Treadmill motor for a sewing machine??

[AlZilla]

A few years back I needed to slow my 80+ year old drill press down to mill out some AR lowers. Sparing you the details of why, I replaced the existing motor with a 1.5HP treadmill motor and just screwed the control panel from the treadmill to the wall next to my drill press. It works great.

The only bugaboo is it starts and stops slow, because you really don't want your treadmill to go from 0 to 100 or 100 to zero in the blink of an eye.

Here's an instructable where the guy has adapted these motors to all sorts of things, including a sewing machine. See Step 11.

https://www.instructables.com/Use-a-Treadmill-DC-Drive-Motor-and-PWM-Speed-Contr/

Thoughts? Comments? Anyone done it??  Treadmills can be found for free or dirt cheap.

Edited July 7, 2023 by AlZilla
cosmic dissonance

[fredk]

I guess the starting slow would be a bonus on a sewing machine. I like to go slow on mine but the foot controllers just go from slow to fast too easily and quickly. I suppose I just need to sort that out

[SUP]

@AlZilla Love the idea. Uttam will be very interested. He used to make electrical items with his father - radios and things from scratch - so will have the knowhow to use this idea. Thank you for that.

[AlZilla]

2 hours ago, fredk said:

I guess the starting slow would be a bonus on a sewing machine. I like to go slow on mine but the foot controllers just go from slow to fast too easily and quickly. I suppose I just need to sort that out

I wouldn't mind the slow start but I'd prefer it to stop on a dime so I can land my needle exactly.  That's all really a matter of the controller. Maybe one of the geniuses here will have a controller idea. 

You know ... I wonder if it'd run off the same controller most of the servos use. I need to get off my butt and go see how many wires it has.

Edit: It'll take a little to get one dragged out and really see but I now know the switch box has a 2 lead connector and it's not used.  A 4 lead and 6 lead appear to be connected back there, pending a closer look maybe this weekend.

Edited July 7, 2023 by AlZilla

[AlZilla]

Here's a simple controller for sewing machines. It has a potentiometer. I don't see why a domestic sewing machine foot controller couldn't be used in it's place.  Maybe I need to work on this.

 

 

 

[chuck123wapati]

On 7/7/2023 at 12:39 PM, AlZilla said:

A few years back I needed to slow my 80+ year old drill press down to mill out some AR lowers. Sparing you the details of why, I replaced the existing motor with a 1.5HP treadmill motor and just screwed the control panel from the treadmill to the wall next to my drill press. It works great.

The only bugaboo is it starts and stops slow, because you really don't want your treadmill to go from 0 to 100 or 100 to zero in the blink of an eye.

Here's an instructable where the guy has adapted these motors to all sorts of things, including a sewing machine. See Step 11.

https://www.instructables.com/Use-a-Treadmill-DC-Drive-Motor-and-PWM-Speed-Contr/

Thoughts? Comments? Anyone done it??  Treadmills can be found for free or dirt cheap.

those are highly sought after out here not free or cheap anymore  all the tinkerers want em lol. 

[Frodo]

On daily motion  type 

brass tumbler #3 001

if you want to see it running

brass tumbler #3 001

[bladegrinder]

I built a ceramic tumbler for putting stone wash finishes on knives with a treadmill motor. there is a DC rectifier it the junction box shown and it's powered by a variac, the red gismo on the left.

I'm sure one could be used for a sewing machine...but...there would be a lot of tinkering on mounting it and powering it. in the end I don't know if it would be worth it over just rigging up a servo motor.

 

 

[AlZilla]

1 hour ago, bladegrinder said:

but...there would be a lot of tinkering on mounting it and powering it. in the end I don't know if it would be worth it over just rigging up a servo motor.

Sometimes it's interesting just to do things for the sake of doing them.

[dikman]

2 hours ago, AlZilla said:

Sometimes it's interesting just to do things for the sake of doing them.

How true, I'm guilty of doing that many times over.

[chuck123wapati]

7 hours ago, dikman said:

How true, I'm guilty of doing that many times over.

 

10 hours ago, AlZilla said:

Sometimes it's interesting just to do things for the sake of doing them.

of course thats the fun part!!! 

12 hours ago, Frodo said:

On daily motion  type 

brass tumbler #3 001

if you want to see it running

brass tumbler #3 001

i use an old ice cream maker to tumble my brass. 

[Frodo]

Washing machine motors are fantastic

so are printer motors

if you are into DC. Find a hospital bed motor

Tip on the washer motor

when you salvage it from the washer

get the cradle it sits in and the wire harness

[Frodo]

you

50 minutes ago, chuck123wapati said:

 

of course thats the fun part!!! 

i use an old ice cream maker to tumble my brass. 

