I started a project of repurposing a cheap Hyper Tough 20V drill to power a manual reel mower.
Using only the drill components, the system is working and has already mowed my lawn and worked pretty well.

Improvements:
1. I'm not a huge fan of the motor (little power) and has a really weird mount when removed from the plastic drill housing. I also noticed a small crack in the mounting flange on the drill so I'm guessing it is going to break in the next couple of uses. The question is, what kind of DC motor should I get? I've had my eye on this one, but not sure if it is appropriate, as the title states, I'm new to the electronics game. (But having a blast so far) This motor also looks a lot easier to mount. I realize I'm not going to get gasoline mower type power, but I'm curious if anyone has something better in mine.
https://www.banggood.com/DC-24V-100...s=detail-left-hotproducts__8&cur_warehouse=CN

2. The drill has a variable trigger which makes it hard to keep a constant steady speed when walking and turning corners. I started looking into DC motor speed control and came across a potentiometer but quickly learned that pots are mainly used for low current circuits and had a smoking pot on my hand (HAHA). I then came across PWM which seems to be the best route for controlling the motors speed. I currently have my eye on this PWM controller. The plan is to zip tie the drill trigger fully engaged and use the PWM to control the speed with the dial. Does anyone have any thoughts on this method of this PWM controller?
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B081NJVXY1/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Sorry if I posted too many pictures, but I figured they would provide a lot better insight on my setup and what I'm trying to accomplish.

 

I realize I already broke one of the guidelines 2. Give your posting a descriptive title.
I apologize, I will correct on the next go around.

 

Pretty slick reflecting some ingenuity. What would likely help is a centrifugal clutch as used on go carts and mini bikes. If you go with PWM the unit you linked to is rated for 30 Amps and while most stuff off the boat is over rated that should work fine. Would be nice if you could make up the throttle pot similar to a motorcycle. The mower brings back memories of an old Craftsman push mower I pushed every Saturday.

Ron

 

If you go with PWM the unit you linked to is rated for 30 Amps and while most stuff off the boat is over rated that should work fine.

That's a really good idea! I like the motorcycle grip idea. I'll keep that in mind for Phase III (PWM and a better motor is phase II)
When you say over rated, do you mean the PWM unit is likely not rated for a full 30 amps? Any thoughts on the motor that was linked replacing the stock drill motor?

 

When you say over rated, do you mean the PWM unit is likely not rated for a full 30 amps? Any thoughts on the motor that was linked replacing the stock drill motor?

The problem with the linked motor is while they tell us 24V there is no mention of the current or actually the horsepower or fractional horsepower rating? Without going math ballistic I have no idea how much force is required to move the mower and have it do it's job of propelling itself and cutting. They do comment "scooter parts". It looks like it was used with a flat toothed belt. That makes it difficult to call out which motors will and will not work. They do mention the RPM full bore. Yes, the observation is things off the boat seldom meet their published specifications. This is really true as to how they rate current. The standing joke is that China apparently has a different amp than we do. The nice part is well made motor controllers for DC motors get costly but for the average hobby enthusiast the very low cost opens a lot of doors. While not quite stuff I would bet life and limb on for general hobby experimenting the stuff works and most of it pretty well. Figure at 24 volts even at 20 amps that is 480 Watts. One HP in a perfect ideal world is 748 Watts but when heat loss, drag and other variables come into play figure 1 KW or 1,000 Watts with a motor about 75% efficient. We won't get into locked rotor current and the like.

Ron

 

Safety advice: What happens if you let go of the machine? Does it continue to move? Cut? Incorporate a deadman switch of some sort like they have on modern lawnmowers. When you let go of the bar the motor shuts off and a brake slows the motor to a quick stop.

 

What happens if you let go of the machine? Does it continue to move? .

Right now the motor is only controlling the spinning of the reel blade. I still have to push it manually. The idea of using the pwm knob to control the reel spin speed actually models after motorized reel mowers. While rotary motors have a dead man in place, motorised reel mowers do not. (They'll actually cut and propel with no one there) I would definitely want some sort of dead man on the propel function if I ever get that far, but I'm not as concenced with one for the reel spinning.