618 damage

[TechNova]

I turned on my lathe and felt a vibration. I have only done basic turning and facing so am not sure what happened.

 

[francist]

The pulley casting wore through from the belt, it happens. Haven’t seen it on my lathes but I did on the drive for my shaper — the belt that pulls in the drive to the motor all of a sudden lost one of the cheeks after a bit of rumbling noise. This was a slipping belt kind of like a clutch, and the belt just wore its way through the casting. Not peculiar to Atlas products, many injection cast pulleys are one of the Zamak alloys.

 

[wayback machine]

I know it's after the fact, but what type of belt were you using?
The poly link type belts that a lot of folks like (for reduced vibration, etc.), are known to be hard on die cast pulleys .

 

[markba633csi]

Many miles of usage will do that

 

[TechNova]

I know it's after the fact, but what type of belt were you using?
The poly link type belts that a lot of folks like (for reduced vibration, etc.), are known to be hard on die cast pulleys .

standard V belt

 

[wayback machine]

There goes that theory .........

 

[wa5cab]

Not really. But any machine that is set up to slip the belt rather than stall the motor will eventually have this problem. It will just happen sooner with link belts than with standard V-belts.

 

[TechNova]

what should I be looking for in a replacement? Is the roller bearing version different than the bushing style?
Is the later square headstock style different?

 

[mattthemuppet2]

I have a vague memory of the spindle shafts and drive pulleys of the roller bearing and bushing versions not being interchangeable. Not 100% confident about that as it was many years ago.

It's not hard to replace though. In fact I made my own poly v spindle sheave as I was having allot of problems with belt slippage. Probably pushing the little lathe too hard. It was a useful improvement though.