Flat belt drive with some ooomph!!

WayneP

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Hi All

I'm new here and haven't read everything but I thought I'd share a tip that I use for driving my old Southbend lathe.

I machine a lot of large diameter parts, well....if 5" dia can be considered large. Of course my 1" flat leather belt is long gone, replaced by a more modern synthetic laminated belt....strong like a bull....but slippery...ie not much grip. I struggled for a while....and not really wanting to go to vee-belts, or even taking my lathe apart....I decided to try to improve the grip (never mind that spray goo!!) My first attempt was to put "rescue tape" on all 6 pulleys.....worked like an absolute charm.....and the lathe got quiet!! Suddenly I could actually put the lathe to work....depth of cuts were much better. The rescue tape (sometimes called plumber's tape) is silicone and it would tear away under too much load.....but waaaay better than what I had so I just kept replacing the tape as/when required, every few weeks. Then I saw 3M electrical rubber tape in a big box hardware store (you can guess) and that was the ticket!! This stuff is for binding electrical connections, its about 3/4" wide and "self sticks" as you over-wrap it on itself. Its lasting me about 6 to 8 months, works very well. So try it out.....you can finally get your lathe to do real work on large diameters.

I hope this works for you....my contribution.

Wayne
 
Thanks Wayne. I been looking for something like this. Cheers jim
 
Wayne,
Try a link belt it is quiet and does not slip and installes in minutes, but make sure you use a v belt on motor that does slip just in case of a jam. People use these for 20 years and still work fine. Mine has been on only a few years and it is still like new.
Paul
 
Hi Paul

Thanks for the tip? I have a v-belt on the motor drive but the drive pulleys from the jackshaft to the headstock are flat crowned pulleys, for a 1" wide flat belt. The only link belts I have seen are linked v-belts....is that what you mean or is there a type of linked flat belt? Any additional details would be much appreciated.

Wayne
 
DCP_0453.JPG Wayne,
The link belt works fine on flat pulleys. The link belt will not slip so add a v belt to the motor in case of a jam. I put it on the lathe when I first got it and decided to let it on, so the pic is before rebuild. I got it at Harbor Freight.
Paul

DCP_0453.JPG
 
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got a twisted link belt on my heavy ten
was on it when i got the lathe
it will run off the pulley when the lathe is about to stall
tried it on my light ten and it kept running off while just running
got a serpentine belt on my 9a, now that works like a charm
 
I too run the link belt in place of a flat belt on my Heavy 10. I kept the regular automotive V belt for the drive pulleys though. I run the link belt inverted so the flat back runs against the flat pulleys. It hasn't run off yet. Grips great but will slip if I make it do so.
 
Thanks guys, will have to give one of those belts a try....when I run out of tape!! lol
 
The self stick tape your talking about, do you mean friction tape?

Tape on the pulleys remind of of bandsaw tires.
 
I like a flat leather belt, personally. I bought one of those new composition belts and it was a piece of junk, also stretched two inches, slipped all the time. Went to the local Amish tack shop and he made me a nice leather belt (pre stretched so it doesn't stretch much). I asked how much I owed him and he said" ten bucks ok? I said " make me a spare also". We are both happy. Now,I can cut .060"per side in steel without slipping.
 
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