Variable speed for my Atlas 10" Lathe

[Richard Hed]

I've been keeping an eye out for a tread mill that I could salvage. But I've never been able to find one around here! I'd like to have one for the mill and one
for the lathe and, maybe, one for a drill press.

Mark, where are you in WA? PM me if'n you want.

Pete

10K, where do you live? I live in Moses Lake, WA. We're getting treadmills often, but one never knows when for sure. I kik myself in the a$$ for not taking the controls when I got the motor from one. Didn't realize I needed that.

 

[dnalot]

I kik myself in the a$$ for not taking the controls when I got the motor from one. Didn't realize I needed that.

You also need to take the transformer from the old treadmill, the control board (not the one that is the user interface) and the motor. The motor usually has a flywheel but is not needed, just remove it ( it unscrews) All the control boards I have looked at are well labeled so its not hard to wire it up. A 10 ohm rotary pot is needed to control the speed. Most treadmills use a slider speed control that is located on the user interface board. Richard you can find control boards on e-bay for around $100. What kills most of the treadmills is the user interface board has a battery on it. They corrode and ruin the board. Those are expensive to replace so off to the dump they go.

10K is way up north in Western Washington. If you go up to visit him, pick me up on your way.

Mark T

 

[Richard Hed]

You also need to take the transformer from the old treadmill, the control board (not the one that is the user interface) and the motor. The motor usually has a flywheel but is not needed, just remove it ( it unscrews) All the control boards I have looked at are well labeled so its not hard to wire it up. A 10 ohm rotary pot is needed to control the speed. Most treadmills use a slider speed control that is located on the user interface board. Richard you can find control boards on e-bay for around $100. What kills most of the treadmills is the user interface board has a battery on it. They corrode and ruin the board. Those are expensive to replace so off to the dump they go.

10K is way up north in Western Washington. If you go up to visit him, pick me up on your way.

Mark T

Way up north? heysoo krisko, that's a long way for me. Where way up north? Bellingham? Everwett?

 

[awake]

You also need to take the transformer from the old treadmill, the control board (not the one that is the user interface) and the motor. The motor usually has a flywheel but is not needed, just remove it ( it unscrews) All the control boards I have looked at are well labeled so its not hard to wire it up. A 10 ohm rotary pot is needed to control the speed. Most treadmills use a slider speed control that is located on the user interface board. Richard you can find control boards on e-bay for around $100. What kills most of the treadmills is the user interface board has a battery on it. They corrode and ruin the board. Those are expensive to replace so off to the dump they go.

Older controllers such as the MC60 use a simple variable resistor (pot) to control the speed, but many newer ones (e.g., MC1200, MC2000, MC2100) require a 10Hz (yes, that slow) PWM pulse train. You can create such a pulse train in any number of ways, but there are ready-made controllers available on Amazon or similar that do the job for around $15. Here's one I bought a while back to control the MC1200 and treadmill motor combo that is powering my belt sander: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B07NJ1SL3N/?th=1 - no affiliation other than as a satisfied customer. These controllers allow you to select the frequency of the PWM (again, 10Hz needed), and to select 0 - 100% modulation of the PWM, corresponding to 0 - 100% speed on the motor.

There is a header on the MC1200/MC2000/MC2100 boards that makes accessible all of the needed signal lines. Note that you may have to do a little testing to find the correct pinout - I found pinouts online for MC2100, but the pinout for the MC1200 was just slightly different. In addition to ground and PWM in, the header provides a nominal 12VDC out which can be used to power the PWM controller. If you save the RPM sensor (hall effect + magnet), and plug it into the controller board, you also can get that signal on the header; my goal is to use the 12VDC to power an Arduino Nano, so that it can generate the PWM and control the motor to a specified RPM.