Treadmill motor question

wow, that's a thread from the dead. If he hasn't updated it in 6 years, he's probably not going to now :)

Martik - depends where you're at, I looked for around 8mths and never saw a 3ph motor for sale on CL. While 3ph+VFD are undoubtably better, you'll be lucky to get a 1/2-3/4hp 3ph motor + VFD for under $200 new. Most treadmills come free for the hauling, all of mine did anyway.

hman - I've never seen treadmill motors with offset brushes. I've had 5 or 6, all but one from different manufacturers and they all have brushes at 90deg. No issues with reversing any of them (other than making sure the flywheel doesn't screw itself off). Powerwise, just go off what's possible on a standard 15A 110V outlet - about 1hp, maybe 1 1/2hp. That's the biggest TM motor you're likely to find in a home TM.
 
The VFD's I linked are ~ $50 and I was lucky to get a 1hp motor for $40, the other was free. Have a look on ebay, many are ~$100 with shipping:
 
uh sure, we can argue this all day. If I were to go to the trouble of setting up a VFD, I personally wouldn't want to take my chances with a $50 VFD plus I'd want one that runs off 110V (no 220V circuit in the garage). If those work for you great. Teco 510 VFDs, which seem pretty robust and well thought after are ~$130-150:
Even the cheapy HY VFDs that run off 110V are about $100 on eBay. So $100 VFD plus $100 3ph motor off eBay = $200.

Or $40 for a BUD box and some switches and I have variable speed that runs off 110V. No big deal which way you want to go to get there, it's the end result that counts, right? But I did spend a considerable amount of time looking and researching the issue and the TM motor(s)+controllers worked out the best for me.
 
If you decide to buy a motor used make sure to run it first, or at least take a meter with you. I had a guy from Craigslist sell me a great looking Baldor that was fried inside:mad:

John
 
Bought a we leeson 1hp, 1800 rpm motor and a teco VFD....hopefully will start the rebuild soon.. Thanks for the input/concerns.
 
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