Thread: Variable speed control.

We need to find an electrical engineer and get him hooked on a straight razor and the forum :<0) Mine is a woman that is 150 years old ,ex navy, and passed on being the first woman astronaut. She takes the time to explain all the yada french yada yada Swahili, yada plain english and I forget it all as I walk away. Now I just ask " can I do this or not ? "

Mikeb52. Thanks for the input about the leeson drive I have. I got it from a electric exhaust fan system that my work place got rid of. They upgraded so I figured if it could control the speed on the fan system st my work then it should certainly work on a motor for a grinder.provided it is the right motor. So your saying I need a 90 or 180 vdc motor ? I just want to be sure of what to buy before I look into it further. I don't know how to wire squat. But one of my nephews does so he would help for sure. Anyone else chime in to help when you can. I am patient and have months to work on this though I would like to get it done sooner

I spoke with a person from Leeson directly and he pointed me in the direction of what motor to get with the controller I have. that being said, the motor he showed me was 2000 dollars. so, that aint gonna happen. now to a vfd and motor combo . cheapest and best route I can see as suggested previously by you all. thanks,

Originally Posted by drmccubx

I spoke with a person from Leeson directly and he pointed me in the direction of what motor to get with the controller I have. that being said, the motor he showed me was 2000 dollars. so, that aint gonna happen. now to a vfd and motor combo . cheapest and best route I can see as suggested previously by you all. thanks,

Good call. And if you sell the controller you have, you might actually go a long way towards paying for the vfd solution.

I won't say how much I spent on my vfd and leeson combo for my belt sander, but those prices are about right.
Used 90 vdc motors in the 1750 RPM range can go for under a couple hun and usually just need replacement carbon brushes.
That being said, a premade, bundled solution might be best for your application and electrical experience. An old wood lathe with belt drive speed control could be converted to your drive side. Were you in Ontario I would give you some older swag.
Good luck with your project.
I added a pic of my set up below to maybe help with ideas. I have a pair of dc motors powered off a common leeson drive running a buffing wheel and sanding belt set up. I added a couple of switches so I can run either unit in Frwd or reverse.

[IMG]file://hdsprup02.amr.corp.intel.com/drmccubX$/V2/My%20Documents/Electric%20Motor%20-%20P.M.D.C.html[/IMG]

so , can anyone answer this for me . will my leeson speed control work on the above treadmill motor ?

Or maybe this one on the BAY

Treadmill DC Permanent Magent Motor Wind Turbine Gen | eBay

I was wondering about this one sice it is an 90 vdc

Your first link doesn't work.
Need to know the voltage rating of the treadmill motor to be able to answer.
If it's a dc motor, @ either 90 or 180 volts DC it will. The leeson output goes to the treadmill motor input, you could mount the drive on your grab bar with tie wraps to change speeds on the fly.
Pics of motor, and wiring connection choices will help give a more specific answer.
Good luck.
edit; that motor in the ebay link, if 90 vdc will work. shaft size may matter for a direct fit on a treadmill.

If you are considering a treadmill motor, cannibalize the whole thing...they have their own controllers. One of our members here has done that and just has the controller off to the side of his grinder.

Yeah rethinking it all. Thinking back to vfd and motor