Need help making DIY potters wheel

[Mason Dixon]

I'm planning on powering the potters wheel with a 3/4hp Frigidaire washer motor. I see on it that it can do 1750, 1150, and 850rpm. Can I wire up a switch that will allow me to change between the three speeds?

Also, the output shaft diameter on my motor is 7/16" and the input on the 40:1 gear reducer is 1/2", how can I hook these up?

 

[tcmtech]

The three way switch should work just fine. As far as I can recall those three speed motors have three completely independent windings to get the three speeds out of them. You just need to find which three wires are the power in for each speed and which one is the common return for all three speeds.

A standard 7/16 to 1/2 Lovejoy coupler would work for that. Most hardware and parts places would carry them as a common stock item.

 

[Mason Dixon]

Thanks so much tcmtech. I will try and find the wiring diagram for the motor. I don't know much about wiring up stuff like the 3-way switch, if I came back on here next week with the diagram, would it be possible to sort out which wire goes where for the switch?