 

2 minutes ago, Frodo said:

Washing machine motors are fantastic

so are printer motors

if you are into DC. Find a hospital bed motor

Tip on the washer motor

when you salvage it from the washer

get the cradle it sits in and the wire harness

first tumbler I made was an ice cream motor

I use Ss pins instead of dry medium

once you go wet you will never tumble dry again

[bladegrinder]

12 hours ago, AlZilla said:

Sometimes it's interesting just to do things for the sake of doing them.

I agree, I have a pretty well set up shop and a some of my equipment was built in my shop. I like fabricating anything I can myself. I had two treadmill motors laying around and the only thing I had to pay for for that tumbler build was the rectifier, the wood and the end caps for the pvc, but like Chuck said those motors aren’t just laying around. Both of mine came from treadmills on the side of the road and from what I remember it was kind of a fight to get them out, on eBay their averaging $80.00. So after you get a motor you have to figure out how to mount it, get a ac to dc converter controller and mount that somewhere where you can somehow connect a foot pedal to it in some fashion. While I’m sure it can and has been done I think realistically in the end a person would stand back looking at what he just built and think to himself…hell, I could have just bought a servo motor and been done with it. However, I do look forward to seeing a treadmill motor powered sewing machine posted up here.

[bladegrinder]

1 hour ago, Frodo said:

you

 

first tumbler I made was an ice cream motor

I use Ss pins instead of dry medium

once you go wet you will never tumble dry again

When those stainless steel pins came out for tumbling brass I jumped right in, wow was that a good move. Pricey getting into them but no comparison to corncob.

[Frodo]

26 minutes ago, bladegrinder said:

When those stainless steel pins came out for tumbling brass I jumped right in, wow was that a good move. Pricey getting into them but no comparison to corncob.

I was asked by another reloaded WHY? 
Hdd rd said he saw no reason to have bling bling brass, that his dull brass was good enough 

my answer turned him into a wet tumbletiu

Yes, You are 200% correct that dull brass tumbled in lizard litter or corn cob is clean enough and the primer pockets are also clean. 
My eyes are not what they were when I was younger and the price of new brass cases is high. I am not trying to compete with the bling bling crowd but a am competing with leaves on the ground

My bling bling stands out, I can seee them and pick them up. Dry media tumbled gets lost and that costs me money56F760F3-44E1-49F1-9866-52C8D867AED0.webp

F7ABDFA5-9739-4300-82DE-E5631227ECD4.webp

[kgg]

5 hours ago, Frodo said:

I use Ss pins instead of dry medium

once you go wet you will never tumble dry again

I do agree the SS pins do a wonderful job but IMHO SS birdshot does a much better job especially around the and in the primer pocket. I went back to dry for couple of reasons.

i) The SS pins work better at cleaning the inside of the straight wall cases (44mag, 45-70, etc) rather than rounds with a shoulder (556/762/etc)

ii) They have a tendency to get stuck in sloped wall rounds like 9x19.

iii) The toxic slurry water is a PITA to get rid of safely (full of everything from bismuth to nitrates to lead to mercury) compared to sand.

Mostly though I went back to sand + NU FINISH because I reload a lot and after ~200K reloading with wet I noticed that they degrade the brass wall more than sand, and they can damage the primer pocket’s flash hole. IIRC it worked out to be about 1 to 2 less reloads per brass than with dry. Plus while they look shinier with wet tumble… the drying process can leave spotting AND the lack of film means they do not stay as shiny as Nu-Finish’ed brass… and with hotter loads they stick more than nu-finished brass and yet also stick more at the low end (ie less damage to the rims on +P and more vigorous ejection w/ powder puff IPSC loads).  

Just my thoughts,

kgg

[chuck123wapati]

so I'm eating my words today lol the wife was on fakebook and found a free treadmill. So many ideas so little time .

[AlZilla]

4 minutes ago, chuck123wapati said:

so I'm eating my words today lol the wife was on fakebook and found a free treadmill. So many ideas so little time .

Snatch it up, quick!

[chuck123wapati]

Just now, AlZilla said:

Snatch it up, quick!

I just picked it up. 

[Frodo]

Did you get the whole thing?

Wire harness ?

frame with motor mounts?

 

[chuck123wapati]

3 minutes ago, Frodo said:

Did you get the whole thing?

Wire harness ?

frame with motor mounts?

 

yup the whole shebang. i'll be taking it apart tomorrow morning.

[chuck123wapati]

stripped it down this morning It has a lot of good parts, nice rollers and bearing, speakers, 2 hp motor. 

[AlZilla]

5 hours ago, chuck123wapati said:

 2 hp motor. 

That's why I wondered about adapting these to sewing machines. 2hp vs 1/2 or 3/4. You could sew a new fender on your car.

[chuck123wapati]

2 hours ago, AlZilla said:

That's why I wondered about adapting these to sewing machines. 2hp vs 1/2 or 3/4. You could sew a new fender on your car.

Oh yea and with the fly wheel on this thing it wouldn't stop at the fender lol. A guy could build a line shaft say at the back of a table and power multiple tools.