It is a Marathon electric motor 120V, 1PH 15.6Amp motor rated at 1.5HP did alot of motor searching as I am an electrician by trade and this gave the most bang for your buck. It is totally enclosed I tracked these down at UFA for only $209.00 and got all the steel from a scrap bin at work so all in all I ended up building for about $600 max and puts out like a deam. I still have to build the flat platen but that being said I put an ammeter on it and stuck an old chunk of steel to it as hard as I could and was only sitting at 10Amps so no worries on overloading the circuit
Cool. I am designing one to take the same type of motor but will try a 2.25 hp treadmill motor first cause its free. If it works I will have variable speed as long as I can figure out how to bypass or properly attach the speed sensor.
That's awesome Icho if you have trouble figuring out the speed sensor by a cheap 120V potentiometer and just wire it in series with the motor they run about $15 and that will also do the same as it just limits your voltage to the motor. Also if you end up having to do that it will allow you to mount anywhere you like around your grinder. I can't wait to see it sounds like an awesome plan.
The treadmill motor is dc so I will be using the control panel from the actual treadmill. It even ckecks paulse so I know if I am getting too excited. Lol. About the potentiometer. I heard of people using light dimmer switches but they can burn out or burn out the motor. Could that be a problem with the potentiometer that you are talking about? I only know the basics of electronics. You can see the design I've been working on in this section. 2x72 belt grinder design.
LOL...sorry Itcho I got that backwards my bad, you would have to use a rheostat to limit the current and yes you are right if you limit the voltage your probably going to burn out the motor windings or the switch which could be a pretty expensive woops almost definatley. Good call!!
Kudos on the control panel that would make an awesome setup and would have a killer appearance to it!!!
Cool. Thanks for the info. If the treadmill motor doesn't work out I will definately be looking into the rheostat idea. Btw. When you make your platen you might be able to use skateboard wheels as idlers. Actually longboard wheels. I will probably try them out when I am ready. They are a descent diameter and are flat. Seen a set of 4 on ebay for under $20. Could be a cheap alternative.
Haha...that's funny you should mention that Itcho, that's exactly what I did a couple months ago just haven't assembled it yet. Way to funny!!!
Metal I tried the long board wheels and they worked but not nearly as good as I hoped. Given the concave of the wheels and the recessed mounting of the bolts by the time I got the spinning smooth as steady the concave of the wheels were a real obstacle for belt tracking. Having one on top and bottom of the flat platen they were constantly fighting each other causing the belt to sway one way or the other. I just ordered a platen and two idler wheels and a small wheel attachment figured I have a lot of knives to make and didn't want to waste any more time on it. Old school skateboard wheels would probably be WAY better..
So far so good but I've only been using them for a short amount of time. I also got the cheapest bearings they had. $10 for 8pcs. I will keep you guys updated.
I can see how the concave face would cause some problems. The wheels I bought are pretty flat so hopefully they will be better but I won't know till I try them. Icho, the bearings I got were on sale for $10 regular $40! They are rubber sealed so hopefully that helps.
That's cool Jules. good deal on the bearings. They should last. My wheels may be slightly concave but not really noticeable. The only reason I noticed is when I was grounding a test piece of tubing that was painted it took a couple extra passes to clean the paint off in the middle. I just figured it was a bow in the tubing. It would never be noticeable on a .5" wide piece of stock.
So far so good Jules. I haven't been using it lately for knives but it sure is nice to be able to take a notch out of moldings in seconds at the push of a button. I haven't had any time to do knife any stuff. As of now I would definitely recommend them. They run very smooth. I do check them regularly just to see how the bearings are doing and haven't noticed any play or noise.
