# Using washing machine motors for workshop machines



## Tanglefoot20 (19 Feb 2021)

Hi all....
Wondering if anyone has progressed anything using washing machine motors...I’d like to maybe use one for a disc sander and maybe a polisher...I am no electrician but I understand the mechanics...is it possible to use them for these purposes?
If anyone has details regarding wiring etc...I’d be grateful...switching setup also..

Many thanks


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## Spectric (19 Feb 2021)

Totaly the wrong sort of motor, they are designed and produced for washing machines and often are interfaced via electronic control. I doubt you will want a sanding disc to oscillate like a washing machine or suddenly ramp up to drying speed.


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## alan895 (19 Feb 2021)

I thought most washing machine motors would be the brush type, if so they wouldn't be worth bothering with even if you could connect it up.

Try looking out for cheap bandsaws, pillar drills, table saws etc. purely for their induction motors - the bonus is that they're already wired up to a NVR switch.


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## Jelly (19 Feb 2021)

Spectric said:


> Totaly the wrong sort of motor, they are designed and produced for washing machines and often are interfaced via electronic control. I doubt you will want a sanding disc to oscillate like a washing machine or suddenly ramp up to drying speed.



I've seen them used very successfully by several friends as a cheap, speed controllable alternative to paying for a Induction Motor and VFD, but it did involve a bit of surgery on the motor, or using an Arduino and some breakout boards to control the motor's original circuitry...

AC universal motors have most of the characteristics you'd want In a machine tool motor and for occasional use the brush wear is less of an issue, whilst the more modern DC brushless ones are widely used (in smaller sizes) for power tools, so not sure I'd agree they're entirely unsuitable.

But OP would have to be confident working with electrical items safely, and willing to do a fair bit of learning (esp. for a brushless be motor) to make a go of it.


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## Inspector (19 Feb 2021)

Forced air furnace fan motors can be used as long as you are diligent at blowing the dust out of them. You also need to get the rubber bushing frame they sit in to mount it with too. Older ones are better as they were only single speed and were easy to wire a switch to. They are induction motors, ours are at least so no more complicated than any other brushless motor.


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## Cabinetman (19 Feb 2021)

Fitted a washing machine motor to my Myford ML8 lathe in about 1976, didn’t know we had to do anything clever with the electrics, maybe things were simpler in those days, bolted down with a couple of hoops of threaded bar and it’s still going brilliantly today. Ian
Also did one as a sanding disc – worked ok, plywood construction was a bit iffy so superseded by a proper one.


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## Cabinetman (19 Feb 2021)

Inspector said:


> Forced air furnace fan motors can be used as long as you are diligent at blowing the dust out of them. You also need to get the rubber bushing frame they sit in to mount it with too. Older ones are better as they were only single speed and were easy to wire a switch to. They are induction motors, ours are at least so no more complicated than any other brushless motor.


 Hi Inspector just translate for you for us Brits, a furnace over here is where you melt steel for casting, just so people know what you’re talking about – it’s a Home central heating system with forced air. Ian


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## Doug B (19 Feb 2021)

Cabinetman said:


> Fitted a washing machine motor to my Myford ML8 lathe in about 1976, didn’t know we had to do anything clever with the electrics, maybe things were simpler in those days, bolted down with a couple of hoops of threaded bar and it’s still going brilliantly today. Ian
> Also did one as a sanding disc – worked ok, plywood construction was a bit iffy so superseded by a proper one.


Yep the older motors you could definitely use this is one I changed the bearings on a few weeks back






It had been used on a lathe but I’ve kept it as a back up, modern washing machine motors are a different kettle of fish, I wouldn’t know where to start on one of those.


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## Inspector (19 Feb 2021)

Cabinetman said:


> Hi Inspector just translate for you for us Brits, a furnace over here is where you melt steel for casting, just so people know what you’re talking about – it’s a Home central heating system with forced air. Ian


 Well I was hoping you guys could figure out the different terminologies in the same language we both use.  

Pete


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## Cabinetman (19 Feb 2021)

Haha, you say tomat..........


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## Jelly (20 Feb 2021)

Inspector said:


> Well I was hoping you guys could figure out the different terminologies in the same language we both use.
> 
> Pete



I'm assuming your furnace heats the air itself directly to be pushed through the house in ducts as opposed to heating a circulating volume of water for radiators? A concept which is somewhat alien here in the UK.

Otherwise I'm struggling to grasp how it would need forced air, given Hoval in the UK supply natural draught/Venturi central heating boilers up to a staggering 2.7MW (a little over 9,200,000 BTU/hr).


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## Inspector (20 Feb 2021)

The central heating is in most places natural gas fired with some places using oil or propane, both having to be trucked in. The air is heated (the furnace) and blown throughout the house through ductwork and the cool air returned through other ducts to be reheated. In summer months air conditioning uses the same ductwork. When a furnace gets old they get replaced. The motor that drives the fan may still have lots of life left in it. Most though get scrapped with the furnace. Replacement motors are not all that costly. They range from 1/4hp through to 1hp with most being 1/3hp or 1/2hp. Since you guys don’t heat with forced air my suggestion of using a furnace motor is a nonstarter. Sorry. 

Pete


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## pgrbff (20 Feb 2021)

My grandfather, a carpenter in Venice made a router 50 or so years ago If i'm not mistaken.


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## Doug B (20 Feb 2021)

Inspector said:


> . Since you guys don’t heat with forced air my suggestion of using a furnace motor is a nonstarter. Sorry.
> 
> Pete



Don't apologise Pete there used to be a similar system here in the U.K. though clearly it wasn’t popular folks seem to prefer water based radiator systems.
The place I originate from had two housing estates with all the houses being built will ducted forced are heating, as an apprentice I worked on many converting the properties to wet systems as the forced air system never took off.


