AC motor controller

Gene Howe · Post by **Gene Howe** » Wed Oct 19, 2011 6:59 pm

Is there such an animal for my GE 1/2 hp AC capacitor start 7 amp motor?
Thanks guys.

ryanbp01 · Post by **ryanbp01** » Wed Oct 19, 2011 7:44 pm

Gene,

I'll ask my wife. She works in customer service for motors at GE.

BPR

JPG · Post by **JPG** » Wed Oct 19, 2011 7:51 pm

Gene Howe wrote:Is there such an animal for my GE 1/2 hp AC capacitor start 7 amp motor?
Thanks guys.

Depends upon what you mean by 'controller'. If you are referring to a start relay, yes. It takes the place of the start switch and disconnects the start capacitor once up to speed.

And what pray tell is this motor driving? A Model 10?

Gene Howe · Post by **Gene Howe** » Thu Oct 20, 2011 8:02 am

Thanks for your replies.
I should have titled the question "SPEED CONTROL DEVICE".
It will power a homemade drum sander.

JPG · Post by **JPG** » Thu Oct 20, 2011 11:44 am

Gene Howe wrote:Thanks for your replies.
I should have titled the question "SPEED CONTROL DEVICE".
It will power a homemade drum sander.

Since an ac induction motor is designed to run at a specific load/speed range, any speed control must be done mechanically. A DC(or universal) motor is a more likely candidate.

Gene Howe · Post by **Gene Howe** » Thu Oct 20, 2011 4:39 pm

Thanks JPG.
Gonna hafta use pulleys to slow it, I guess. When I was given this tread mill, I thought it had a DC motor.

Oh well.

JPG · Post by **JPG** » Thu Oct 20, 2011 6:54 pm

Gene Howe wrote:Thanks JPG.
Gonna hafta use pulleys to slow it, I guess. When I was given this tread mill, I thought it had a DC motor.
Oh well.

Question is, do you want to make it adjustable while using, or just to set the speed initially.

I think a ss motor with sheaves is a good variable speed power source. Increasing tension(by way of an idler pulley etc.) will decrease the belt speed and vice versa. The tension is auto adjusting.

Gene Howe · Post by **Gene Howe** » Fri Oct 21, 2011 7:26 am

See no reasons to make adjustments during operation. It's just a big belt sander.

pennview · Post by **pennview** » Fri Oct 21, 2011 4:24 pm

One of the treadmills I've picked up had a AC motor, but also had plastic Reeves pulleys so one could vary the speed of the tread. It was a Lifestyler treadmill from Sears, but I don't recall the model number. Other Lifestyler treadmills I've seen have DC motors. The variable pulleys on the AC motor were adjusted using a small crank and cable system, so it's easy to identify the two types. The DC models use an electronic controller with a rheostat.

On Wednesday I picked up a Lifestyler with DC motor, but the shaft on the motor is threaded with a cast iron flywheel/fan assembly screwed on. I believe it a left-hand thread, but as of now I haven't been able to remove the flywheel. I'm guessing I'll have to disassemble the motor in order to get a grip on the shaft so I can unscrew the flywheel.

billmayo · Post by **billmayo** » Fri Oct 21, 2011 11:37 pm

pennview wrote:One of the treadmills I've picked up had a AC motor, but also had plastic Reeves pulleys so one could vary the speed of the tread. It was a Lifestyler treadmill from Sears, but I don't recall the model number. Other Lifestyler treadmills I've seen have DC motors. The variable pulleys on the AC motor were adjusted using a small crank and cable system, so it's easy to identify the two types. The DC models use an electronic controller with a rheostat.

On Wednesday I picked up a Lifestyler with DC motor, but the shaft on the motor is threaded with a cast iron flywheel/fan assembly screwed on. I believe it a left-hand thread, but as of now I haven't been able to remove the flywheel. I'm guessing I'll have to disassemble the motor in order to get a grip on the shaft so I can unscrew the flywheel.

All the treadmill motors use a left handed thread (9/16" or 1/2" LH?). The flywheel helps cool the motor and provide inertia and mass for a slower start and helps smooth out the DC motor rotation. This was from my experience.

I brought a left handed 3" long bolt and nut and cut the bolt head off. I threaded the flywheel onto the bolt and chucked the smooth part of the bolt in my metal lathe chuck. Locking the LH nut againest the flywheel and using a dial indicator, then moving the flywheel on the bolt and relocking the nut until my flywheel runout was less then .002". I machine the Poly-V grooved pulley part of the flywheel down to 1" and mounted a 1/2" wide single V belt pulley. I filed a flat for the set screw. This took a few hours to accomplish. I switched to a tool post grinder to remove most of the flywheel pulley on the remaining flywheels that I did. Much quicker and machined the last .010"-.020" for the 1" ID belt pully.

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