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Sort of an electrical question. somewhat long.

T

TimWafer

Member
OK. I have a small 2" diameter grain auger I use to feed my little clipper 2B grain cleaner. It has a 1/4 HP 120V motor on it with the smallest pulley I can get on the motor. The little auger has the biggest pulley I can find locally on it now. I would have to special order and wait several days to find anything larger.
Still it runs just slightly too fast for the clipper to keep up with it. I have to constantly keep an eye on it and turn it off every few minutes to let the clipper catch up. Speeding the clipper up just doesn't clean as well so don't want to do that.
Can I put like a ceiling fan dimmer on the motor and slow it down just slightly till I get it dialed in right? I found a dimmer that is rated at just the same amps as the little 1/4 hp motor. Will this work or will it harm the motor?
 
It should work, try it you don't have much to loose. We use a router variable speed controller on a bee frame spinner. It looks just like a
regular dimmer.
 
If the motor is an ordinary induction
motor then no the dimmer will not slow it
down as hertz not voltage controls the
rpm.
 
Can you throttle the auger intake to adjust the flow? A variable speed motor would be ideal, look into variable speed DC motors and drives. Another alternative would be set of a paddle switch to turn the motor on and off to keep the grain level between two limits. An adjustable timer could also work: run for three minutes, off for thirty seconds, etc. A slower speed motor or a double reduction could work too.
 
Forgot to add that as a youngster we cleaned and planted our own seed and feed the Hance seed cleaner in the same manner you are. The feed can be regulated with a movable sleeve at the feed end that covers a portion of the exposed flighting, that's how dad did it.
 
Almost certainly not. A dimmer effectively reduces the voltage to the motor. You probably have an induction motor. If you reduce voltage enough to affect the speed by any significant amount, the motor is less efficient and begins overheating. There are certain exceptions to this but quite unlikely your motor would be one of the exceptions

If your motor has brushes, it's much more likely the dimmer will work.
 
An auger like that is often powered by a 1/2 inch drill, which many are already variable speed, problem solved. Just chuck the auger into the drill. Need a bracket and
clamp to hold the drill.

As others say, only some electric motors allow speed controllers, it would be poor of us to advise without knowing rxactly the type motor you have. Likely it wont work
with the motor you have if it is a cheaper setup....

Another way to fix this is to put a shielding on the bottom of the auger so it doesnt run full. Hose clamp a wrap of roof flashing, leave a gap, move it lower to slow the
grain it takes up. Note that an auger less than full may crack sensitive seeds more, but this would otherwise be the cheap solution.

Paul
 

That's a good idea. The way the hopper is designed it might be a trick to get something in there to close some of it off but maybe just a piece of flashing might work. Hadn't thought of that for some reason.
Thanks.
 
Induction motors are (mostly) locked to the frequency of their incoming power. Reducing the voltage to the motor will cause it to slow down a bit before it stalls, but it's going to draw a lot more current and is likely to overheat. Also, light dimmers are intended for resistive loads and really aren't suited for motors.

Consider using a variable frequency drive controller and motor. They're really intended for this sort of application.
 
Several choices, trying to slow down the motor is not one of them!

You can restrict the input to the auger.

You can make a compound belt reduction with an aux shaft and another set of pulleys.

Might can find a 2 speed motor and run it on low. Low speed is typically about 1100 RPM.

Find a gear reduction motor. Very expensive, but might find one on Ebay.

Convert it to a DC motor and a DC drive. Also expensive.
 
Tim,the easiest way is like others have
mentioned.Restrict the anger intake a
bit to slow the flow of grain.Something
as simple as a tin can and hose clamp
would do the job.
 
If you can't get it geared down enough
with the size of 2 pulley's, try using
4. Go from small (on the motor) to
big. Then do that again by going to
center shaft of the big and putting
another small pulley there that goes
to the big that drives the cleaner.
Your going to basically be adding 2
pulleys, a belt, and possibly a shaft
to what you already have and are
using. You got to somehow go from a
small motor pulley to big pulley down
to a smaller pulley on the same shaft
as the big and back out from the small
pulley with a belt to a big pulley on
cleaner to do anymore speed reduction.
It can be done, but your going to have
to play around with pulley sizes of
the additional pulleys your adding to
come up with desired speed.
 
(quoted from post at 09:35:08 10/13/21) It should work, try it you don't have much to loose. We use a router variable speed controller on a bee frame spinner. It looks just like a
regular dimmer.
Click to expand...

No
 
(quoted from post at 09:35:08 10/13/21) It should work, try it you don't have much to loose. We use a router variable speed controller on a bee frame spinner. It looks just like a
regular dimmer.
Click to expand...

No.

Can the feed inlet to the auger be restricted ?
 
(quoted from post at 12:58:40 10/13/21) If you can't get it geared down enough
with the size of 2 pulley's, try using
4. Go from small (on the motor) to
big. Then do that again by going to
center shaft of the big and putting
another small pulley there that goes
to the big that drives the cleaner.
Your going to basically be adding 2
pulleys, a belt, and possibly a shaft
to what you already have and are
using. You got to somehow go from a
small motor pulley to big pulley down
to a smaller pulley on the same shaft
as the big and back out from the small
pulley with a belt to a big pulley on
cleaner to do anymore speed reduction.
It can be done, but your going to have
to play around with pulley sizes of
the additional pulleys your adding to
come up with desired speed.
Click to expand...

This ^^ or the restriction.

Add two pulleys like a belt drive drill press. That way you get more chlices of speed.
 
VFD, different motor, mechanical shield at augur input, etc., all sound much more desirable/easier/cleaner that a whole new set of shafts, bearings, pulleys, belts!
 
By the time we're done discussing it you could have ordered and received delivery on the larger pulley.

Just beware that to cut the auger speed by 1/2 you need to DOUBLE the diameter of the pulley. That means if you have a 12" pulley now you'd need a 24" pulley to cut it in half. A 24" pulley is ludicrous. Finger chopper 9000.
 
(quoted from post at 15:06:54 10/14/21) By the time we're done discussing it you could have ordered and received delivery on the larger pulley.

Just beware that to cut the auger speed by 1/2 you need to DOUBLE the diameter of the pulley. That means if you have a 12" pulley now you'd need a 24" pulley to cut it in half. A 24" pulley is ludicrous. Finger chopper 9000.
Click to expand...
eah,but.........it gives a bunch of us old 'forts' something to jaw about. :lol:
 
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