Cost Per Part

So I set here on my computer today since it is snowing and nasty outside. I find a free treadmill online. I am glowing on the inside. I like treadmills they have a lot of copper in them and weight of steel.

So while im waiting here for him to call me back I have a question. How much do you think on average you get out of 1 treadmill scrapping it. I have scrapped 2 in the past and added them to my other junk so I really don't know what one would be in cash value. Any idea's?

Electric treadmills have a good size motor in them. Sometime two depending on if it has a hydraulic lift for an incline. I can take a picture tonight when I tear it down and show you. Last time I tried putting a picture on here it did not work, I will try it again

was was a person that used to repair this the new was are made of wood and plastic there is a circuit board in the head this where all the gauges are other then that there is the drive motors one for incline and one that drives the belt (rodeocowboy72)

I understand GeorgeB, We all have day like that. The reason for the question is I can pick these up every month here. Someone is always getting rid of them.

I had time on here for the first time in awhile and found some video and looks like an average of $20 a piece if I understood right. Worth my while to pick them up.

imyourgirl, I just broke one down today. I think $20.00 might be a bit high as scrap value, but definitely worthwhile nonetheless. Very easy to work on. The steel, bolts and rollers could come in handy for projects too. Other than the wiring, the transformer and DC motor yielded about 1.5 to 2 lbs of copper. There were also a couple of circuit cards, a hand sized aluminum heat sink and a circuit breaker that I opened up for the silver contacts. I would say the one I broke down had a scrap value of about $10.00.

Originally Posted by KZBell

Is that the same DC motor that Green Folks like to buy for decent $$.

Probably easy enough to hook it up to a wind or water source for power - would make an interesting project. At this stage in my scrapping though, I'm more interested in tearing things apart to see what they're made of.

Originally Posted by KZBell

Is that the same DC motor that Green Folks like to buy for decent $$.

I am pretty sure been looking into it =)

Never seen hydraulics on mine. Broke down 3 or 4 so far. I see a screw drive though.

I have only found one with a "hydraulic motor". It was a real expensive one, never seen one like it and the man who gave it to me said he paid 1,000 for it new. It had a push button on the control panel that would raise the platform up for the desired incline. The motor looked like a bottle jack that you put under cars to jack them up.

Yes, the motors are in demand as a cheap DC motor for DIYers.

I scrapped a treadmill and sold the motor for more than scrap value on craigslist. I don't know how much it weighed but it had to be ~20+lbs. I sold the motor for $20. It sold quickly and got several replies. The fellow I sold them to asked if I had the logic/control board, which I hadn't thought to save but it makes sense that it would be helpful. He said he was making a wood lathe.

The screw gear is for elevation and i recycled as motor scrap.

As a helpful trick, you don't need to wire the motors up to household current to check them out. You can hook them to car jumper cables or a 12V cordless drill battery. That way you can test the motor even if the other components are fried.

Treadmills are like other consumer products. The nice expensive ones are expensive for a reason. They are made of thick steel and have nice motors. The cheap foldable ones from sears are cheap for a reason. You'll notice the difference when you dissect them.

Just like there are appliance part websites, there are sites for fitness equipment. New belts or control boards are expensive. It might be hard to find a buyer, but I'd at least look into it before resigning to scrap value or trash heap.


If I had a truck I'd never pass up a treadmill.
-junkelly

I have one of these and it's handy for testing DC. I imagine if you hooked a DC motor to AC current you would fry it.