Any ideas for putting a washing machine motor to good use?

[Roger Mills]

Having recently scrapped my 30-year-old Zanussi washing machine, I stripped it for potentially re-usable parts.

The part with the greatest potential is the motor, but I've no idea what to use it for!

It's a hefty beast, with a centrifugal clutch inside its pulley. It had no fewer than eight wires connected to it - presumably for selecting the various speeds, and for going into reverse when agitating the washing.

The label on the motor says the following: ZEM 20571033 CEI107/10-IEC 335

4A 260W 2780 RPM 3A 180W 1380 RPM 8/10uF 400VL [1] 1.1A 95W 900 RPM 8/10uF 450VL

Googling for the model number doesn't produce anything useful.

I'm looking for innovative suggestions of possible uses for this beast.

I'd also be interested to know just what the label is telling me, and how to work out how to wire it up[2] to get it to work.

[1] The 'u' of 10uF is actually a Greek mu - presumably for micro-Farad [2] i.e. which wire does what, and where to put the external 8uF capacitor [3] [3] I did try to trace the wiring when I dismantled it, but the harness was such a tangled rat's nest that it proved to be beyond me!

[NT]

Looks like a different animal to the usual wm motor. Generally they run at around 15,000rpm, and have 2 wires for field, 2 for armature and 2 for tacho. And one chassis connection

DIY uses: cement mixer, one day I'll make a bucket size one, 20w is probably all that's needed though. Hoist. Plaster paddle mixer. Monster whole house cooling fan. In fact you've got enough power in that to add an extra floor in the house, collapsing the unused floors when you leave them :)

NT

[Part Timer]

Don't do what my brother's friends did: Attach blades from oscillating desk fan, minus any guards. Gaffer tape the motor to a stool. Connect mains across 2 of the terminals (they had some success on google) Stand on the stool's stretchers to prevent the thing taking off. Carry their new invention around. Catch the blade on a steel pole. Narrowly avoid shrapnel to eyes.

[Mr Pounder]

Looks like a different animal to the usual wm motor. Generally they run at around 15,000rpm, and have 2 wires for field, 2 for armature and 2 for tacho. And one chassis connection

DIY uses: cement mixer, one day I'll make a bucket size one, 20w is probably all that's needed though. Hoist. Plaster paddle mixer. Monster whole house cooling fan. In fact you've got enough power in that to add an extra floor in the house, collapsing the unused floors when you leave them :)

Matter/anti matter warp drive for a Starship.

[Mark]

Door Stop.. Plumb line weight..

;(

-

[geoff]

In message , Roger Mills writes

Throw it away

I have three in the shed that I thought exactly the same thing 25 years ago ...

[Jules Richardson]

Cooling fan, perhaps... but most applications are low speed/high torque and so need massive amounts of reduction gearing to be useful.

I've got a freebie tumble dryer which has sat in the workshop for about 8 months waiting for me to think of a use for it :-) At least the drum on that does turn quite slowly (unlike a WM), but I expect the belt would just snap if I tried to mix cement with it (assuming the support structure didn't give out due to weight). I got it was because I was hoping it had flat sides that I could use as covering for some workbenches, but it turned out that they were pressed with a pattern for strength.

cheers

Jules

[NT]

Lathe and pillar drill are other options. Youtube will show you how to make them out of wood.

NT

[Ian Jackson]

Home-made angle grinder?

[fred]

In article , geoff writes

My dad was a like minded collector of such things, one generation down the line and I have half lifed it down from obsession to controllable habit.

Fortunately at one time we had the same washing machine so when theirs was scrapped, the (working) motor came to me as a spare and yes, I successfully used it in mine when it croaked a couple of years back.

I think that was the only thing in the collection that didn't end up getting tipped later. Don't start me on the tins of rusty fasteners that would, "come in handy someday" . . .

[NT]

A standard wm motor might not be too bad for that. Running those discs at 2000rpm is quite hopeless.

NT

[Tim Lamb]

In message , geoff writes

I have about 20 salvaged from various bits of agricultural equipment.

I got as far as stacking them on a couple of pallets with a view to making my fortune from the scrap copper bandwagon. They are still here!

I can claim to have re-used 3. ..... 2x bench drills and one to power a dust extractor.

For the inventive minds, one is a geared single phase drive for stirring the milk in a farm bulk tank...

regards

>

[Halmyre]

Sinclair C5.

-- Halmyre

[Bob Eager]

Robot Wars.

[Frank Erskine]

With a very long (curly?) mains lead.

[Andy Dingley]

Boat anchor

Bait for passing gypsies

Impossible puzzle for budding electrical engineers

Nowt else useful

[Andy Dingley]

I have a columbarium (JFGI) of such things. The hallowed biscuit tins of at least three Dead Old Blokes whose families didn't appreciate the value of such accumulated tat.

One is two steel trunks that I can barely lift (steelworks). Another is aerospace grade (local aircraft factory). One widow was very happy though when his old apprentice pieces were returned, freshly cleaned, de-rusted and gun-blued. That netted me a whole steel wardrobe of more tat.

• Coulombarium: Old biscuit tin where you keep all those old dead capacitors that will 'come in handy some day'.

[brass monkey]

I have a columbarium (JFGI) of such things. The hallowed biscuit tins of at least three Dead Old Blokes whose families didn't appreciate the value of such accumulated tat.

One is two steel trunks that I can barely lift (steelworks). Another is aerospace grade (local aircraft factory). One widow was very happy though when his old apprentice pieces were returned, freshly cleaned, de-rusted and gun-blued. That netted me a whole steel wardrobe of more tat.

• Coulombarium: Old biscuit tin where you keep all those old dead capacitors that will 'come in handy some day'.

_ _ _ _ _ _

Think yourself bloody lucky. I last married in 1990, wifey moved her tat in. We then moved house in 2008 but had to keep the old house cos it was/is still full of her tat. Can't dump that, t'was moms/brothers/dads etc. So, 2 houses full of tat, then my mom died, that's 3 houses full of tat. Now were down to 2 houses full of 3 houses worth of tat. Me? anything for a quiet life :D O yea, plus 4 mini shit machines, LOL. I must be outta my tiny mind. Anyone gotta gun?

[Mike Tomlinson]

En el artículo , Andy Dingley escribió:

And which you need something from an hour after the bin wagon's been. BTGTGTTS.

[The Medway Handyman]

Can you imagine a UK.D-I-Y robot?

Main weapon would just have to be an angle grinder :-)