Treadmill circuitry help.

[Stigg]

New here...
I have built a belt sander with a treadmill motor and power and control panel.
However, I need to replace the control panel with something more practical.
The speed control works by pressing the button multiple times and the incremental
increases and time required for the speed to reach the max is annoying for normal use.
I tried to figure out how to operate the power part of the system without the control panel,
but I'm unable to do so. I need on/off, speed up and down - with a potentiometer would be ideal,
but is there a way to do it? Thanks.

 

[canadaelk]

Motor speed controls are quite easy to design and build. They are also commercially available.
First off you need to know the motor ratings: AC/DC, Volt, Ampere and so on.
For reversal the motor needs to come to a full stop to prevent damage to the motor. Use a "hesitation switch" or electronic control. E

 

[MaxHeadRoom78]

Where did the present control come from?
What is the style/part number of the control board?
Were both off a T.M.?
Normally a belt sander does not need to reverse.

 

[Stigg]

The original treadmill circuitry.
I have and tried a commercial DC drive but the original treadmill unit runs the motor much better and I decided to use it. I modified it, getting rid of all the extra functionalities retaining only four inputs, via momentary pushbuttons, to the control panel. The control panel feeds the power unit via separate cable and I cannot figure out how it controls the power unit. I want to replace the speed UP and DOWN pushbuttons with a pot, for a faster operation but here my electronics 'expertise' is at its limits. I tried applying 5 VDC at some points where I suspected the power unit gets its inputs from the controls, but it made no difference, and did not wreck it, either...
I can get the parts out of the enclosure and check the numbers but I tried to find out the details while building the sander and did not find any specific info like schematics etc.

 

[Stigg]

I will make a close-up picture of the boards, maybe somebody can recognize the thing.

 

[Stigg]

Canadaelk, I know this and can build it myself plus have such a unit.
The point of this is to hack the treadmill electronics, if possible, as a challenge...