Good afternoon. I have been reading this site for a while and have always been able to find my answers. Today, I need to ask the community for an answer.

First, what I have and what I am trying to accomplish:
I have an old Duro band saw that I swapped the AC motor out for a DC motor so I can use the saw for metal instead of wood.

The motor is a treadmill motor that, after some trial and error with the built in safety features, needs a different controller that what it came with.

I ordered a MC60 controller and wired it up using a b10k potentiometer that I had laying around. I know the board has the soft start safety feature, and I am OK with that. My issue is that the motor only starts turning when the pot is turned up between 1/3 and 1/2 of the way up, so it starts spinning faster than I need. Is this an issue because I am using a 10k pot?

And as a side note, I can follow directions pretty well, but electrical theory is not my strong suit. Talk to me like I am new to all of this. Thanks in advance!

 

You maybe using a Logarithmic pot instead of a Linear one,

 

Thanks. Would my using a 10k instead of a 5k make enough of a difference that the motor would not start turning until it is turned about 1/3? If I am correct, the "b" designation on the pot (B10k) means it is linear.

 

I don't think the difference between the pots is an issue.
If you bought the board separately, it may have been better to pick up one of the KB DC motor controllers, ebay etc.
Try a lamp instead of the motor and see if the output intensity is pretty linear
Max.

 

Sorry for the delay but I wanted to follow up. I am stumped and have thrown in the towel. The dc motor is not getting turned on until the speed is way above what I need. I swapped the potentiometer out, I even tried different value pots. I improved the starting speed but couldn't get where I needed. I am ordering the KB controller. Thanks for your input and help!