Big ceiling fan motor update.

[Jerry]

I took the big ceiling fan motor apart. I removed the stator ring.

I'm going to use 2 speaker baskets as I did in my first dual rotor. This will make using a shaft easyer. Since I'm buiulding a new solid steel rotor and my blades mount to a shaft.

Heres a few pix.



This is the stator ring.



Stator ring sitting in speaker basket.



Both baskets sandwiched around stator. The stator fits perfectly just inside the 1/4" bolts that hold the 2 baskets together. This should center the stator.



You can see the stator between the 2 baskets.

I'll be picking up the steel discs tomorow. I'll be adding the bearing end plates and magnet rotor.

                           JK TAS Jerry

[Jerry]

PS. These are 12" speaker baskets.

                             JK TAS Jerry

[ghurd]

Those speaker baskets look really cool.  Like art.  The good kind of art, like without Elvis or velvet.

The coils look big / heavy to me.  What Ga is the wire?

Do you expect the AL baskets to have eddy currents?

You must have a fully staffed 24/7 machine shop.

(I got my HF lathe to make a hole in the center today- That was big for me!

I do not expect it to do it again tommorow.     )

But a hole in the center means the photos are coming soon!

G-

[Jerry]

Hi G

The wire is fairly small. 24ga. ? or smaller? Shouldn't be any eddy curents. The original housing was aluminum. All the flux should stay in the laminations?

No its just me and my HF lathe,mill drill press combo. I'll make a 3/4" hole in the ruff cut steel discs. I'm using a 3/4" shaft. I'll make a hub from a speaker magnet backing plate. The discs will be bolted to this. I'll true the outer edges of the discs with the lathe. Then glue the squewed cut magnets to the discs.

I think the voltage may be high? I may use it high voltage or reconfigure the coils perelell for higher amps instead of higher voltage?

I'll just have to see what it does? If it works I have some simular built from scratch ideas. Mostly because I have a bunch of real nice speaker baskets like this.

They also have nice big ceramic magnets that I plan on cutting into pie wedges for disc alts. Some dual rotor some single with lamination. Also want to try some 3 phase wave or serpinteen winding like Eds and his stator technik?

Its allways toooooo many ideas not enough time.

                        JK TAS Jerry

[ghurd]

I would call 24ga big, in a ceiling fan.  The biggest I found in one is 30ga.  The one here now is even smaller, 32 or 34ga?  You find all the good stuff!

G-

[christopher]

Hi Jerry! Pulled open my Hunter's to see. Same diamentions as yours, 9" rotor, but the laminates are only 1/2" thick, so I think since I have two of these I will try to stack the laminates, and perhaps try and see if I can find a break drum of the correct diamention to use as a rotor.  I also think that the magnets from an outboard motor fly wheel will have about the right curvature and so for free may give these a try.  

Christopher  

[nothing to lose]

That looks prettty good

I'll have to pull apart the fans I have here and see what they have inside now. I was going to before and everyone was basically saying they weren't working out too well, the other types I geuss. I "THINK" I have some that may be similar to yours inside.

 They are the bigger types maybe used more in older stores and such than in houses. I think the down rod is about 3-4' long, indicating they were used with VERY high ceilings like the older stores around here. Certainly not used in moden houses with 8' cielings and probably not even the older houses with the 10' ones. Most likely old stores with 12' or higher. Most of those I see still in use are of the very slow rpm with large blades types and the hubs are pretty large also. I don't recall if the center rod or whole hub turns on those though. Having looked through the holes in what I have here it looked like the coils would have been set up like yours basically. I haven't looked at these for awhile and don't recall how the blades mounted.

 I'll try to find out what I have here and be watching to see how yours works out.

By the way for those of you with HF tools. How do you like the stuff? Quality and such?

I been wanting one of those 3 in one lathes/milling/drilling machines myself and been trying to get one. The store I go to never has them in stock, and the only one they ever get is about $700 when not on sale, it does not seem to have any auto threading features, something I do want. Perhaps because it's new or because it's a store display it does not feel very good when turning the the knobs and such either. To stiff or sloppy on various ones. Maybe it's just the way they stuck it together for display and needs adjusted better?? Maybe it just needs broke in??

