Contributor
You could belt drive the existing motor with any type of 3 phase motor and vfd. A vfd will cost around 100 from the bay. Or use a single phase motor and reduce the speed with the pulley ratios. run one motor at a time for a two speed setup. I have actually seen such a two motor setup on bandsaws.
Bil lD
[OP]
Member
I like the two motor idea. I'll have to look at the sander to see is there is access to some portion of shaft that would allow adding a pulley. I am not sure there is, but if so it seems like something that I might be able to cobble together fairly inexpensively.Originally Posted by Bill Dufour
Contributor
I suppose you could belt drive or wheel drive the rim of the sanding disk.
Bill D.
[OP]
Member
Upon checking it looks like a very easy setup. There is a little plastic impeller that would have to move or go, but I think I can manage to get a pulley on and save it by narrowing the hub of the impeller and moving it more inboard on the shaft. Belt access from below is wide open.
Honestly the placement of the impeller and the air shroud look like it does pretty much nothing to cool the motor. So if it was to need to come off I don't think I'd worry. I could add a muffin fan, but don't think I'd bother unless the motor seemed to run particularly warm.
I'll have to start shopping/scrounging for a motor, belt, pulleys, and other incidental parts. I am excited about this solution.
Harbor Freight claims that it is 1-1/4 hp in the current configuration. I figure that it is really comparable to a smaller motor. Also since I will be effectively "gearing down" with the pulleys I figure less hp will suffice. Do you think 1/2 hp will do the job running the disk at half or one quarter the normal rpm? Or will it take more to get all that iron started going?
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