Wrap motor question

yahosh

yahosh

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Hello Cue makers,
I was thinking about using the wrap motor on my deluxe cuesmith to spin cues slowly while my epoxy sealer cures. Is there some sort of rheostat or controller I could use to keep the motor at a constant speed? Would this setup overheat after 40 minutes of continued use? Any and all advice appreciated.
thanks,
Josh
 
You'd likely be best to just buy Chris' finish lathe so you have a separate machine for finishing, and it's designed specifically for such task. Otherwise, get a DC motor for your deluxe lathe. The AC wrap motor isn't designed to be used with a rheostat.
 
You can also get a Gearmotor. Chris sells a block that you can mount to your lathe bed and attach the gearmotor to that. I am not sure if they sell a variable speed gearmotor but if you find one please let me know. Grainger sells them and you'd probably want one in the 60 -90 RPM range.
 
bruppert said:
You can also get a Gearmotor. Chris sells a block that you can mount to your lathe bed and attach the gearmotor to that. I am not sure if they sell a variable speed gearmotor but if you find one please let me know. Grainger sells them and you'd probably want one in the 60 -90 RPM range.
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I think that if the motor is rated for continuous duty and is an AC motor you could put a VFD on it and make it variable speed. Your limitations would be the max rpm of the motor and the amount of reduction on the gear drive. If you have a DC motor that is rated for continuous duty you would have to control the voltage going to it with a motor controller. Same limitations would apply in this set up. My guess for the gear reduction on the out put of the motor is 2 reasons. AC motors do not like to spin slow at a long period of time. If I remember right from college it makes the load raise tremendously across the poles of the motor bringing the amps way up. Also as the motor spins faster it sucks more air through it cooling it.
 
opiesbro said:
I think that if the motor is rated for continuous duty and is an AC motor you could put a VFD on it and make it variable speed. Your limitations would be the max rpm of the motor and the amount of reduction on the gear drive. If you have a DC motor that is rated for continuous duty you would have to control the voltage going to it with a motor controller. Same limitations would apply in this set up. My guess for the gear reduction on the out put of the motor is 2 reasons. AC motors do not like to spin slow at a long period of time. If I remember right from college it makes the load raise tremendously across the poles of the motor bringing the amps way up. Also as the motor spins faster it sucks more air through it cooling it.
Click to expand...

Keep in mind that a VFD will output 3 phase power, requiring a 3 phase motor. AT least, I have never seen a single phase output VFD. I've never seen a speed control for a single phase AC motor. There are devices, like a drill, that run on AC and have speed control, but they are typically DC motor brush motors, not induction AC motors.

Royce
 
RBC said:
Keep in mind that a VFD will output 3 phase power, requiring a 3 phase motor. AT least, I have never seen a single phase output VFD. I've never seen a speed control for a single phase AC motor. There are devices, like a drill, that run on AC and have speed control, but they are typically DC motor brush motors, not induction AC motors.

Royce
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Royce,

I found these. Not sure if they are a true single phase output but that is what I read from the info anyway. But they seem to be pretty expensive. I also read in another forum called "Practical Machinist" I think that even though single phase VFDs are available, commercially anyway, that they are not so practical for machining equipment and it would be beter to just us a 3 phase set up.

http://www.anaconsystems.com/text/opti_e2.html

Thanks,
 
Go to a sewing machine shop and get a motor with foot control for about $30.00. Thats what I use on my spray booth, works great.
 
Using a small sewing machine motor for continuous duty is not good.
Buy a small continuous duty gear motor and mount it behind the Deluxe motor and hook it up with a rubber stretch belt just like you would the wrap motor. That is what I use for my Cue Cote finish.
 
I'm in the process of rebuilding my small spray booth from a vertical setup to horizontal, so this thread is of great interest to me.

1) I don't think you can control the speed of an AC motor by varying the input voltage - otherwise a simple variable resistor (rheostat?) would work, which it doesn't. I tried that!! :embarrassed2: Luckily nothing blew up or let the magic smoke out :D

2) I have a speed control I got from Rockler for my PC 7310 laminate router - I'm not sure what would happen to it or the motor if I ran it at a slow speed for a long time.

3) I'm wondering the same thing about the sewing machine motor and control. BrickCues says it works so it sounds like it's worth a try. I see Chris posted while I was typing - may have to rethink the sewing machine motor.

4) I think a gear reduction motor is the best answer, though. Motor runs at rated speed and if it is fan cooled, then it gets the cooling air it is supposed to. I'm thinking 60 RPM is about right for the spin rate of the butt or shaft being finished.

My 2 cents,

Gary
 
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What about using the motor scavenged from a treadmill? You can find treadmills on the side of the road or on Craigslist for free. They turn slow enough and are designed to run for long periods of time.
 
PaulieB said:
What about using the motor scavenged from a treadmill? You can find treadmills on the side of the road or on Craigslist for free. They turn slow enough and are designed to run for long periods of time.
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FWIW, those are DC motors, usually in the.75-1.2HP range, 90V. Many times the treadmill has been tossed because the speed control no longer worked, though replacements are available. Biggest problem I see would be the size and weight - I have one driving my 3-in-1 lathe-mill-drill and it weighs about 15 lbs - but you could turn a LOT of spindles with it at low speed!!:smile:

Gary
 
treadmill motor is great

But you need a good commercial DC motor controller for it. If I ever get the time: I will have two to sell, I have some very good ones sitting around here. I have one on my Deluxe now and get 55 to 2050 with lots of torque to drill and turn. Way more powerful than the original AC motor. Though still 1/2 hp rating.
Back to your questions, I have used a DC gear reduction motor for my spray booth. 180VDC, 1/16 hp, 208 rpm. I ran it on a simple voltage variac, then through a bridge rectifier, got 0-130 VDC out of it so was plenty to have up to about 150 rpm. I since added a dc motor speed controller and get smoother operation. But the other system worked for years perfectly. I just have some dc controllers here so I upgraded both the spray booth and the lathe.
 
Often people ask about mounting variable speed motors on a machine for turning slowly while finis levels out and hardens. Why would you need variable speed for this operation? you can get small gear reduction motors from 5.00 up and they work absolutely great. I have one on my UV set-up and another on my auto spray set-up that runs three cues at once. They are smaller motors but since they are gear reduction you couldn't stop them with a pipe wrench. A great place to purchase one is at:

http://www.surpluscenter.com/electric.asp

I have bought probably a half dozen of these although not for spray booths but for shaft machines when I was building them:

http://www.surpluscenter.com/item.asp?item=5-1074&catname=electric

Dick
 
I don't know if this one will suit your setup or not:

http://www.surpluscenter.com/item.asp

Wiring is fairly simple - continuous duty - speed works for me as I have a smaller sprocket to fit the 1/4" shaft which will give me 50-60 rpm - wish the shaft were longer, but I might rig a jack shaft to overcome that.

I'm also going to go over to Walmart and check out the BBQ rotisserie motors. They may spin too slow and it looks like most of them have a square hole for the spit to insert into, so that will take a little engineering for my setup, but it's a possibility.

My 2 cents,

Gary

P.S. OlsenView is correct and that's a pretty good solution. The DC controllers are pretty easy to wire up.
 
Josh, glad you got a motor. If you have any questions, give a call. You can stop by and see my setup if you need ideas, etc.
I used a $16 windshield wiper motor and a 12volt supply. It's powered by a 24 hour timer so I just set the timer to a couple of hours and it shuts off on it's own.
Dave
cue 001.jpg

cue 005.jpg
 
Thanks Dave. I am planning to build a spray booth in the next couple of months. I would love to check out your setup. Looks nice!
 
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