 Anyway how well do you guys like them? I'll be wanting to do alot of aluminum work with mine. Lots of projects in mind, milling heads, boring cylinders, threading rods and holes, making bushings, etc.. Fairly precise stuff!! Lots of steel work too doing such things of course. And I plan to be building some stirling engines or at least trying too.

 Besides the machines themselfs, are the cutters and bits they sell good? I geuss that's what your using too. I see alot of M2 tool steel stuff, is that good stuff?

As you can geuss I never used any of these things yet myself. Been around them alittle and "THINK" I can learn to do what I want done after I buy one.

I am trying to decide between buying a 3-1 unit or a lathe and a milling machine seperate. Either way I want good stuff that works well of course. So I'd like some advice from those using these already.

Also are their pittsburg tools any good? I just bought about $200 of stuff Saterday I haven't got to use yet, 1/4, 3/8, 1/2" torque wrenches, set of impact sockets for 3/8 and 1/2" drive, lots of other stuff too. Big sale at the store Saterday! Wish I had had more time and also money!! I normally use Craftsman tools, but these Pittsburgs were so much less I decided to give them a try for things I won't use alot and hope for the best. The 3 torque wrenches together were less than one Crafstman of any size.

[Jerry]

Hi Nothin to lose.

I had one of HFs smaller lathe onlys. I sold it to a freind cause a couple years ago my kids got my this combo for fathers day.

I have no training or skills with this machine. I've not even used the mill part yet.

I'm not a machinest but I think this unit may be a littel slopy for the precision work you've discribed?

I use the drill press part alot. For what I do and what I now how to do I like it alot.

Theres times I wish the lathe part was bigger but thats not a problem for me. A good freind of mine is a machinest and he helps me out on the big or more precision stuff.

There are paybacks though. I help him out with stereo or electrical stuff.

I picked up the discs today. Found some the extact size needed. Just gotta find time to put it together now?

If you guys want to try the speaker basket thing? Go to your local car stereo shop and see if they have any dead junkers they'll give you. Copy a picture of my dual rotor alt to help explain what your doing.

That is if you want the shaft type blade mount. I think it will be nessesary because the center shaft on these things is only supported on one end and I think this may be to weak for safe blade support?

Motor bearing end plates will bolt up to the basket. Works real slick.

                    JK TAS Jerry

[ghurd]

I have the $350 HF mini lathe. It came pretty much completely assembled.

I got it for low volume production involving PVC reshaping. Great for that.

It is OK for medium small work.  Too small for medium work.  Not precise enough for small work.

It has its glitches. Hard to adjust. Sticky spots. Nothing too bad, but I can tell some of the pieces are kind of soft compared to what I used to use (USA made WWII Surplus).

I think the larger units are a little better quality than this one.

It seems all of the HF metal working machines have some slop.

And I found the adjustment screws to drill holes in the center!

I am happy for what I paid.  I don't use it that much. Rarely use it for metal.

G-

[nothing to lose]

Thanks,

I'll keep an eye out and see what comes up in the next few weeks, keeping your comments in mind.

 I need a lathe and mill for stuff, but money is difficult too, and space is short. Taxes should be in this week or next though, that will help get some things I been putting off awhile.

One of the things I want to build is other tools also. Just found out about a place that had 1500# rolls of sheet metal salvage for $75 a roll suposedly. If that pans out decent I plan to turn some forming dies and make some sheet metal siding and roofing and build some buildings here so I can actually work on things right. Between blacksmithing a little and machine work and welding I might be able to build some fairly cheap metal buildings from scrap here soon.

 Maybe I should say metal amplifiers, I have a bunch of 20-25' 2" steel pipe I plan to use that will poke out the top, you geussed it, gennie towers

Maybe those building will just be for storage, depending on noise levels, keep the mice and me out of the cars.

 Since I didn't hear the word junk used yet I will keep looking at the HF machines. I am hoping to get one that will do 12" on the lathe, but those I think are very expensive. When they say bed swing for the lathe, I think that is the total diameter that you can turn, or is that the radius, just the center of the chuck to the rails and you could turn double that size diameter?

I am looking at the larger 3-1 but not the largest one. Some of them do have the auto threader on the lathe according to the catalog.

I still haven't found a machine shop near me that can do the work I want done, most are too busy with big jobs or behind on stuff and have people waiting in line. Or they just don't want to bother!

