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Where to Source RPC Idler Motor

Grenade

Plastic
Joined
Mar 15, 2012
Location
Western USA
I have a new (to me) CNC knee mill that I'll be moving into my garage next week and I'm starting to think about how to power it. I think I've landed on buying an RPC control panel and adding my own 10HP 17xx RPM idler motor. I'm sure used 3ph motors can be had for dirt cheap but I'm not sure where to look. Does anyone have any advice as to where to look to find a deal locally? Thanks!
 
I have a new (to me) CNC knee mill that I'll be moving into my garage next week and I'm starting to think about how to power it. I think I've landed on buying an RPC control panel and adding my own 10HP 17xx RPM idler motor. I'm sure used 3ph motors can be had for dirt cheap but I'm not sure where to look. Does anyone have any advice as to where to look to find a deal locally? Thanks!

Craigslist/Offereup/ebay

I got mine thru the Recycler (30 years ago) when it was the physical weekly ad paper

For a knee mill a 5hp idler is adequate
 
Does anyone have any advice as to where to look to find a deal locally? Thanks!

"Locally" being "Western USA"?

Google will get you started. Always consider freight if too far to go-fetch.

New is not always a disadvantage - some distributors have cut good deals with freight outfits, offer either known & reasonable rates or even "free" shipping.

A brand-new Weg Open, Drip-Proof, 10 HP, 230/460 1750 RPM with rolled sheet steel shell - not cast - cost me under $400, delivered a few years ago.

Yah don't NEED new, but how long d'you want to wait for something you can USE, or how many hours of searching, then go-fetch time makes good sense?

A new idler will probably be bought ONCE, then average-out to cost but a few bucks a year until it outlives your need of it.
 
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Motor repair/rewind shops. There's practically no marker for large, used 3~ motors.

Used machinery dealers. My 5 hp allis chalmers idler was free from the late great dave sobel. He had a large lathe
with replaceable hard ways, a customer wanted *only* the ways. "Scrap out the rest" he said. Sobel said I could
take whatever I wanted - so the motor became my converter.

Key in all this is to find it local for pickup. Shipping is a killer.
 
I got mine from a motor rewind shop that also ordered new motors for customers. Someone returned a new 15 HP 3 phase because of an occasional vibration. The vendor told them to just keep it because of shipping costs. I paid $100 for it. That was 25 years ago, it still runs daily making the same occasional weird noises it did in 1994.
I also agree to check Craigslist. With shipping rates from Fedex and UPS at $1 a pound and up these days as said, shipping a large motor is pricey. Even an old motor that is long in the tooth and fails under load can work fine as an idler.
 
Check with motor shops. A motor with an injured shaft is worthless as motor and great for RPC.

Also look for industrial business auctions and even equipment auctions.

If you had a more specific location more specific answers could be provided.

Bill
 
Motor shops. second hand shops. metal re-cyclers Craigslist, eBay are all good sources. I have two home-bult RPC's 5 and 7.5 hp

The 5 hp motor was an end-mount Boston Gear that was brand new and delivered for $100 from eBay. I built a mount for it. The 7.5 was a Baldor - $30 from local second-hand shop. It was NOS in the box. It was an Air-Over (A-O) so I needed to get a fan on eBay, Both are still running 8 years later.

You just have to look around.
 
Thanks everyone. This gets me pointed in the right direction. I wasn't finding much on Craigslist and didn't want to pay shipping which is why I created the thread. Sounds like motor rewind shops are a good source. I think I'll start there.
 
Junk and salvage yards. Even if the thing is rusty it can be cleaned up and painted with new bearings on both ends.

Geez, Ron? We KNOW you can get seriously "artistic" what with finishing-out a VFD enclosure as if it were a classical Coffin-nose Cord roadster... but painting new bearings on both ends?

That's TEDIOUS!

Faster and cheaper to buy real ones and put them inside, out of sight. Idler runs smoother as well.

:D
 








 
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