got a motor need help

[hgguitarguy]

oh and my uncle also gave me a single pole dimmer switch .... its got 2 black wires and a green one ... i know my green is my ground and my blacks are my hots ..... ok my motor has 3 hot wires one for each speed it ran and the neutral ..... so how would i hook this up to the motor so i can control the speed .... all i could think of was use the highest speed ive got for a hot which is 3 .... and ground the switch to the motor and hook the motor neutral up to the plug neutral but thats all i could think ... any help would be greatly appriciated

[Magnut]

Take the incoming hot, goes to one of the black wires on the switch. It shouldnt matter which wire, however if marked it goes to "line". The other wire from the switch, if marked it would be "load", goes to one of the black wires on the motor.

White wire from incoming power goes straight to the motor. NOT THE SWITCH.

Cap each unused motor wire off seperatly.

A dimmer switch may not work properly for this. A ceiling fan speed control would be better.

I posted a nice counter in the tools and winding gear thread. Use that counter with a prox switch and your in business!

[hgguitarguy]

oh and my uncle also gave me a single pole dimmer switch .... its got 2 black wires and a green one ... i know my green is my ground and my blacks are my hots ..... ok my motor has 3 hot wires one for each speed it ran and the neutral ..... so how would i hook this up to the motor so i can control the speed .... all i could think of was use the highest speed ive got for a hot which is 3 .... and ground the switch to the motor and hook the motor neutral up to the plug neutral but thats all i could think ... any help would be greatly appriciated

actually i feel stupid now cause right after i posted this i walked in kitchen and didnt even wire it like i thought ...... i wired the neutral from the cord to the neutral to the motor and the ground from the switch all together ... the hot from the cord to a black wire on the switch and the number 3 hot from the motor to the other black on the switch

[hgguitarguy]

thanks magnut i tested the switch out last night and it works really well the worst thing is the motor has some low torque i guess cause when you hear the motor start to turn on you gotta turn the circle to get it goin ..... but ones she gets goin thats it .... now my next question is how much tension is needed to wind a pickup ... is it just enough to keep slack out and keep it straight or does it have to be super tight ????

[Chadheckler1]

I like to wind it pretty tight, but if you are potting the pickup then you can make it pretty "loose" without causeing any significant probems.

An idea that I tried, because I had to find out for myself:

Wind a few wraps (10-20) and then give it a good test...see how much it takes to break the wire. Sounds crazy, but that is the only way I new what the max limit would be...you will be surprised at how much tension it will take. Obviously, you do not want to approach this amount of tension, but now you know where the max is. Next thing to worry about is stretching the wire, which will increase the resistance. Some think that a small amount of stretch is desireable...but I try to stay away for fear of unpredictability. You can test this by winding a couple small coils to the same number of wraps (Assuming the same winding shape and pass configuration) and see if they end up the same (or similar) resistance. Plan on burning through some wire...it is impossible not to! Another thing to be concerned about it distorting or crushing the bobbin by winding too tight...in the end, i don't thinkt there is a perfect answer so give it a try and find out what sounds good to you.

[hgguitarguy]

I like to wind it pretty tight, but if you are potting the pickup then you can make it pretty "loose" without causeing any significant probems.

An idea that I tried, because I had to find out for myself:

Wind a few wraps (10-20) and then give it a good test...see how much it takes to break the wire. Sounds crazy, but that is the only way I new what the max limit would be...you will be surprised at how much tension it will take. Obviously, you do not want to approach this amount of tension, but now you know where the max is. Next thing to worry about is stretching the wire, which will increase the resistance. Some think that a small amount of stretch is desireable...but I try to stay away for fear of unpredictability. You can test this by winding a couple small coils to the same number of wraps (Assuming the same winding shape and pass configuration) and see if they end up the same (or similar) resistance. Plan on burning through some wire...it is impossible not to! Another thing to be concerned about it distorting or crushing the bobbin by winding too tight...in the end, i don't thinkt there is a perfect answer so give it a try and find out what sounds good to you.

ok cause i was about to say cause this motor at a slower speed cant take the tension .... but before i even start ill end up havin another motor from a sewin machine but at high speed the motor does fine .... now where do i get the wax for potting and whats the best way to heat it??? ive been watchin videos of potting and people put the pickup in the wax until the bubbles go away??? so whats the best way to do this .... ive also read about the crushin the bobbin .... when i tried the motor out the other day i had an old pickup and got it down to the bobbin and used some fishin line to test it .... and i just keep the slack out plus some so ... i guess the windin is just trial and error thing well find that out here in a months time ..... thanks for the help guys all this is info and help is helpin me out even more

[Chadheckler1]

There are a ton of other more detailed threads on potting in here...but the simple answer is:

80/20 - parrafin wax (grocery store) / Beeswax (hardware store)

Use a double boiler (Like the pic on my avatar) on the stove to heat the wax around 150-175 degrees (Use meat thermometer to check temp...any hotter might distort the bobbin) and dip the whole pickup until bubbles stop coming out for full saturation (probably 8-10 min or so)


...sounds like you need a motor with a little more torque. I bought a $20 sewing machine motor with a footswitch from ebay...brand new.

[David King]

Tension is going to depend on wire gauge. I'm guessing that a tension between 5 and 20 grams will be plenty. That's less than one ounce of pull on the wire and if your bobbin is 2" wide then you'll only need an ounce/inch of torque, not very much. Try your pickups unpotted to see what they sound like. You might not like the sound as much after you pot them.

A 3 speed induction fan motor is pretty fancy, I'd skip the variable speed control and just use the three speeds you have via a 3 way switch provided your torque is low anyway.