Picked up today from Freecycle, this treadmill may contribute significant parts to this build:
View attachment 12
View attachment 11
Those aluminum side rails on it might be structural enough to use as cargopod rails on a version of this bike. Same with the crossmembers underneath.
I also kinda like the look of the front of the treadmill:
It's just asking to be either a front headlight assembly or a taillight. It's pretty wide, though (same width as the treadmill), so taillight across the back of the cargo pods is more likely. I'm thinking some red plex behind the grillework, with CFLs behind each one. Warp Five, Scotty!
Behind the grilles now is the usual control and power board, as well as the incline motor and worm gear:
and behind the board is the main motor
which does not look the same as any of the others I've seen so far:
and for a moment I thought I was unlucky enough to have found an induction motor treadmill (which I can't use for an ebike motor).
But it is a PM DC motor:
for 1.5HP continuous duty, or 2HP peak. I like that it is not "treadmill duty" but actually rated continuous. That's helpful. Being 90VDC rather than 120VDC is also helpful, as is that it is a 5000RPM motor instead of 7000 or higher; less reduction to deal with.
As you see from the wire cutters in the pic above that one, it's also a wide motor (4"+), and not as long as some of the others. Wider means more torque capability, AFAIK, compared to the narrower ones I usually see.
The pulley and flywheel are also separate, on opposite shaft ends, which is another unusual feature that makes it easier to use. This one has a real fan on it's shaft, too, rather than just bladelike fins on the back of the flywheel.
The flywheel is HUGE, over 1.5" thick and what might be 7 or 8" diameter, cast iron I think. Hate to think what that weighs.
Uses an optical interrupter for tachometer.
Motor mount is bolted on the casing, which makes it easier to mount than others that have thin front plates not suitable for mounting from, just welded-on boxes to bolt a pivot plate to.
Appears to have nice big comm bars and windings, too.
View attachment 1
FWIW, the only thing I found wrong with it was that some metal clips that probably were to help hold the front plastic grilles on were floating around inside it. Perhaps one of them was blocking something from turning, or shorting something out. Either way, they were knocked loose during transport (was pretty bumpy) and it worked when I got it home. I still haven't actually disassembled it yet, just taken the covers off to look inside, so the possibility still exists of trading the whole treadmill to someone else for something I might be able to use even more.
But I think I'd like to try that motor out, if I could get a high enough voltage pack to run it decently.
View attachment 12
View attachment 11
Those aluminum side rails on it might be structural enough to use as cargopod rails on a version of this bike. Same with the crossmembers underneath.
I also kinda like the look of the front of the treadmill:
It's just asking to be either a front headlight assembly or a taillight. It's pretty wide, though (same width as the treadmill), so taillight across the back of the cargo pods is more likely. I'm thinking some red plex behind the grillework, with CFLs behind each one. Warp Five, Scotty!
Behind the grilles now is the usual control and power board, as well as the incline motor and worm gear:
and behind the board is the main motor
which does not look the same as any of the others I've seen so far:
and for a moment I thought I was unlucky enough to have found an induction motor treadmill (which I can't use for an ebike motor).
But it is a PM DC motor:
for 1.5HP continuous duty, or 2HP peak. I like that it is not "treadmill duty" but actually rated continuous. That's helpful. Being 90VDC rather than 120VDC is also helpful, as is that it is a 5000RPM motor instead of 7000 or higher; less reduction to deal with.
As you see from the wire cutters in the pic above that one, it's also a wide motor (4"+), and not as long as some of the others. Wider means more torque capability, AFAIK, compared to the narrower ones I usually see.
The pulley and flywheel are also separate, on opposite shaft ends, which is another unusual feature that makes it easier to use. This one has a real fan on it's shaft, too, rather than just bladelike fins on the back of the flywheel.
The flywheel is HUGE, over 1.5" thick and what might be 7 or 8" diameter, cast iron I think. Hate to think what that weighs.
Uses an optical interrupter for tachometer.
Motor mount is bolted on the casing, which makes it easier to mount than others that have thin front plates not suitable for mounting from, just welded-on boxes to bolt a pivot plate to.
Appears to have nice big comm bars and windings, too.
View attachment 1
FWIW, the only thing I found wrong with it was that some metal clips that probably were to help hold the front plastic grilles on were floating around inside it. Perhaps one of them was blocking something from turning, or shorting something out. Either way, they were knocked loose during transport (was pretty bumpy) and it worked when I got it home. I still haven't actually disassembled it yet, just taken the covers off to look inside, so the possibility still exists of trading the whole treadmill to someone else for something I might be able to use even more.
But I think I'd like to try that motor out, if I could get a high enough voltage pack to run it decently.