[Reno]

Hello Jerry

Looking at that stator if you were to rewire it

but stack 2 or three stators together you could build a monster.

[Jerry]

Hi Reno

This is the fist one I've seen. I wish they were as plentyfull as mormal motors.

I've had plenty of expiriance with conversion of normal motors. I'm not sure what to expect from this one. They look to have much potential?

I would like to find more. If it works well maybe build the same from scratch?

Too early to tell though. We'll see how it goes? I will certanly keep my eyes out for more.

I'm not sure of the potential but I think it could be good.

                   JK TAS Jerry

[healerenergy]

Jerry I have done a lot of machining and the one thing i learned is if you take big cuts it gets sloppy cuts and hot metal. So take deeper cuts then let the metal cool and then finishing cuts and a file if needed. One machine I used to run was two and a half stories tall and I could take off 250 thousandths or more on a 12 inch wide slab with a 90 thousandths + or - tolerence. I have also run smaller machines where I had 1/2 a thousandths tolerance. You won't learn your machine if you don't practice with it's limits and yours.

[Jerry]

Hi Healerenergy.

2.5 stories? Wow what a monster. you can mill battel ship parts with that.

I started maching the rotor tonight. I'm going to use a 5/8" shaft, I'll save the 3/4" for the NEOs.

I'm use a speaker magnet backing plate for the main hub. I bored it for the 5/8" shaft and taped its 2" voice coil pole pice for a set screw. I took another backing plate from another speaker(Cerwin Vega). It seperated easly from its VC pole pice. It has a 3 hole patern towards the outer edge. I'm useing those 3 holes to hold all the rotoe parts together. Between the 2 speaker pole pices will be three .25" steel discs 8" in dia.

After the rotor is all bolted together I'll true it up on the lathe and then glue the magnets on.

Then its just a mater of designing the bearing end plates. Looking forward to that first spin. So eager to see what comes out?

I'm thinking of leaving it high voltage and powering a computer power supply. These power supplies work from 80 to 240 volts with very highly regulated outputs.

There are several high voltage options? I'll talk about those later if it works?

I'm thinking a 55" 3 blade for this one. I also have a very nice 7ft 2 blade?

                     JK TAS Jerry

[healerenergy]

I hope all goes well for you with your project it sounds cool. I don't run that monster anymore but it was fun someday I also hope to get some machining equipment for myself. I am designing a couple of projects myself .

[Jerry]

Hi Healerenergy.

Well its been a few days since I've worked on it. Missplaced the ceramics and Lowes is out right now.

Been thinking about a stator for NEOs too. I've got a bunch of those odd shaped small hard drive magnets. There realy thin so I'll have to make a larger diameter rotor for those?

All we need is time (some money would be nice too).

                     JK TAS Jerry

[healerenergy]

You bet lots of money! I could use a shop or garage mabe even a workable basement which is not avalable yet. Ive got some tools mostly for blacksmithing. I even have a forge in the back yard and a power hammer at my uncles with about 1000 pounds of coal and industrial coke.

[commanda]

I'm thinking of leaving it high voltage and powering a computer power supply. These power supplies work from 80 to 240 volts with very highly regulated outputs.

They say great minds think alike; this is exactly what I've been playing with for a while now. Maybe you know all this already anyway. If so, my apologies, but good reading never-the-less for the novices amongst us.

A few tips:

They're constant voltage output. They will try & put as much current as they can to maintain the output voltage.  After you've modified it to give you a battery voltage, (no mean feat in itself), they will try to maintain that voltage. As soon as your battery voltage drops a bit, it'll suck heaps of juice trying to bring that voltage back up instantaneously. Not good for batteries, usually. Also, it'll stall your alternator. They're also very cantankerous beasts. They need a minimum load on them before they'll start. And so many auto-shutdown on fault circuits it's almost ridiculous. Or maybe not. I just let all the magic smoke escape from my first prototype.

There have been several good articles in Silicon Chip Magazine (Australia) on modifying computer power supplies, over the last couple of years.

I am currently laying out a pcb for a custom computer power supply. It has a voltage control input, to control the pwm. This control voltage will ultimately be generated from the tacho signal and ammeter; either non-linearly (control voltage, and hence charging current, increases as a power function of rpm), or with a micro running an mppt algorithm.

Amanda