Electric motor for turntable?

[aperturefever (Sean)]

Hi all,
I want to make a turntable to work on a 24" mirror.
Any ideas on finding a cheap 1/2hp DC variable speed motor that would do the job? Second-hand is probably better, as I would rather spend my hard-earned on the scope itself. A geared version would be ideal - I just want to mount it on a 44 gallon drum.

[astro_nutt]

You could try the local trash and treasure markets, garage sales looking for cordless drills/drills with variable speed, etc
Cheers!

[Rod]

A couple of suggestions:

Windshield wiper motors have a lot of torque. I have used one successfully for the over arm on a small grinding machine.

A motor from a treadmill would be ideal.

A small drill press has a good AC motor. You can vary the speed with the pulleys.

I do have an old DC motor. I think it is 1/3 hp. If you want to PM me I would be happy to sell it to you. It doesn't have a gearbox though and would be heavy to post.

Rod.

[Poita (Peter)]

They are relatively cheap out of China on ebay.

[aperturefever (Sean)]

Thanks for the suggestions, guys. Maybe I'll just be energetic and walk around this thing for the time being - as has been pointed out to me, it is a bit of trouble to go to for a single project. I mean .. why would I want to go bigger than 24?? Geez anyone would think I had a bad case of aperture fever if that didn't keep me happy