110Volt, variable speed, low horsepower motor

I am building a shaker table for a friend to separate worm poop from leftovers and red wigglers. Really. Anyway, I have the basic design figured, but I either need a small electric motor and a small-big pulley combination, or something that will run roughly 15-60 rpm. I know just enough about AC electrics to be dangerous, so I could build it with 12v DC in a heartbeat, but that becomes a pain in the ass fairly quickly, either charging batteries or converting house current to 12V DC...right?

Some sort of cheap army surplus would be ideal. Any guidance for where to search such a thing out?

Electric drill?

Yep, electric drill was what I was gonna say.

Computer chargers and other wall warts are basically free and supply a nice amount of DC current in basically pick your voltage from 5-22.

Craigslist treadmill, probably controls and all.

I'd find a variable Palm sander... Then you have the vibrating bit already as well..

oldopelguy wrote: Craigslist treadmill, probably controls and all.

I just gutted a junk treadmill. Interestingly, it used a 130VDC electric motor and PWM for speed control. That wouldn't make it any less useful for this project, just an interesting note.

EvanR wrote:

oldopelguy wrote: Craigslist treadmill, probably controls and all.

I just gutted a junk treadmill. Interestingly, it used a 130VDC electric motor and PWM for speed control. That wouldn't make it any less useful for this project, just an interesting note.

That's good to know. I've been following this because I may need a high torque low rpm motor solution in the springtime, I hadn't even thought about a free treadmill.

I like the treadmill motor. I think I need more motion than a palm sander would give. Drill makes for interesting mounting issues.

I was thinking wheelchair motor, but you'd need a converter. Treadmill is good, amd might have some cool suspension parts to salvage for the motor to keep it from shaking to bits with the rest of it.

RevRico wrote:

EvanR wrote:

oldopelguy wrote: Craigslist treadmill, probably controls and all.

I just gutted a junk treadmill. Interestingly, it used a 130VDC electric motor and PWM for speed control. That wouldn't make it any less useful for this project, just an interesting note.

That's good to know. I've been following this because I may need a high torque low rpm motor solution in the springtime, I hadn't even thought about a free treadmill.

This is what powers my lathe. The particular motor I'm using it 2.5 hp. Plenty for a 9" lathe.

Toyman01 wrote:

RevRico wrote:

EvanR wrote:

oldopelguy wrote: Craigslist treadmill, probably controls and all.

I just gutted a junk treadmill. Interestingly, it used a 130VDC electric motor and PWM for speed control. That wouldn't make it any less useful for this project, just an interesting note.

That's good to know. I've been following this because I may need a high torque low rpm motor solution in the springtime, I hadn't even thought about a free treadmill.

This is what powers my lathe. The particular motor I'm using it 2.5 hp. Plenty for a 9" lathe.

2.5 horsepower will shake the E36 M3 out of worm poop.

Rotisserie motor? Saw one at a garage sale with variable speed, gear drive and did 13-55 rpm.

Bruce

oldopelguy wrote: Craigslist treadmill, probably controls and all.

I had one of these and gave it away a few months ago. Probably mid 80's vintage. Had the dial selector for speed. A very basic simple machine. They sometimes pop up on CL usually for free.

egnorant wrote: Rotisserie motor? Saw one at a garage sale with variable speed, gear drive and did 13-55 rpm. Bruce

Now we're talkin.

2.5 horsepower will shake the E36 M3 out of worm poop.

How do you shake the E36 M3 out of E36 M3?

What about a garage door opener? They are fairly low speed.