What is a DC Treadmill Motor?

oskar

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Just wondering what is a DC Treadmill Motor. Why?

Recently I bought a Taig mini metalworking lathe and eventually I plan to convert it to cnc. I have experience with cnc mills but never used or seen a lathe before and it’s all for hobby use.

Back in 2012 I bought a set of Taig ER16 headstock along with a Sherline KBIC DC Motor Speed Control for the cnc mill I was building. Since then I replaced the Taig / KBIC with a VFD / water cooled spindle and I’m thinking to use the KBIC on my new Taig.

Somehow I believe the Treadmill and KBIC do the same thing but not sure
 
a DC treadmill motor is a small but powerful permanent magnet DC motor. sometimes up to 3 hp
A treadmill motor and a controller like the KBIC can be used for operating a lathe, provided that the KBIC controller matches the HP rating of the DC motor, otherwise you will not get full performance from the motor and may damage the controller as a result
 
If you were going to use a treadmill motor for a piece of equipment, but didn't have a suitable controller, the best (or cheapest) approach is to use the controller that came with the motor. A newer, push-button controlled treadmill is a pain to run. They don't seem to ramp up by holding down the button. You have to punch the button a hundred times to get to the speed you want.

The older treadmills with rotary or slide pots are much nicer to run.
 
DC stands for direct current, which is like a battery, or your cell phone charger output. There’s a positive (+) and negative (-) electron flow. AC current is what your refrigerator, air compressor, and hair dryer run on. The electron flow is cyclic. And now I see someone else posted, so they’ve probably answered it better than I would have in much less time. There are books devoted to the subject though. Google can help.
 
Thanks to all for the great help

BTW the KBIC DC Motor Speed Control I used came together with a 90VDC motor and both worked nicely on my cnc mill and hopefully will work nice on my Taig conversion
 
That’s great! I’ve always guessed Cnc machines used stepper motors, so that’s interesting to me that plain old dc motors do the job. Did you buy the motor and controller as a package from a vendor, or how’d you come across them? Apologies if you already mentioned it.
 
You need both. CNC machines use stepper motors to control the MOVEMENT of the tables or cutting head in the x, y, and z directions. However they still need to SPIN the mill or lather spindle, and that’s where the DC treadmill motors come in. People are finding them a good substitute for the AC motors that come standard on a lot of small machines (which require a pulley or gear change to adjust the rotational speed of the spindle). A brushless DC motor can be made variable speed with the right controller, and most people upgrade the spindle motor at the same time they’re doing the CNC conversion.
 
Tomothyj999 above said it right.

I bought a package back in 2012 of a Taig headstock, Sherline 90VDC motor, the KBIC DC Motor Speed Control, and 4 stepper motors for a cnc mill I was building.
 
Ha! Silly me! I wasn’t even thinking about the spindle motor. Well that explains it all. Oops!
 
Thinking about using a treadmill motor & controller on my 2X72 belt grinder

Thoughts / Suggestions?
 
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