Looking to add a treadmill motor to a JD Wallace vintage bandsaw.

[C-Bag]

Great pix jere! Much better idea of what you are talking about here. Now this is just me, and I'm not trying to be prescriptive here, I'd be all over that old motor base plate to build an adapter on it. But that's just because I see the old motor as a liability, sorry. And with the thought of it out of the way modding that base plate would probably mean making a motor mount out of the dc motor mount(basically like Jonathan suggested, but using the old parts) and as long as it's centered and square with the old plate then it's only the depth and having enough shaft of the dc motor sticking out. Bad thing is you're going to have come up with a seal on the motor shaft because of the gears running in an oil bath.

Then I would drill some good sized holes on the bottom of the main case for air flow and on the bottom to help with the filtering. And take the old end casting and where the embossed(?) parts are, take them out for the other air flow. Drill, cut, whatever, and put screen or whatever over them. Then you can bolt the old motor casing and end back on.

In my studies on dc it's supposedly a pretty flat power curve so when you run them slow they don't get as weak as an a/c. The only bad thing is the lowered air flow. I wish I'd known about treadmill motors when I did my redo on my bandsaw because every once in a blue moon I do some wood and miss the high speed. With this set up no changing pulleys no muss no fuss potentially.

Just my deflated 2c.

[PJs]

Thanks for the new Pics Jere. The more I see the more I tend to agree with C-Bag about using the old housing but I would probably just save the whole motor for later in case parts should show up. The old housing isn't going to be long enough anyway and will need another shroud to build anyway. IMHO I think it will be much easier to build a front plate for the DC motor to match the flange pattern which also might help with your gear alignment and if possible just leave the existing fan on the front of the treadmill motor. You can probably find a piece of 1/4" plate at the scrap yard for cheap and work from there for brackets and such.

As for lube and chips/dust a shroud could be formed from AL or old sign material to keep the big hunks out and supplement it with your pantyhose idea for finer stuff but it will restrict the airflow. At high speed for wood work it should be fine but prolonged low speed metal work Will generate more heat and have less CFM because of the speed. Have to ponder it a while. For Lube I use white lithium grease for pressure type lubricant as it holds up well and it doesn't take on chips or goobers like oil. Additional concerns would also be about sealing the shaft/air openings on the DC motor from a sump/splash oil system also...even mist would get in there pretty easily and probably wreak havoc.

Very Cool you found the mfg. date on the housing!! ~PJ

[jere]

C-Bag, PJ, thanks very poignant thoughts, all you guys are helping make this project turn out better than I would have done on my own! If all goes as planned I will start cutting layout "chip board" and start cutting metal.

I bought a section of ¼" plate that was scrap from a fabrication company yesterday. Scrap yards in my area won't sell to the public. (There are 3 within 2 miles of where i live too )If I am dropping off there and find some good pieces I can "trade" .

I will have to put some more thought on how much or little of the original motor housing I end up using. Fitment issues might just dictate my options too, so I will get started with what I can do.

[C-Bag]

Have fun and hope you keep us posted jere. I love saving worthwhile machines like what you are doing put back in service.

I totally feel your pain about finding(and getting rid of good scrap). Where I used to live there was never a problem, new or used. But now it seems I wasn't paying attention or its been a while and things have changed here. I had a bunch of steel that were old homemade jigs and work stations that I didn't need anymore and was surprised my junkyard dog brother wanted them in the worst way. He says where he lives there is no scrap and the price of new has gone through the roof. He was happy to get my 400lbs of old heavy metal.

But now I'm faced with trying to get rid of the base frame of that big gym treadmill frame. It's outrageous.....all heavy duty aluminum! Heavy extrusion frame rails 10' long with 1x4 .250 thick channel crossmembers and uprights along with heavy plate all tig welded. And ALL of its aluminum and I can't find anybody who will even take it! The only place is the recycle at the landfill that I'll have to pay to give it to them. So I guess I'll just cut it up into big enough pieces to fit in my recycle bin as thats apparently ok. What's up with that?

[machiningfool]

Here is an explanation of the numbers for the length of belt that you need. This is a Gates number==380J8. 38 meaning the length O.D. in inches,- J, meaning a micro poly-groove V belt and the 8 meaning 8 grooves. Here are some pictures of the treadmill motor setup on my bandsaw, hope this helps. The motor rests on a plate that is hinged and the weight of the motor tightens the belt. Robert Brown. If you have any more questions, please ask. The controls are upside down because that is the shape that fits the top of my saw. If you don't want to use the whole console, I suggest that you get the type of controls that either have a slide type control for speed or a round knob type and then you can relocate the controls elsewhere so that it doesn't ugly up your saw.

[jere]

Have fun and hope you keep us posted jere. I love saving worthwhile machines like what you are doing put back in service.

I totally feel your pain about finding(and getting rid of good scrap). Where I used to live there was never a problem, new or used. But now it seems I wasn't paying attention or its been a while and things have changed here. I had a bunch of steel that were old homemade jigs and work stations that I didn't need anymore and was surprised my junkyard dog brother wanted them in the worst way. He says where he lives there is no scrap and the price of new has gone through the roof. He was happy to get my 400lbs of old heavy metal.

But now I'm faced with trying to get rid of the base frame of that big gym treadmill frame. It's outrageous.....all heavy duty aluminum! Heavy extrusion frame rails 10' long with 1x4 .250 thick channel crossmembers and uprights along with heavy plate all tig welded. And ALL of its aluminum and I can't find anybody who will even take it! The only place is the recycle at the landfill that I'll have to pay to give it to them. So I guess I'll just cut it up into big enough pieces to fit in my recycle bin as thats apparently ok. What's up with that?

