Gear creating software

[tuck]

I also don't text with my cellphone. It doesn't even have a qwerty pad.

I don't even have a cellphone!

[shoeshine]

OK sorry to hijack this thread, but...

Mark, I went down to goodwill today and scored a breadmaker. Sweet motor in a good low profile mount and easily adaptable shaft.

I am assuming it is pretty high torque, as it runs the dough hook.

Problem is that I know nothing about appliance wiring.

I can trace the hot and neutral from the plug to the control board.

Problem is that coming out of the control board is a three wire plug to the motor w/ red blue and white wires.

Any info on what this is? I have tried, and my Google-Fu is weak today. I am more confused that when I started. Very little info on the motor plate. (part #, 120v AC 60hz, and an inspection sticker) No hits on the part #. My best guess so far, is that it is a capacitor start motor. Is there any way to easily wire this thing up to run a kinetic sculpture? (Let me add that my knowledge of electronics is basic at at best)

Thanks
Chris

[tuck]

Chris - we're in the same boat. I can do very basic wiring and that's about it. I'm askeered of electricity. Can't see it, smell it or hear it, and it can put a hurtin' on ya. You might take it to an appliance repair shop and ask someone.

Sounds like a good motor though! I once used a motor from a machine that would spin hot pretzels on display and it worked great. However, that was 25 years ago and I had cut all of my gears out with a jig saw. Careful as I was, the teeth never would align properly and that kinetic wall sculpture ended up in the landfill. Wish I had kept the motor!

[shoeshine]

Right on Mark, Thanks.

Maybe someone a little more electronics/mechanical saavy will chime in.

just to pretend I know what I'm doing... I put a multimeter on it and got some readings if this will help anyone identify this thing.

[myxpykalix]

I'm askeered of electricity. Can't see it, smell it or hear it, . You forgot to say..."but you damn well can FEEL it!"

I haven't been "askeered" of anything since i was about 10...lol, that brought back some memories

How bout using a rotisserie motor from a outdoor cooker? I recall when i was young we had a outdoor cooker that you scured(?) your meat to and hung this motor above the cooker and it rotated it.

[hh_woodworking]

Bread makers have two speeds in them one for mixing and the otther for kneading the bread. It is just a guess but 3 wires 2 speeds

[myxpykalix]

Chris,
Since you seem to be the "guru of gears"...(Nemo Door) I have been watching a few of the gearotic motion tutorials and he demo's it in mm's and i wondered if it had a selection for inches?
I had downloaded the demo some time ago and frankly got lost in the interface. I need to go back and start over. Is it pretty easy to just create a simple set of say 3 or 4 meshing gears like was pictured here previously?

[Brady Watson]

Unless you need more than 1/2 horsepower, there is absolutely no advantage to using an AC motor. They have the highest danger...and the lowest usefulness. You should be fooling with DC motors and controls until you have a need for more horsepower. You can get DC motors in all shapes sizes and power bands from tiny ones that run on batteries to 2 or more horsepower treadmill motors. They are easily controllable.

If you just want something to consistently turn a geartrain for display purposes, then just buy a synchronous timing motor. They are like $20 or less, run on straight AC and are pegged to the Hz of the current, for consistent slow RPM. Being a little more scientific when it comes to your motor selection will help in the long run...How much power do you really need? How fast does it have to turn? What form factor/size does it need to be? Do you need to vary the RPM?

-B

[dana_swift]

Chris - on you ohm-meter readings.

That does not give enough information to identify how to use the motor. If the motor has a part number on it you can look up, that helps a lot.

It is most likely an AC motor, the best way to know for certain without documentation is to run it in the microwave before you remove it and see how its driven. Be absolutely sure you have disabled the magnetron before attempting this!

My approach to using salvaged parts is to "see how it worked for them". By watching the signals on an oscilloscope until I understand what is happening. Then hook the thing up in a circuit that works the same way and it will do the same thing for me.

The ohm readings show two series coils inside the motor, are those an AC drive for two possible voltages? Or a two phase bipolar drive from a microprocessor? (Think sin-cos variable speed drive). [The latter isnt very common so the first option is most likely].

What I would do without any more information is hook it up to a 12v transformer and see if it runs. Its low enough voltage to not burn it up if its not going to run. With 80 ohms coil resistance it makes me think its probably a low voltage unit.

If you burn it out it didn't cost a whole lot. Let us know.

------

Brady - WTF?:

Unless you need more than 1/2 horsepower, there is absolutely no advantage to using an AC motor.

And warn about them being dangerous, followed by a recommendation to use an AC motor as having the best advantage:

If you just want something to consistently turn a geartrain for display purposes, then just buy a synchronous timing motor.

Clarify please.

[Brady Watson]

Dana,
Aside from you, I doubt anyone fooling with salvaged motors in this thread has a scope, let alone the knowledge on how to properly use one!

An off the shelf $23 AC synchronous timing motor that just needs to be plugged in, is a heck of a lot safer than monkeying with hacked AC components. You just plug it in. Done. No need to get under the hood & tinker.

If someone just has tinker - DC is safer and easier to understand for people new to electric motors, provided that you are running at a lower voltage potential than AC. A 12 or 24v little motor is not going to throw someone across the room if they make a mistake while tinkering. This is why children's 'learn electronics' kits don't come in a 120v AC version

-B