Hi,
I have a leslie speaker that i removed from an old organ and now i wonder how i can make it into a cabinet with a speed control on the motor(s).

The upper motor, as you see in the picture attachement, worked fine when i connected it to the 220V outlet, but the lower part is a bit more confusing. It's also labeled 235V, but when i connect it, it just makes a low buzzing sound. My guess is that it behaves like this because the 220V AC should have been converted to DC, but why does the label say 235V 50/60Hz then?

I have never built anything with big motors, just small battery driven ones, and i'm afraid to play too much with high voltage.

Anyone who can guide me some?

-Ragnar

 

I've never seen Leslie speakers with 220, but you might have a dual voltage system.

Older Leslies just had a two speed system, using a different motor for each speed, but they are simple shaded pole motors. I suspect you might have an actual bad motor. Try it with no load...be sure your bearings on the speakers aren't just rusty!
ERic

 

I haven't seen a Leslie for years.

Try to work through systematically, doing the simple (and cheap) stuff first.

Cover the belt and pulley system.

Get some WD40 or similar on to the motor drive shafts/bearings.

Can you turn things slowly by hand?

If you turn the pulley, do all the motor shafts turn?

Are there any obvious signs of deteriorated motor wiring/terminals/capacitors.

Has the insulation gone brittle?

Good pictures to work with by the way.

 

The leslie worked fine before i removed it from the organ and as KL7AJ said it had a two speed system.

Now i tried to connect the lower "motor" to 18V DC while the other motor was running and it then worked as a break and slows down the speed of the leslie.
It doesn't go as smooth with the break switched on, but when i looked closer into the circuit of the organ it looks like it's connected to a 24V DC transformer, so i guess it's because it doesn't get enough juice...
Why the motor/break is labeled 234V is a mystery?

Another strange thing is that both motors shared one lead that was connected to the 220V while the other leads went to the circuit with the 24V DC transformer. In the circuit there was also two 0.47uF 600WV caps, 1 diode and 2 100 ohm resistors.
I also noticed the transformer had 5 pins and some kind of magnetic switch or something underneath it.

I tried to connect the motors through the circuit, but only the upper one which was connected in series with a resistor and a capacitor (not shure what they are for, can someone tell me?) would work
as before, but the other one didnt do anything noticeable.

Thanks for all the replies


-Ragnar