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## Ollie78 (20 Feb 2021)

There is guy on YouTube who uses all sorts of reclaimed stuff to build workshop tools.
Can't remember the name now. 
I saw him build a few things with treadmill motors from gyms. These are just a basic but quite large motors.
Modern washing machines are direct drive and will be difficult to use as half the motor is on the drum.

Ollie


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## Concizat (20 Feb 2021)

My house in France originally had warm air heating from an oil burning device in the basement. Great big lump it was, standing about 6 ft. tall, and weighed a ton.
When we eventually took it out and carted it off to the dechetterie, it broke one of the rear coil springs on the Renault Espace I had at the time.


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## Jelly (20 Feb 2021)

Inspector said:


> The central heating is in most places natural gas fired with some places using oil or propane, both having to be trucked in. The air is heated (the furnace) and blown throughout the house through ductwork and the cool air returned through other ducts to be reheated. In summer months air conditioning uses the same ductwork. When a furnace gets old they get replaced. The motor that drives the fan may still have lots of life left in it. Most though get scrapped with the furnace. Replacement motors are not all that costly. They range from 1/4hp through to 1hp with most being 1/3hp or 1/2hp. Since you guys don’t heat with forced air my suggestion of using a furnace motor is a nonstarter. Sorry.
> 
> Pete



No need to apologise, I've just learned something quite interesting about central heating round the world... And your suggestion would work perfectly, as a source of cheap used ⅓-¾ h.p. induction motors.


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## Trextr7monkey (20 Feb 2021)

As a child growing up in a mining village most families had a death saw involving a saw blade on an arbor running in a couple of bearings or a picador shaft. The whole thing was enclosed in a wooden box possibly with some of that new fangled Formica laminate on the table for smooth running. Naturally this interest has continued and I have had quite a few lathes needing improvement or fresh motors. I did pull one from a scrap washer machine but it is tiny and lacks the feet normally attached to more industrial motors. It looked like a lot of bodging would be needed to get it into safe and reliable use so I bought a bandsaw motor which was an unused spare from an Aldi bandsaw which was £30 well spent


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## TobyT (20 Feb 2021)

Doug B said:


> Yep the older motors you could definitely use this is one I changed the bearings on a few weeks back
> View attachment 103995
> 
> 
> It had been used on a lathe but I’ve kept it as a back up, modern washing machine motors are a different kettle of fish, I wouldn’t know where to start on one of those.


That looks almost exactly like the motor on my old Meddings Pillar drill - including the state of assembly! Colour and mount are the same, just mine is a little longer.
Is this an old washing maching motor? I had assumed the one on mine was original, but perhaps it isn't.


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## Doug B (20 Feb 2021)

TobyT said:


> That looks almost exactly like the motor on my old Meddings Pillar drill - including the state of assembly! Colour and mount are the same, just mine is a little longer.
> Is this an old washing maching motor? I had assumed the one on mine was original, but perhaps it isn't.


I actually picked up this washing machine motor as a possible replacement for my Meddings 3phase motor when I was having problems with my inverter recently, it has the same diameter shaft & foot mounting holes as the original motor so I can well believe it’s what’s on you drill @TobyT 
I managed to fix the inverter on my drill but have kept the washing machine motor just in case I have future problems.


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## mikej460 (20 Feb 2021)

I've looked into this in some detail as I salvaged one from our scrapped Bosch washing machine with a view to using it to drive my bench sander. After a lot of research I discovered that relatively modern machines use _permanent magnet synchronous motors _which have a huge max rpm so require sophisticated electronic speed control; so basically you can't use these. However, if the motor is an older style universal motor with a speed rating in excess of the 1450 rpm you need for a sander, then you can buy a speed controller such as this

WINGONEER AC 220V 4000W High Power SCR Electronic Voltage Regulator Governor Dimmer Thermostat Speed Controller: Amazon.co.uk: DIY & Tools

Watch this YouTube video to see how these are wired and how they work.

How to Wiring Universal Washing Machine Motor - YouTube

If the motor is rated around 1450 rpm then you could just wire it to the mains without a controller, there are a few videos on how to do this.

Hope this is useful.


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## southendwoodworker (20 Feb 2021)

Ollie78 said:


> There is guy on YouTube who uses all sorts of reclaimed stuff to build workshop tools.
> Can't remember the name now.
> I saw him build a few things with treadmill motors from gyms. These are just a basic but quite large motors.
> Modern washing machines are direct drive and will be difficult to use as half the motor is on the drum.
> ...



Jeremy Fielding? https://www.youtube.com/c/JeremyFieldingSr/videos


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## heimlaga (20 Feb 2021)

One of my waterstone grinder uses the three phase motor from an old industrial washing machine. Modern household washing machine motors seem to be pretty much useless. I prefere old industrial motors which I buy from a local scrap dealer for 50 cents a kilo.


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## Ollie78 (20 Feb 2021)

southendwoodworker said:


> Jeremy Fielding? https://www.youtube.com/c/JeremyFieldingSr/videos



That's the fella.

Ollie


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## OldWood (21 Feb 2021)

I am surpised that no one has point out that wood turners are advised to turn the rotating speed down to 500rpm or less when sanding as anything higher results in excess heat and loss of effectiveness as the sandpaper just bounces on the material.
This must apply to all sanding I would have thought, so using a 1450rpm 4 pole induction motor is going to result in a sandpaper surface speed far too high. 
For big sanding I have a 12" sanding plate plate that goes onto the variable speed lathe, and for little things a 6" Aldidls sander that is probably a dc motor with a simple speed control.


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