got a motor need help

[hgguitarguy]

hey guys im new here .... i got a premier guitar magazine the other day in the mail and saw jason lollar and he kinda made me wanna give a shot at making pickups .... well my uncle gave me an industrial sized 110 or 220 motor .... of course im gonna wire it 110 it has the diagram inscribed on the side and i have messed with these type motors at my old job working in maintainence and i cant get the case opened cause im missin a wire and it looks to be tinkered with just needin help cause i have one wire thats not labled and all the wires dont seem to be here .... my diagram show P1 going to the line .... then T1 and T8 wired together and T4 and T5 wired goin to the other part of the line

i dont have a T1 just need some help thanks if i can get help

[belwar]

Can you post of picture of it? also what are the specs of the motor? what RPM and Horsepower. Unless you are building a SERIOUSLY major winder you shouldnt need more than 1/20th of a HP.

[Magnut]

Yeah thats one seriously oversized motor for winding. If you go to the local sewing machine shop you could get a little motor for 20-40 bucks.

However if you are set on using this motor, it is possible that this motor has been re-wound or repaired and that is why the one lead is missing. Often when motors get fixed, it gets fixed to work for the application it is being used for and they ignore the other configuration of the motor. If you have a multi meter, check each lead to the motor case for a short. If no short then hook the motor up and skip the missing wire.

You could go to the local book store and look for a book that has motor connections in it. I am away from home right now but I have a book with all those connections in it. The book is called "Ugly's Electricans Reference" im pretty sure, it's Uglys something..... Anyway its a great book. I dont use single phase motors very much other wise I could do it from memory. You may find the connection you need and just take some notes and not purchase the book, it runs about $14.

The best place to test it is the concrete floor of a garage. Turn off the breaker to the receptacle you want to plug it into. Plug in the motor and "bump" the breaker. This will keep you away from the motor and the plug so if any sparks fly you wont be near them.

This motor will probably spin at 1745 rpm which is way too fast for pickups. You will have to figure out a speed control and that will be more costly than using a smaller motor more suited for the project. I sympathize with you because I have access to a lot of free large motors and can't use any of them.

[Peter Naglitsch]

Stay away from that motor. Drop the screwdriver and take a few steps back. I mean that seriously. If you do not know esactly what you are doing you have a potential death trap.

[hgguitarguy]

ive messed with them before ... i called a friend and stopped his house an hour ago and the motor is dead ... my uncle gave me the motor and i had all the stuff to slow it down and speed it up from my old job id figure id give it wirl and see if i could get the motor workin oh well ... yeah that was my next stop was to get a sewin machine and rip it apart ... thanks for your help guys

[Stan H]

Check out the Goodwill or Salvation Army store. You can pick up a sewing maching for as little as $5!

[David King]

You can also check on ebay for a small Bodine DC motor with speed controller. Those can go for cheap and they often have a right angle geared down shaft on one end that you can use for the traverse if you are clever. 1/20th HP is more than enough. Bodine makes a 1/50th HP that is also probably just about right and sells for cheap.
Other good options are 12V automotive motors from fans and electric windows. These can be picked up for free or a buck if you pull them out yourself at the junk yard. Then search for a dc speed controller kit aka "PWM" on ebay and lastly an old dc 12V power supply from an old printer, laptop, cd burner etc. 1.5 amps is plenty. There are millions of these tossed out every year so check with Goodwill, I just got a 2.5 amp one for $2.99. Of course the surplus places like MPJA.com and surpluscenter.com will have everything you need for just a few bucks more.

[hgguitarguy]

yeah i got a motor from a fan but i can sit there and stop it like noones business ... with ease really ... lol

[David King]

hggg,
you don't need much torque to wind 42AWG wire so don't worry about that unless it's also way too slow which I doubt. Low torque could help you since you would be less likely to break the wire that way. Can you control the speed?

[hgguitarguy]

yeah i have everything to control the speed with .... i worked at a place and uhh borrowed the stuff to control the speed .... im only tryin to figure out would it be better to make a bobbin chuck and get two bearings to turn it by belt with the motor ... or have the bobbin connected to the motor ... and im also tryin to figure out the counter ... any help would be greatly appreciated and the way it looks this forum has a lot of good guys who dont mind helpin and that is just awesome thanks guys

[Chadheckler1]

I am relatively inexperienced as well...but for me it seemed better to use the motor to spin a shaft on bearings instead of connecting the bobbin to the motor itself. Usually those "Cheaper/smaller" motors have a large amount of play in the shaft which could cause you problems when trying to be accurate when winding the coil. As far as a chuck to hold the bobbin...I just use double stick tape...it is plenty strong enough. If you are worried about getting the bobbin to spin true you can use a locate pin or a grid on the mounting plate that will help get it really close. Good luck. The first one is pretty exciting!

[hgguitarguy]

i just tested that motor from the fan ... i had a bobbin from an old guitar and used some fishin line to test ..... it ran great ..... this motor shaft has that flat end on it .... so im thinkin then i just fine a light weight pulley wheel and a small belt to the bar through the bearings with another pulley wheel on the bar .... now where can i get the pulley wheels? and how would i connect a counter

[David King]

Hopefully you still have the fan blades and the hub that fits the flatted shaft. I'd cut the blades off the hub and glue or bolt on a plywood disk that can hold the bobbins flat etc. It should be easy enough to pop the front of back of the motor off the shaft and shim the armature with a washer or two to take up any play side to side.

[Magnut]

McMaster Carr has a great pulley selection. You can sort by shaft size.

What type of counter do you have?

[hgguitarguy]

Hopefully you still have the fan blades and the hub that fits the flatted shaft. I'd cut the blades off the hub and glue or bolt on a plywood disk that can hold the bobbins flat etc. It should be easy enough to pop the front of back of the motor off the shaft and shim the armature with a washer or two to take up any play side to side.

yeah i kept the fan blades and cut them off when i took the motor off ... i got a few pulleys that fit the shaft just right and a few bearings that fit the shaft .... so i gotta get my mics out and see what size rod i need .... ok now i just need to find a counter i thought i had one but i left it in my locker at my old job .... oh well ill find one somewhere just need to know how to get that hooked up .... keep the suggestions comin ... this has made me love this forum ... thanks for all the help guys