I need to control the speed of an AC motor, and the perfect thing would be one of those power control knobs from a deep fryer or something like it.

You know, the thing that plugs into the Fry Daddy with a knob on it that says "warm...fries...chicken...shrimp" and all that.

I'm sure somebody in Rolla has an old deep fryer that needs to be thrown away, and a cord I can buy off you for cheap. Or at least an idea where I can get one, or something similar.

The actual electronic device is called a TRIAC, an alternating current triode. It's like the potentiometer on your volume knob, but made for AC power instead of DC voltage.

Anyway, I would appreciate any leads.

http://www.gopresto.com/products/products.php?stock=21523

Listed for $12.

Well technically it's not like a potentiometer. It's a phase switch, that turns the AC on at a certain point in each wave. So it's pulse width control, and the average value that comes out is a fraction of the total.

Does a light dimmer switch work for this?

No, a light dimmer switch is a potentiometer used to control the potential to a TRIAC which is then used to turn on the power to the light.


And I meant that a TRIAC is used like a potentiometer, not that they were similar in electronic principle.


ETA: and I was trying to keep this whole project under $10, and I've already spent like $8.