Wow I would be pretty covetousness of some al stock like that. Any metal on the curb is quickly picked up by then scavengers/ scrappers around here. They always circle our neighborhood like vultures on scrap day. There old pickup trucks are full of little kids bikes and lawnmowers. I have lost some small metal furniture that was 15 feet from the curb in about ten minutes time. You would think some lawn chairs were made from gold by the way it disappears around here.

[jere]

Here is an explanation of the numbers for the length of belt that you need. This is a Gates number==380J8. 38 meaning the length O.D. in inches,- J, meaning a micro poly-groove V belt and the 8 meaning 8 grooves. Here are some pictures of the treadmill motor setup on my bandsaw, hope this helps. The motor rests on a plate that is hinged and the weight of the motor tightens the belt. Robert Brown. If you have any more questions, please ask. The controls are upside down because that is the shape that fits the top of my saw. If you don't want to use the whole console, I suggest that you get the type of controls that either have a slide type control for speed or a round knob type and then you can relocate the controls elsewhere so that it doesn't ugly up your saw.

Thanks Robert that information should come in handy in the future with the belts. With this project I am planning to use the old gear of the bandsaw on the treadmill motor. I pulled off the flywheel/ pulley and I turned an adaptor collar to make up for the difference in the motors shafts diameter. For the controller I am not sure how to get the new plastic to look right with the old cast iron. I have pulled the circuit boards from the original large plastic so that will help give me some options for where to mount the boards. I have been thinking about tucking most of the boards under the hollow stand of the saw. Then maybe soldering in my own switch to increase and decrease the speeds. I haven't gotten to far with that part yet though.





That spacer is the first useful thing I have turned on my metal lathe. I am a rookie with a metal lathe my only instruction has been from utube videos.
I found out that there is a taper to the inner diameter of the old gear. The first spacer I turned was loose on one end. The second spacer will need hammered on, and I have to cut a keyway and add set screws? There are three different shaft locking mechanisms between the new and the old. Any idea on which I should use or give preference to?

[C-Bag]

Wow I would be pretty covetousness of some al stock like that. Any metal on the curb is quickly picked up by then scavengers/ scrappers around here. They always circle our neighborhood like vultures on scrap day. There old pickup trucks are full of little kids bikes and lawnmowers. I have lost some small metal furniture that was 15 feet from the curb in about ten minutes time. You would think some lawn chairs were made from gold by the way it disappears around here.

You know it used to be that way around here. But a year or so ago you could find guys on cl who wanted you scrap, not anymore. And when I did find one they couldn't be bothered unless it was a car or tractor. Won't even take washers and dryers anymore and tha places you used to see saying they would give you something for scrap have all disappeared. I just don't have any need for all this al and I'll bet it's over 100lbs.

I was wondering when you'd get to controls as that was even bigger rabbit hole than the motors IMHO. In my searches on eBay I found this ad for "MC-60 black box DC motor super controller". A MC-60 is a pretty common treadmill lo end motor controller and this is that controller in a small plastic case completely setup for a mill or lathe. It has an lighted on off switch, fwd neutral rev switch, resume pause switch, a motor speed knob and jog button. Just came today and everything works with my motor. I ended up getting it for $115 w/shipping. I thought if nothing else the control board is easy to get for as low as $45 and I could take this apart and copy the wiring and switches and make another for half price I think.

[jere]

eBay really has some cool stuff hidden around if you know what you are looking for. Is the mc-60 a pulse width modulation controller or bridge rectifier controller? I think I have seen rectifier controlling a treadmill motor with maybe just a potentiometer or rheostat. I think it was a $10-20 setup but there weren't all the other cool options. I am leaning towards the factory controls for the pwm control that it came with. I forget all the benefits but motor life was one and maybe a better powerband. down the road it would be great to upgrade the factory controls. I am not looking forward to dealing with the bulky design of the treadmill board and hunting down which wires do what.

The way the treadmill board I have is set up, it won't remember its speed. it will power down quickly, but I will have to press the up or down arrow a dozen times to guesstimate the right cutting speed. I am going to have to find a tachometer and add that on somehow In the long run too. I have been considering a bicycle speedo too ,it might not give the rpm but it will show a benchmark.

[C-Bag]

The MC-60 as far as I can find is a PWM but that kind of stuff is above my pay grade. Like I mentioned it's a really common controller it turns out. There's even talk about it on the CNC forums and I guess there's mods for it. I wish there was a pin out for the controller that was on the mill I got gym motor off of, but unlike the MC-60 all the contols connected thru a single ribbon plug. Very pro and tidy. It also sat on top of a unit that is all choke/coils ? and the motor output went from controller board thu one of those coils then to the motor. Do you know what they are for? Speaking of eBay, there's a guy on there selling mill motors with what looks like the stock MC-60 controller with vid demos. In the demo there's a smaller coil like mine and he says" you don't even need this, very simple" he keeps saying.

I have no idea if this box I got is going to work long term but I like the control layout. And the use of a knob for speed means theres no memory or poking the control panel for speed control. But the box is plastic and has no mount tabs and looking at all these controllers they use the al unit they are built on as a heat sink so I don't want to drill into the box to mount for fear of drilling into the board/heat sink and it being enclosed like this is it going to get hot? Too many questions for a poor noob.......