The Ultimate Diy DC Treadmill Motor Controller

[The Aussie Shed]

Just a quick Vid posted to my Youtube Channel.
Most of this footage was buried in another video & have had a few folks ask for a separate video.
Hope you like it.
Cheers.

[Altair]

Thanks The Aussie Shed! We've added your DC Treadmill Motor Controller to our Electronics category,
as well as to your builder page: The Aussie Shed's Homemade Tools. Your receipt:

DC Treadmill Motor Controller by The Aussie Shed

tags: rivet, controller

[DIYSwede]

Thanks again, for yet another good video! Clear, and to the point.
I particularly like your "rant" about grounding, (but then I'm an electrician also).

Just my 2+2 cents:
a) -Are you having a GFI/ RCD on your shed's outlets as well?
Good thing to have before you'd need it, especially when rolling around outside with mains cables attached.

b) -Are there any RFI suppression capacitors/ A K A "condensers" built into these treadmill motors?
Also a good thing to have, as the back-EMF can be pretty nasty upstream at the rectifier/ SCR (see "d" below).
Should optimally be hooked from each brush to motor case, and one between the brushes for good measure.

c)-Have you tried checking your installations re: RFI?
Caps as per "b" will take 'em down, and an easy, cheap check is to put an AM radio
(tuned between stations) in the shed and listen before and after each improvement.

d) The ferrite cores found molded-in on old computer VGA cables or in electronics can come in handy for noise suppression-
just shove the phase & neutral leads thru it, as many turns as you can cram in, close to the SCR output.

I won't comment on your touching the ungrounded case in the test fire-up...

Cheers from DIYSwede (approximately at your antipode)

[Beserkleyboy]

Mate. I love your videos! I'm interested in converting this drum sander http://www.homemadetools.net/homemade-drum-sander-52, to power feed. I've got a small gearbox, 25:1, I think...any thoughts on what sort of motor would be suitable? Thanks very any light you can shed. Cheers
Jim

[tbdl]

Just a quick Vid posted to my Youtube Channel.
Most of this footage was buried in another video & have had a few folks ask for a separate video.
Hope you like it.
Cheers.

Thanks mate, handy info! Love the sticker. If we remove all warning lables, after some years we will be back to a generation that can think for themselves!

[KMoffett]

If you want to limit over-speeding the motor with the pot all the way clockwise, add a resistor in series with the clockwise terminal. The value of the resistor will be a small % of the pot's value. Experiment with the value that gives you an acceptable maximum speed.
Ken

[vortexwizard]

what size / type caps do you suggest for this. cheers

[Nick79]

Well done. I have used the same SCR units for my conversions but have swapped out the 500k potentiometer that usually comes with it for a 200k pot which I found to have a bit more responsive adjustment for speed. Some of the older treadmills have the MC60 control boards with simple plug and play connections. When you find more "modern" units they use a PWM pulse width modulation method to vary the speed rather than the very reliable potentiometers. I have converted two tabletop drill presses, three 1 x 30" HF belt sanders, a small lathe and a bandsaw - all to treadmill DC motors. I love the variable speed option.

[Floradawg]

One part man, two parts legend...Indeed! Do you find that lowering the DC voltage to the motor at low rpm but fairly high torque causes the motor to heat up? Thanks for the info.

cheers,

Charles