I have an AC motor (bought from a friend in Mexico, hence the Spanish lingo on the attached images) that I need to be able to run at variable speeds. Is there any way to attach a sort of dimmer-switch style mechanism so that we can adjust the speed at which this motor runs during operation?All help is appreciated!
I'm not sure how the wiring on drill presses are but if your other motor used AC present, you need to have the correct vigor being supplied to it. Says on the internet site can be powered from 120 VAC when a rectifier (bought individually) is used. So yeah you should use it but you can need a rectifier to convert from AC to DC current.
A dimmer-switch style controller will probably not work with a motor of this size and type. They will work to some extent with fan and centrifugal pump loads, but only with motors that are designed for that type of speed control. Dimmer-switch speed controllers work by reducing the voltage applied to the motor by weakening the motor so that the load slows it down similarly to overloading. As a result, the motor current increases. With a fan or pump load, less torque is required to operate at lower speeds, so that partly compensates for the overloading effect. Even so, the motor tends to generate more internal heat, and needs to be designed to tolerate it. The motor requires a capacitor. Since the connection is not on the nameplate, I assume that the capacitor in internal. It would be inside a housing like the connection box, but probably a separate box or bump on the side of the motor. If the capacitor is designed to be switched off when the motor gets up to speed, the motor can not be operated at reduced speed. If the capacitor is connected all the time, there are variable-frequency controllers that would work, but I think that only one or two manufactures make them for single-phase motors. With single-phase motors, they don't provide enough torque at reduced speeds for any load but a fan or centrifugal pump. PS1: A free online translator gave me “arranque por capacitor” translates to “Start by capacitor.” That pretty much says that this motor is not suitable for any operation below full speed.
