With some of the recent posts on replacement motors for wrappers and lathes, it gave me pause and I did a bit of reasearch.

For several years, I have been using a DC motor with a variable speed control, as well as a DC motor with a variable speed control to run my various power wrappers.

With the recent big surge in the sales of little electric scooters and electric bicycles, there is currently a pretty big supply of inexpensive dc motors and dc motor controllers

It is quite inexpensive to obtain a 12 or 24 volt DC power supply to run some of these 12 or 24 volt motors used for many of these motors.

You can check out many of the on line sources, as well as some of the big @#$%& sites to see the reasonable prices for both motors, controllers and other power supplies.

The big advantage of going with DC compared to AC motors is excellent low end torque, super low speed control, the ability to use direct drive gear motors with various top speeds of 100 - 1000 rpm to eliminate multiple belts and pulleys for speed reduction.

Most of the motor controllers use pulse width power supplies to control these motors with simple variable low wattage resistors. These resistors are easy to incorporate into a foot controller for super control.

The other big advantage of using DC motors is the ability to reverse motor direction by a simple reversal of input voltage leads to the motor. This input voltage lead change is easily accompolished by cross wiring a double pole double throw switch. Thus, a flip of a switch can reverse the motor direction to correct mistakes when using as a power wrapper or for better finish application if you use the wrapper to apply rod finish.

Check it out, you might find that you like the advantanges of going DC.

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In the case of heavy duty handle turning lathes: there are many different "conversion kits" available from various manufacturers to convert lathes which currently use single speed AC motors with their different pulley system to heavy duty fractional HP DC motors with their associated controller board. Again, the prices of these units - i.e. motors and controller boards - have come down to make these conversion kits readily affordable for many more folks. Typically, these motors are a bolt in conversion which can be easily accomplished. Again, many advantages to have continuous variable speed control for lathe work to turn handles as well as other rod building needs. A bit of research on the internet from various lathe manufacturers will quickly reveal many of these conversion kits at affordable prices.


Take care
Roger

They are wonderful systems for turning, but not for thread wrapping.

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Tom .........sorry but I don't get it .......... why aren't they good for thread wrapping ?

Richard,
One of the things that is typical of most of the variable speed dc motors on the new lathes of today is that the minimum speed of many of these motors are in the range of 800 - 1000 rpm.
i..e when you just turn on the knob of the controller, the motor starts turning at this speed, even with the speed control in the minimum setting.

So, if you would want to use this motor for a wrapper, it would be a bit tough to start wrapping at 800 rpm.

The thing that you have to look for in a variable speed motor that you want to use for rod wrapping is to have the abiltiy to get the motor down to 0 rpm.

The other thing that goes along with the comment is that the fractional hp motors like 1/4, 1/3, 1/2 hp, are very much an overkill for a power wrapper.

I think that a typical power wrapper will work just fine with a 1/100 hp motor. So, obviously you have much unneeded bulk and size on the wrapper, if you are using the wrapper as a dedicated tool and are not using it for a turning application.

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Having said that, there are dc motors of any size with controllers available that will go down to 0 rpm. Although larger in size than the typcial 1/10hp motors used on wrappers, you could use these larger motors on a wrapper just fine, if the space allowed the use of the larger motor.


In my particular case, I use the 1/3 and the 1/2 hp variable speed dc motors on my lathe for handle and othe turning chores. I do have a controller that will reduce the speed of the lathe to 0 , if I would like to do some very slow speed operations. However, I very seldom use the lathe at a speed much less than 1000 rpm.

Then, on my power wrappers, I use small DC gear motors that are only about 1 1/2 inches in diameter that are 3-4 inches long. These very small geared down motors do an excellent job of turning my power wrapper with all of the necessary power and torque.

Good luck
Roger