, then you can make a very decent lathe set up with the motor. Especially if the SCR speed controller supports IR compensation that will keep the motor's speed constant regardless of load conditions (up to a point of course) which is important for machine tools when you have to adjust the feed rates versus speed of the spindle.

author: calexanian
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 14, 2014, 05:28:48 am
content: Making a lathe is practically all about machining. The motor portion is only a small part of it. Proper turning actually does not require much power to perform so long as the tool is proper for the material and kind of cutting to be performed at suitable feed rates. In actuality you should be able to turn the chuck by hand and have a lathe cut if everything is setup right. Otherwise you are just melting that material away, chattering it away, or killing your tool. Having straight ways and smooth secure motion is critical.Unless you are building a wood lathe in which case none of it really matters and you should be all good!

author: robrenz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 14, 2014, 11:50:02 am
content: Quote from: calexanian on July 14, 2014, 05:28:48 amIf this were true all lathes would have 250W motors regardless of size. Power required is roughly proportional to the metal removal rate.

author: XOIIO
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 14, 2014, 03:04:31 pm
content: casually walking I can get 12v, putting a bit of effort into it I can get 20v, and if I start jogging/running ad a medium pace (not going to run ful tilt pushing on the belt lol) I can easily get a fairly steady 40v, I bet this thing would easily make over 100V DC if it was going closer to full speed, it would be a pretty sweet turbine.

author: Rigby
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 14, 2014, 03:11:34 pm
content: treadmill motors are very common on ebay when sold as DC generators. So, there's probably some validity there in terms of a valid use of the part.

author: deth502
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 14, 2014, 08:42:50 pm
content: yeah, wod lathe would be easy enough to make. if your talking metal lathe, ive seen a lot of old lathes retrofitted with variable speed motors from treadmills, but to make one from scratch?? that is one hell of a lot of work.

author: XOIIO
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 14, 2014, 08:47:16 pm
content: Quote from: deth502 on July 14, 2014, 08:42:50 pmYeah, I wouldn't do it from scratch, I would need to find an old/busted up one to fix. I don't have the tools to make one lol.Another idea that came to mind is making a router out of it, a router would be handy for when I'm making enclosures and stuff and would save me the trouble of using a drill or my drill press like one.I think I will keep this treadmill as is but grab the next free one that pops up for parts, this one has power incline as well, and is just fun to mess around with a bit, maybe use it, I don't know, but it would give me time to find a good solution for blades to make it into a turbine. I wonder if old ceiling fan blades would work somewhat well.

author: deth502
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 14, 2014, 08:56:50 pm
content: or get a few stepper motors, some linear bearings, and set up a nice cnc router

author: calexanian
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 16, 2014, 03:13:20 am
content: Quote from: robrenz on July 14, 2014, 11:50:02 amTool losses due to improper grind angle, feed rate, lack of cooling, and chip clearance typically consume more power than the actual cutting operation when present. You would be surprised what a treadle operated lathe can do even in mild steel when set up properly.

author: SeanB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 16, 2014, 04:39:49 am
content: Therin lies the rub, most are not set up properly or operated properly. I had to "educate" some fitters that the precision NC lathe I had just fixed was not going to be able to cut 2mm at a time off a steel blank in a single pass, which the big jobbing lathe next to it ( with a 5kW motor driving it) could do. You can cut with little energy, but if the turnings are getting hot ( brown, blue or even red hot off the tool) then the energy is coming from the rotation source. Sharp tooling, right angle and a thin paring takes very little power, there is a lovely series on YT of the action of a cutter in various metals filmed at high speed, taken using a high power Xray source and showing how the cut material deforms against the cutter edge as it plows through it.

author: robrenz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 16, 2014, 02:54:29 pm
content: Quote from: calexanian on July 16, 2014, 03:13:20 amHogwash!Calculations for power required based on everything being properhere. my last post on this thread to not derail it any further

author: Rigby
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 16, 2014, 03:41:32 pm
content: I love it when an expert calls out a BS artist. Of course, I hate it when I'm the one doing the BSing, but I love witnessing it happen to someone else.robrenz you can I can be friends.