Motor question

Aurabbit79er

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Oct 29, 2012
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Southern California
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That's good idea.
The motor and transmission assembly.
That low gear ratio is really strong and could turn sizable gravel in a bucket.
An old electric window motor assembly may also be worthy.:goldpan:
 

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Reed Lukens

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Jan 1, 2013
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Congres, AZ/ former California Outlawed Gold Miner
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Honda WX15 for gas...
Remember that there will be no other water running into whatever sluice you are using so you will need at least 1500gph for any bilge pump set up depending on the width of your sluice.
 

Barndawg

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Jan 14, 2011
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Illinois (STL area)
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Windshield wiper motors work ok, but they have nylon gears in them and if the trommel gets hung up on a rock or for any other reason it will strip the gears out. If going electric, try an electric power steering motor and gear it down with belts and pulleys or use a rheostat for speed control.
This is a wiper motor from a Ford Ranger pick up. It does well with a good, strong marine battery and will run for a long time on a charge, but I've already replaced the motor once already from stripped gears. Now, I'm just real careful to not let it get hung up while running.
Crawfordsville July outing 023.jpg
 

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mu50stang

Full Member
Mar 2, 2011
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Are you able to show me how you have it hooked up and what year ranger its from. Do you gave it on an off on switch. Also what size pulley are you using. Thanks.
 

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mu50stang

Full Member
Mar 2, 2011
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I decided to go with a blower motor from a car and seems to have enought power. I did get a dimmer switch from a 69 chevelle but can't get it to adjust the speed of the motor. Any help would be appreciated.
 

Fermion

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Jan 12, 2013
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A blower motor? How are you gearing that down so it has enough torque to run your trommel?

If it is a 12V motor, you can make a simple circuit using a mosfet and a 555 timer rigged to generate PWM pulses. This is a type of chopper controller that works *ok* for speed control if you only need one direction.

If I had caught you earlier, I might have steered you toward wheelchair motors. They have a right angle gearhead and the 24V motor is pretty beefy. Tons of torque because they have to move fat asses around walmart and stuff. I have about 6 of them from a past project in my junk box.
 

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mu50stang

Full Member
Mar 2, 2011
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I tried the blower motor with a rheostat and when I slow it down to about the right rpm it can't handle the load of any gravel in it. So I ended up finding a winch motor in my garage. I hooked it up and it only runs at about 4 Rotations per minute which seems to slow. I was wondering is there any way to increase the rpm on this motor. It's a 12volt dc motor.
 

Timmy Tom

Jr. Member
Aug 14, 2012
53
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What about a can opener? I know it is ac but get a small dc to ac inverter to power it. May have issues with the shaft length and diameter to make it work easy.

TT
 

RZerr

Newbie
Nov 15, 2012
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Goldfield, Nevada
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I used a 12volt motor and gearbox from a scrapped kid's Power Wheels 4x4. Mounted above the trommel barrel and drives with a toothed belt. Works great and also installed a PWM speed controller. Turns the trommel all day long with on a small car battery. You can buy Power Wheels parts on eBay or from Batteries Plus stores.
 

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