Ferris wheel Motor Help

[godman]

I made an 8' Octagon PVC Ferris wheel and I'm hoping someone will be able to recommend a motor to power it with. I know I need a High Torque, Low RPM Continuous motor.

 

I would prefer a 120v motor and I was told it should be around 6-8 RPM, however i'm not sure if it should be a gear motor or? It would be nice to have an adjustable RPM so I can control the speed of the Ferris wheel,

 

Does anyone have any knowledge in this area?

 

Thanks in advance!

[Mega Arch]

Not I, but you might send a PM to Lightzilla.

He has some info here:

http://www.lightenupcanada.com/forum/custom/87-motorized-mini-ferris-wheel

[Mega Arch]

That thread is on his mini build. He has experience with the bigger ones too.
Check out the ferris wheel in this awesome video.


https://youtu.be/keOBxL1itDU

[Cheski]

Check out Monsterguts or Frightprops they carry high torque wiper motors, but there are 12V.  Good luck.

[Vince4xmas]

Use a gearbox and your motor size will be small.

Check the torque required using a torque wrench, get the motor rpm and calculate the gear ratio you need for the gearbox to obtain 6-8 rpm. 

[lightzilla]

I used a Dayton 7 rpm Gear Motor for my 8 ft wheel. Pricey for us Canadians but it will be cheaper where you live. Heck my mini Ferris Wheel which has a 4ft wheel runs with a truck window motor with ease.

[godman]

I used a Dayton 7 rpm Gear Motor for my 8 ft wheel. Pricey for us Canadians but it will be cheaper where you live. Heck my mini Ferris Wheel which has a 4ft wheel runs with a truck window motor with ease

 

Any Videos?, I'm curious about the speed, also do you set up with pulley's or connect it directly to the axle/spindle?

[lightzilla]

Any Videos?, I'm curious about the speed, also do you set up with pulley's or connect it directly to the axle/spindle?

The video link that mega arch provided is my display & you can see the wheel going around. That Dayton Motor ran (still runs) but it ran from 2008 to 2014 & then I retired that wheel for a smaller version. By the way my Ferris wheel had wheels on the bottom so that I could pull it around. Plus I make it so that I can dismantle it for easier storage but I never did take it apart. We (my brother & I) did not use a chain to drive it, but we did use a built. We went the built route for safety reasons. Just so you know that motor ran in -40 c(-40 F) weather. A bit slow at first but when the motor got warmed up it ran good.

 

Here is the video link....... https://youtu.be/keOBxL1itDU

Edited July 18, 2015 by lightzilla

[Old Sarge]

Check out taking the motor and gears out of an old washing machine and or cloths dryer..

 

You may be able to get that to work well also by making a gear or pulley system yourself and using maybe a fan belt to run it. 

 

I dont remember exactly how we had it connected but we did use the gear box so the arm went back and forth to control the deer legs but it would depend on how you connect your gear box.. which is part of the motor assy to control the agitator, spin cycle etc.

 

I did that when I was stationed in Germany to make our company float with Santa's rain deer legs move... all we did was actually add a small field generator to it and it worked fine. 

 

Or go buy a couple windshield wiper motors in a junk yard and figure out which wires to use... you may need to get the actual wiper switch for the motor you get for it to work right because of the way they are wired up.

[Old Sarge]

maybe something similar to this. they also have many others on their web site. I just did a fast search for one for you to give you an idea.

 

http://www.grainger.com/product/DAYTON-AC-Gearmotor-WP155055/_/N-o3uZpgn/Ntt-12+volt+motor?nls=3&nlsit=0.8&ssf=3&sst=subset&ts_optout=true&s_pp=false&picUrl=//static.grainger.com/rp/s/is/image/Grainger/1LPN9_AS01?$smthumb$