Do-it-yourself emery from a washing machine

The washing machine is broken and cannot be repaired, what can be done about it? The question is quite reasonable; if you can’t sell it for spare parts, but it’s a pity to throw it away, then you can try to construct a useful thing from its parts. In this article, we decided to tell you how you can make household sandpaper from a washing machine motor with your own hands.

The device of the emery and its purpose

Emery is a useful thing in the household. They are very convenient for sharpening metal knives, scissors, drills, shovels and other tools. You can buy a similar device in stores; there is a wide selection. However, the price may force you to refuse such an acquisition. Therefore, you can try to make emery with your own hands from the engine of an old washing machine.

To carry out such work, you need to have a good understanding of how emery works and what parts it consists of. The simplest version of emery has:

• engine;
• bushing;
• flange;
• starting device;
• emery wheel;
• protective casing;
• electrical cable and plug;
• support.

Of all the parts listed, you will need to purchase a high-quality sanding wheel. All other details can be made with your own hands, this will be discussed further.

Grinding the flange

To fit the emery wheel onto the motor bushing of a washing machine, you will need a flange, since the diameter of the shaft usually does not coincide with the diameter of the stone. If there is no factory flange suitable in diameter, then we make it ourselves. We take a piece of metal pipe, the diameter of which is such that the pipe is easily and firmly pressed onto the motor shaft; usually a pipe with a diameter of 32 mm is suitable.The length of the steel pipe should not exceed 150-200 mm; this will be enough to attach an emery wheel to it.

So, at one end of the pipe, using a tap, we make a thread approximately twice the thickness of the circle. After this, the second end of the pipe must be heated well, for example with a blowtorch, and put on the shaft. You can secure a flange made by yourself by welding, if possible, or with a bolt, drilling through the flange and the shaft for this purpose.

Important! The thread on the flange must be opposite to the rotation of the motor shaft from the washing machine, so that the emery disc does not fly off during rotation. If the thread was cut incorrectly, then on an asynchronous motor the shaft rotation will have to be changed.

The transition part from the engine to the emery wheel is ready, now we screw the nut onto the thread, then the washer. After the washer, we put on a grinding wheel, which we secure with a washer and nut. Tighten the nuts well; for strength, you can screw another lock nut at the end.

Connecting the engine

For self-assembly of emery, craftsmen recommend taking motors from Soviet-era washing machines such as Volga, Oka or Vyatka. This is explained by the fact that the engines on them are powerful. In general, a motor with a power of about 200 W, at 1000-1500 rpm, is sufficient, although a 400 W motor at 3000 rpm can also be used to make household sandpaper with your own hands. But at the same time, the emery stone must be very strong, otherwise it will collapse at such speeds.

A very important step in making emery is connecting the motor to the electrical network. To do this you will need an electrical wire and plug. Connecting the motor from an automatic washing machine and the motor from a Soviet washing machine is slightly different. In a six-wire automatic machine engine, only 2 wires going to the motor brushes and 2 wires from the stator are required. The remaining 2 wires are the tachometer wires.

To find these wires, you need to take a multimeter. Measuring the resistance of the wires, we find the tachometer wires, their resistance is about 70 Ohms and remove them to the side. The resistance of the remaining wires is determined in pairs. Now we connect one stator wire to the wire from the brushes, insulating the connection with electrical tape. We connect the remaining two wires to an electrical wire with a plug at the end.

Important! Such a motor does not require any capacitor; it will begin to rotate immediately after being plugged into the outlet.

To connect the motor from a Soviet washing machine, you need to determine from 4 wires which are working and which are starting:

1. Take a multimeter and apply the probe to one wire, alternately apply the second probe to the remaining wires, as soon as a pair is found, remove the wires to the side.
2. Then we measure the resistance of the second pair of wires.
3. We select the working winding, in this case it is the pair of wires whose resistance turned out to be lower.
4. Now we connect the wires of the working winding directly to the electrical wire with a plug. You can leave it like that, but then to start the engine, you need to spin the emery circle with your hand and it will start to rotate. You can use a call button as a trigger. How to connect it to the circuit with your own hands? You need to connect one wire of the button to the working winding through the terminal, and the second to the starting winding.The diagram on the right shows how to connect a homemade emery from the engine through a button, where SB is the button, OB is the working winding, and PO is the starting winding.

For your information! A capacitor should not be used as a starting device; it will cause the winding to burn out.

Be careful when working with electrical equipment yourself. If you doubt your capabilities, contact someone who is familiar with a multimeter and understands how to connect a homemade emery machine to the network correctly. You can also find video instructions for connecting the engine on the Internet or watch this video.

Making the installation

The final stage of making emery is to secure it on a flat surface, such as a workbench or carpenter's table. You can screw the sandpaper to an old, stable stool. On the motor housing of the washing machine there are fasteners with holes. Just before screwing it onto the surface of a table or stool, they place a metal sheet, which also needs to be secured.

For safety reasons, you can attach a metal arc over the sanding disc, which will protect against particles flying during work. Besides, Be sure to wear safety glasses when working with sandpaper.

Thus, it is not difficult to make emery from a washing machine motor with your own hands, be patient, read the tips carefully, and watch the video. In addition to emery, you can use the engine and other parts of the machine to make a homemade wind generator, concrete mixer and other useful household items. This is discussed in the article What to make from an old washing machine.

1 reader comment

1. 02/09/2017 at 17:40

   Vsilij:

   Regarding this article by Kulibin, I advise you to use a 3-quarter-inch die and plumbing nuts for this size instead of a tap.

   Answer