power and speed conversion on leslie

[cowhands1130]

hello, i have a leslie motor and i am trying to hook it up to a wah pedal for power and speed. could anyone help explain this to me? i would really appreciate it. the motor has two wires coming out of it.

thanks so much.....

[Brad1]

Cowhands,

I see you took my advice to generate a new post. That's good.

But, you'll still likely get no answers if you don't provide some information.

"Two wires coming out of a Leslie motor that you want to hook up to a wah pedal for speed and power" doesn't provide any clues.

What Leslie motor? As I've mentioned, most of them are just on/off and fast/slow. Speed is controlled by actual switching. You may not be able to have a variable speed control, which is what I suspect you are trying to do, unless you reconfigure a circuit...if at all. The motor may not work properly.

Is this JUST a motor, or a motor attached to a drum, or high-frequency rotor?

Nobody here knows, and most people will understandably ignore your post if they think they'll have to keep priming you for more information over a few weeks' time to get you to supply what anybody needs to have any idea if what you want to do is even feasible.

What you are asking is about the same as calling a mechanic, and wanting him to diagnose your car, when all you've told him is that "My car won't start. It HAS wires".

More info, please.

Brad1

[6267]

Brad1's right, but that being said, let me clarify the issue with leslies and speed control. Some motors had three or four wires, each for a speed + neutral, and most had two, i.e. single speed. The only way to get a single speed leslie to change speed (and I mean the *only* way other than slowing it mechanically) is to use what's called a PWM chopper on the input AC. These are often sold as *Flourescent Safe* dimmer switches. A normal dimmer switch will catch on fire if the motor doesn't, they aren't designed to run motors at all. The PWM dimmers chop the AC into other frequencies, and since the leslie motor's speed is frequency dependent, that is the way to speed them up and slow them down. The "chopped" AC isn't good for the motor in the long run, though.

Ok, so could you use a wah pedal? probably not. At least not without removing most of its circuits and somehow rewiring a flourescent safe dimmer into it. You can also just make a footswitch that cuts the AC, then the musician can tap the footswitch and chop the AC themselvs....also probably bad for the leslie, but it'd work.

[52 Bill]

...You can also just make a footswitch that cuts the AC, then the musician can tap the footswitch and chop the AC themselvs....also probably bad for the leslie, but it'd work.

This is what a lot of organists did when using a single speed Leslie cabinets. They would pulse the motor on and off with the hand control giving the effect of a slower speed.

[6267]

**** THIS IS A BAD IDEA, UNTESTED & LIKELY TO DESTROY EQPT! ***

Tube oscillator with pedal pot as an R in RC-RC-RC loop (frequencies from around 20-120hz) ---> LM3886 or some other big chip amp/Bipolar power stage ----> standard three prong wall socket from hardware store

Giant heatsink most likely necessary. I don't have my leslie nearby to check current on the motor, an LM3886 is probably not enough. You'd need to do a nice transistor output stage. Should do a better sinewave than the power company though. For extra fun, you could wire it into the synchro motor for a Hammond organ's tonewheels (not the amp, just the tonewheel motor) and have linear pitch bending on a hammond. Ta-da.