Electric motor help ...Is anyone here a master of Electronics?

[czac]

Help me Ohm-y Watt! You're my only hope!

lol,lol.. Ok Stupid Star wars Reference out of the way... Now down to seriousness!

I have a DC motor, 110 Volt, I wanted to use it on a small lathe but I need it to be 110 Volt AC. Is there a cheap and easy way to do this?
I have looked for converters on line but they are all either to convert 110 AC to 12 or 24 VDC or to do the opposite. The motor in question is supposedly off a Grizzly Mill / Drill machine
but when i went to the site Grizzly says its a universal motor, It isn't.. its A DC motor. It looks exactly like the DC motor on my Harbor Freight 7x10 Mini lathe to be honest.

So what is involved with converting AC to DC.. is it worth it or should I save this as a spare for the mini lathe and continue on searching for an AC motor?

I was stuck on finding a 250 Watt, 110 or 120V ac motor for some reason... but there are a fer 115 watt AC sewing machine motors on Ebay that may seem to work. I want to replace a tired Unimat DB 90W lathe motor so I can actually work with it. And I'm building a sherline mill and I want to upgrade the tired motor on that also.

[Weis003]

Usually D.C. Motors are used because you can get variable speed out of them. They take a range of voltage to make different speeds. You best best is probably a power supply and maybe a dial to adjust speed much like a train set. Any pictures of the motor plate would help.


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[83ATC185]

I think the simplest, ok maybe not the simplest, but the cheapest way to do that would be to build a 4 diode bridge to create a rectifier, however i have no experience with 110v applications and i don't know how much voltage you would lose doing that, maybe someone else will chime in with the diode and cap specs you need for something like this, what you need will depend voltage ratings and the amperage draw of the motor.

[Scootertrash]

I'm not sure how one can tell if an electric motor is "tired". They probably just need a cleaning and maybe some lube.

I would take them apart, pull out the commutator shaft and clean the slots between the copper bars, scotch brite or fine sand paper to clean the copper bars clean everything up with an electrical cleaner, NOT BRAKE OR CARB CLEANER! Make sure any and all bearings and/or bushings don't have excessive wear and replace any that are worn, make sure the brushes aren't worn down to nothing (I typically just replace the brushes, they're cheap) then put them back together.



Your commutator should be clean and shiny, not look like this:



You commutator bars should be nice, straight, and flat. Not grooved or dished.

Post some pics of these motors

[Jd110]

Watts happening! Did you get it figured, yet? You would need a dc 'variable speed motor controller' for a dc motor. If you get the right one, it has everything in it. It has a dial, like stated above.


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[czac]

how does a DC motor work on AC? I mean, My lathe works fine, plug it in and it goes like hell! lol... thats got the same DC motor on it.

[czac]

Watts happening! Did you get it figured, yet? You would need a dc 'variable speed motor controller' for a dc motor. If you get the right one, it has everything in it. It has a dial, like stated above.

but is that all I'd need to make it run off AC house hold current? or do I need something to convert it to DC first? do you have any links to where I can find one of these?
Thanks!

[czac]

I'm not sure how one can tell if an electric motor is "tired". They probably just need a cleaning and maybe some lube.

I would take them apart, pull out the commutator shaft and clean the slots between the copper bars, scotch brite or fine sand paper to clean the copper bars clean everything up with an electrical cleaner, NOT BRAKE OR CARB CLEANER! Make sure any and all bearings and/or bushings don't have excessive wear and replace any that are worn, make sure the brushes aren't worn down to nothing (I typically just replace the brushes, they're cheap) then put them back together.



Your commutator should be clean and shiny, not look like this:



You commutator bars should be nice, straight, and flat. Not grooved or dished.

Post some pics of these motors

Yeah... By tired i mean they seem to be running slower than they should. I can try and clean em up some and see... but I believe the sherline motor is a DC also ... the unimat motor may be AC i will have to pull them both apart to check.

[Jd110]

Sure, here it is:
http://vi.raptor.ebaydesc.com/ws/eBa...=1486391838779


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[Jd110]

Yeah... By tired i mean they seem to be running slower than they should. I can try and clean em up some and see... but I believe the sherline motor is a DC also ... the unimat motor may be AC i will have to pull them both apart to check.

X2 on checking your brushes and cleaning the commutator. That's where you check the resistance on the windings (between the bars on the commutator). I'll try to help you as much as I can but you will want to do some research. It is electrifying, as you know, so be real careful. Sounds like a fun project.


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[plastikosmd]

I will try and grab you a pic of what I did. took the AC and bridge rectified it, added a capacitor. I used an AC rheostat prior to the rectifier to control speed. (I did this as speed control died on the dc motor) Now I gotta sell that small cnc lathe and mill-gone bigger

[czac]

Sure, here it is:
http://vi.raptor.ebaydesc.com/ws/eBa...=1486391838779


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So with this not not only controls the motors speed but it converts ac to dc? Cool!

[czac]

X2 on checking your brushes and cleaning the commutator. That's where you check the resistance on the windings (between the bars on the commutator). I'll try to help you as much as I can but you will want to do some research. It is electrifying, as you know, so be real careful. Sounds like a fun project.


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Cool thanks!

[czac]

I will try and grab you a pic of what I did. took the AC and bridge rectified it, added a capacitor. I used an AC rheostat prior to the rectifier to control speed. (I did this as speed control died on the dc motor) Now I gotta sell that small cnc lathe and mill-gone bigger

Cool... so you basically did the same thing i am trying to do? How did the motor work with this set up? Did it lose amy power?

[Jd110]

So with this not not only controls the motors speed but it converts ac to dc? Cool!

That's right. Similar to what a VFD will do for your AC motor. There's a bit to know here. Sounds like plastik has tricks up his sleeve converting his AC back to DC.


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