I was wanting to know if anyone had built a rod dryer with an allectronics acm-105 30rpm motor. I purchased a couple of motors, and can not for the life of me figure out how to attach a longer shaft or a chuck to the motor since the motor shaft is only 1/4 inch long and square.

If anyone has some simpe plans on how to build a dryer with this motor I would sure appreciate some help.

Thank you,
Scott Williams

Hi Scott, I built a dryer with that motor, and yes the shaft is very short. I simply used a pvc pipe endcap, drilled a hole in the center, slipped it over the shaft and dropped in a couple drops of epoxy to fill the gaps between the square shaft and round hole. I then take a strip of foam rubber about 3/4 inch wide and 3 inches long, wrap it over the end cap of the reel seat or the tiptop and insert into the pvc cap. It takes some adjustment to get it centered.

Scott,

I have just completed my dryer set up using that motor. I went to my local hardware store looking for ideas. I found that a 5mm socket head bolt (the kind that uses a hex or allen wrench to tighten) fit very nicely on the 5/32" shaft (at least i think it was a 5 mm). Anyway, I brought the motor to the store with me, and got a great fit. I could shake the motor with the bolt attached, and it stayed put.

The bolt is about an inch and a half long, so I got a few nuts, two lock washers, and a pvc cap with three thumb screws. I drilled a hole dead center in the pvc cap, and three holes offset by 120 degrees, so that the three thumb screws evenly divide the radius of the pvc cap. These are used to hold the rod while turning. I then put two nuts on the bolt, and got them to where i wanted them, and then tightened them against each other. I then put on the pvc cap chuck, then a lock washer, and then the final bolt. I tightened it down with a socket wrench. I didn't make it overly tight, but tight enough not to come undone. I made it so that the last nut just covers the end of the bolt so that i have the maximum amount of room for a rod to get into the cap.

On the thumb screws, I put some fly tying soft body at the ends, which gives the ends a rubber tip. This will protect the rods that I place in there. The soft body is just like the stuff that tool makers use to dip the handles of pliers into in order to give them rubber grips. You can buy it at lots of hardware stores.

I hope this helps. I have a picture of the motor and the bolt on the stripersonline.com website, under the rod building forum. I just posted it a few days ago, so you should be able to find it pretty easily.

Good luck.
Joe

I originally purchased that motor as well for a drier but had problems with the short shaft.I actually ended up stripping it somehow while trying to hook it up to my chuck and ended up tossing the thing.

I ened up buying 2 more motors from allelectronics.com,one was a 4.5rpm and the other a 40rpm.Both of these had much longer shafts on them and worked MUCH better.If you go through their motors you should be able to find something with a longer shaft and since the motors are only a couple of bucks each,it's worth getting one that is less of a hassle to build up(I would get a couple just in case you need a spare or replacement).

Both the 4.5 and 40rpm motors work well as driers for the finish I use(LS Supreme) and the 40 is also good for applying it.

I built a dryer with that moter as well. I found a set of plastic gears on their site. I then heated the square shaft and pushed it into the hole of the smallest gear. Next I bought some 1/4 all thread and drilled out the hole on the largest gear to fit. Added a pvc cap on the other end and I was all set. It droped the rpm's on the rod to 8. Works great. I can try and take a some pictures of what I did this evening if you like.