I have been building a working ski lift. It has a motor that I took from a printer. When there is no load on the motor it will turn @ 1.5volts. It also will run connected to a 6 volt battery. When I connected the cables to the motor it will NOT RUN..
How do I detimine how much voltage I need to have it run? I was going to connect to my 12 v side but I want to make sure I would not burn it up. I then need to be able to adjust it slow enough to have the gondolas travel at a realistic speed.
I am using a prodigy advance system.
Hi again.
Have you thought of using gears to reduce the motor's speed down? This will allow the motor to run at a higher RPM, which will make it run more smoothly, and at the same time it will apply more force to the cable from the mechanical advantage of the gears.
Look closely at the motor and there may be an indication of its voltage rating. It may just be stamped into the casing, or printed on. Since it came from a printer, you can probably find a spec for it online, too. If you still have the power supply for the printer, that will have an output voltage rating in it, and most likely that's the voltage they'd use for the internal motor.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
You may not be providing enough amps to the motor when it is under load. It's not just a matter of voltage it's volts and amps. You could try connecting some batteries in parallel (not series) to up the available amps or get a power supply with a better amp rating.
Joe
I recall when you started this ambitious project, glad it's progressing.
It could be your motor is just not strong enough. Can you stop the motor with your fingers just squeezing the armature while using 6V? The motor in a stalled condition will pull all available amps it can until failure of some type and/or movement. You can look on the power supplies you are using and determine what volts/amps are available and how the motor responds with unloaded and loaded speed(loaded being with your fingers, etc) If the motor when hooked up to the cables as you suggest won't turn, is it getting hot, buzzing, etc? I doubt it's just quietly sitting there doing nothing while you've got 6V attached with a decent amount of amps available. Unless it's a lot higher voltage motor.
You can always put in an inline 20amp meter and use a large power supply with say 10 amps and turn the voltage up to get the power you think the motor likes(not hot) and will pull the cables. Then you can use a power supply based on your amp and voltage readings which gets the job done.
I think when you started I suggested getting a geared motor as did another poster here. But, hey you've got this one so try it first.
Richard
Harold, Hi,
If your printer motor doesn't pan out,,,think about a 12v,DC motor,from a HO-scale engine,that you can use,,then you can use,the DC,variable output from a train transformer,to control the speed of the lift..
Glad you are still having fun..
Cheers,
Frank
Your printer motor just doesn't have the required torque for your project. In the printer, it uses a series of gears to get the torque required. You can't increase the torque of a motor simply by applying more voltage / current - something will give.
Mark.
¡ uʍop ǝpısdn sı ǝɹnʇɐuƃıs ʎɯ 'dlǝɥ
A good option to power something like this is a junk loco (with a good motor). You have a nice 12V DC motor, plus the gear reduction. Attach the bull wheel for the chair lift to one of the wheels. Should be plenty of torque and you should be able to throttle it down - either run from a power pack or you could even fit it with a motor decoder and control it via DCC should you be so inclined.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
Randy
How good are you at making a drawing? I have a open frame motor from an old brass engine. At present it is not connected to anything, just sitting in my box. I am not sure of the wheels you are taking about or how to connect to the bull wheel.
Any drawing would be greatly appreciated. I am a visual person.
Harold
Do you have the gearbox as well? You're going to nead the gears to get the speed down tosomething reasonable.
I was assuming essentially the loco chassis motor, gearbox, and at least the drive axle. Connection could be as simple as gluing the bull wheel (carefully centered!) to the driver.
I can swear I've seen somehing along these lines before, but I can;t find a picture that I can post. Perhaps it was in an old issue of MR. It was for a turtable, but the concept is the same. The drive was very obviously a loco chassis, I think a Bowser loco. The driver was removed fromt he geared axle, and a rubber tube fitted, which then ran against a large disk mounted under the layout to turn the turntable. I;m thinkign the same idea, but instead of removing the driver, use that to attach your driven pulley - or if there isn't room, you could get some rods and couplings to connect the loco axle to the pulley with the motor mounted under the layout. Even u-joints could be used if it can;t be mounted perfectly straight.
A diesel drive woudl work as well, motor, drive shaft, and one truck with its reduction gears. remove one axle, you have left one axle driven via reduction gears, connect pulley to one of the drivers somehow.
Or something liek this, and just have the rubber ring rub against the bull wheel to turn it
http://www.allelectronics.com/make-a-store/item/DCM-351/24-VDC-GEAR-MOTOR-W/TURNTABLE/1.html
hAROLD,RANDY,,
That motor, that you provided,the link to Randy,looks like it would be perfect to use....And for sure,,you can't beat the price...
Every model railroader should have at least two of the below meters.
http://www.trainelectronics.com/Meter_Workshop/index.htm
http://www.trainelectronics.com/Meter_HF/index.htm
I have a more expensive meter but have not had to use it in some years.
Rich
If you ever fall over in public, pick yourself up and say “sorry it’s been a while since I inhabited a body.” And just walk away.
I have two. Thanks.
I like the look of the website for the motor. I am going to give them a call tomorrow.
As I live in Miami I have to add
GO HEAT
I was looking at the website you sent me a it looks like that could work. Question. in the comment section they talk about 2 RPMs. Are they saying that the turntable will only rotate at 2rpms (seems nice and slow. How do you attach this to anything?
Just what I would need. Do you think this would work?
I just connected my motor to a 9v battery. The motor turns at high speed and the cable can't grab. Am I back looking at geared motors or is there a way to change the speed on this one?
Harold,
If it's the same motor that I looked,the one Randy gave the link to,,,it's states,that it is a 24volt at 45RPM MOTOR,,,,running it at 12volts,will give you 221/2,Rpm's..
Take another look at the link,Randy,provided,the first sentence,says it's a low current DC motor,with gearbox and gives the size of it,,,its a high torque,low RPM MOTOR,,,highly suitable for what you want to do. You want torque,not high Rpm..