Treadmill motor question

A "brushless dc" motor is really a 3-phase ac motor with a permanent magnet rotor, as I understand it.
-Mark
Treadmill motors are usually dc brush type.
 
I've always heard, when you find a used treadmill, take the motor and controls and use them to power your -------.
I have one around here somewhere in a box with controls for my future belt grinder.
 
dc controls can be made simple or very complicated.
the simplest is to use the stock control board and wire in a potentiometer for speed control
MC40,MC60 controllers are simple, cheap and effective.
KB makes some formidable drives too (KBIC)
 
here is a DC treadmill conversion i did on an underpowered wood saw.
the process may be very similar to make propulsion for other machine tools

www.hobby-machinist.com

Skill Band Saw 3386 -1.3 Hp Treadmill Motor Retrofit

Hey Guys and Gals, i bought what i thought may be a cool little bandsaw, a Skill 3386... 59-1/2" blades 120 VAC, 2.5 amps it worked just fine on pine up to 3/8" and it did great on the 5mm plywood. but it didn't like hardwoods nor did it like any thickness over 3/4" in just about any...
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You can find a pulse width modulator of suitable parameters on ebay for $10 and up. Add to this a full wave rectifier for another few dollars and you have a great dc motor control for nearly nothing. I am currently using these with tread mill motors on both my lathe and band saw.
 
I've done 3 treadmill motor conversions (mill, drill press and lathe) and they're pretty straightforward. I think one or more of my threads are on here.

MC60 or KBIC controllers are typically good up to ~1.5hp, for higher than that the MC2100 controllers are good, but you need a proper way to generate a PWM signal to control speed (Arduino for example). As long as the controller and motor are well match you'll have a useable speed range of 10 or 20-100% of motor speed. On my mill (6x26) that's around 150-1800rpm on the middle pulley, 40 or 50 - 500rpm or so in slow pulley and 500 to crazy in the high pulley. Very useful and versatile.
 
I have a KB drive fitted on my bandsaw. I happened to have a suitable dc motor in my stash that mated to the worm gear box that wandered in ;-)

DC motors and permanent magnet brushless/ac motors are both excellent at torque: full torque is available at zero speed. You WILL get into cooling trouble if you leave them going slowly, though. Separate fan motors are the way to go for really wide ranging.

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