Treadmill motors

Just a passing thought.... I've always been interested in treadmill motors. Has anybody utilized them in any projects? Can those bulky control boards be down sized? Can they be used as disc sander motor? Or to up grade my little wood lathe motor for better speed control?

I know.... lots of questions! Used to have a treadmill and had to make repairs on it and thought then that it was such a compact and quiet little unit for so much hp.

Any thoughts would be welcome!!

Happy Turkey Day tomorrow!
 
:lurk:I've got an old treadmill sitting around that is just begging to be repurposed somehow...

Watching this thread with interest.
 
I played with one. I put the electronics in a plastic box with a lid & connected everything up & used it a bit on my lathe.

As to the big board I just checked out where the electronics were & went after the excess plastic with the band-saw.

Be sure to put the string around your neck for the kill tab so if you fall down it will shut off.

I eventually went with a 2 HP motor with a VFD. I have thought of using it for a sander or sharpener. There are several speed presets & ramp up & ramp down.
 
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Our elevation part of the treadmill quit on us a year or so ago, no biggy as we didn't use it, made reaching the clothes hanging on it hard to reach :D

Seriously thinking of tearing into ours one of these days for use as a belt sander of some sort...just found this with a quick search after reading your post...lots of items I think it work for just fine.....I might just put the old thinking cap on again, now that you've brought it to the front of the wish list :rofl:
 
Watching to see what all people come up with. I've seen a few video's where people used them for narrow belt sanders (typically knife making), and one where the guy made a belt sander the size of the treadmill base. www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJppW06Kxjs
I had a chuckle out of that one, thinking how flat surfaces gain items, which could become projectiles.
 
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