Adapting Modern Appliance Motors To Woodshop Use

[John]

It seems something of a mantra to use an "old washing machine" motor for a grinder, lathe or whatever, but all the FWW articles that I've read show "old" motors that apparently date from the 1940's or 1950's -- they look like the usual TEFC motors that one is accustomed to seeing in the woodshop.

However, when I disassembled our dying dishwasher last year the motor that I unearthed did not look like any TEFC motor that I ever saw. No housing, winding exposed, and wires coming out of it that I had never seen on a motor before. Rather than risk electrocuting myself or burning the house down I put the motor at curbside along with the remnants of the dishwasher.

So can someone point me to web material that would show examples of modern home appliance motors being converted to woodshop use? My clothes dryer has been on the fritz for awhile.

Thanks,

J.

[Bob S]

John,

I believe you will find that the motor on the dryer is more in-line with what you envision as a motor - compared to the washing machine motor. The dryer motor typically is an enclosed motor (not TEFC though) and drives a belt that goes around the drying tub. I would suspect it to be a good sized motor since it has to turn a heavy load of wet clothes and should be suitable for making a drum sander, grinder or whatever else you may dream up.

As for a web site - try Google.

Bob S.

[Wilson]

Most modern motors I see these days are exposed windings, to make them cheap and get a little more cooling. Watch the yard sales for old dryer motors. They have mounting bases, usually, and are generally 2-5 bucks. Washer motors tend to mount from their ends. They are fine motors, but won't start much torque. I've used them on small tablesaws and bandsaws, even small compressors, especially if you use use an unloader switch. Dryer motors often drive the fan from one end and the drum from the other. You can hook two together with a coupling and have twice the power! Wilson

[Australopithecus scobis]

Cool. Do the shafts have to be turned to any particular spot relative to the windings? (I'm imagining one shaft at "top dead center" and the other motor's shaft turned halfway between poles.) How much slop in alignment can such a rig take: Should the motors be bolted to a metal rail, instead of wood? Is the delivered power strictly additive? (I'd guess "not quite, but close.")

[CW]

That is the problem with most appliance motors. The appliance is the housing. They are pretty much worthless.

[cromwell]

I would try a used bookstore, or Amazon etc. I have seen some pretty neat old books about repairing applicances and building electrical gizmos - I'm sure there's one for exactly this topic that's been published in the last 50 years.