Link belt vs regular belt

She slips alittle at higher speeds, but seems to be working well enough at420 and 690 which I use the most. Quiet start up, quiet operation. Almost not vibration in the lathe... finally! The new belts will be here in a couple of days, awesome
 
richl said:
She slips alittle at higher speeds, but seems to be working well enough at420 and 690 which I use the most. Quiet start up, quiet operation. Almost not vibration in the lathe... finally! The new belts will be here in a couple of days, awesome
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If you get the right size and tension them properly they should not slip. Hope the Fenner works better.
 
Thanks for the comment mikey, I spent some time moving links and getting the right size, made up a second. I amazed how the lathe acts now, 1800 rpm really did not inspire confidence in me, now it is something I feel is useful. I'm so excited, I took video of it, even left it on 1800 rpm for about 10 minutes just because it sounds so good. Thanks for yours and darkzeros contribution here.
 
It's really nice to see when something works out. I laughed when you mentioned 1800 rpm. Like I said, my mill made this groaning sound with the old V-belts at 1800 rpm and it was really loud and spooky. I actually felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand up and got goosebumps! I've heard of ghosts in the machine before but I never actually heard them before and I'm embarrassed to admit that this is what that harmonic sounded like. Now, like you, I have no problems running at 1800 rpm and the finish at that speed, and every other speed, is really good. Glad you got it sorted!
 
Jogged my memory. Earlier I said I needed pliers to adjust the belt length. Now I remember, I only used pliers for the second tab when reassembling. Not that I couldn't have done it by hand but it's a lot easier.

I also remember the instructions for the Fenner Power Twist V belts specifically recommending on where to remove links for shortening, at certain sections only corresponding to the direction arrow mark. I never thought much as to why but that's what I have always done as best I could.

Now it got me wondering. Instruction sheet mentions "hand tight" length. My guess is that the sections are pre tightened at the factory and they recommend you make your splits at intervals so you don't have too many loose connections close to each other. They also recommend rechecking tension after a bit of use which is probably needed once your connections have tightened.

Wondering if this has anything to do with some of the issues mentioned here. I would think overtime the links would all eventually tighten up but I'm sure Fenner probably has a good reason on why they recommend this.

Screenshot_20190403-205726.jpg
 
mikey said:
Absolutely no issues with tabs coming loose. The shape of the tabs makes it difficult for them to disengage from each other. Is the belt you're using the right size?
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No problems once it’s installed. On my lathe, there isn’t an easy way to adjust the position of the motor, which makes it difficult to roll onto the high speed pulley. The belt always ends up getting a twist, which causes a tab to come undone. I think it will improve once it breaks in a little and everything gets seated. It’s was just a pain to install when new.
 
darkzero said:
Jogged my memory. Earlier I said I needed pliers to adjust the belt length. Now I remember, I only used pliers for the second tab when reassembling. Not that I couldn't have done it by hand but it's a lot easier.

I also remember the instructions for the Fenner Power Twist V belts specifically recommending on where to remove links for shortening, at certain sections only corresponding to the direction arrow mark. I never thought much as to why but that's what I have always done as best I could.

Now it got me wondering. Instruction sheet mentions "hand tight" length. My guess is that the sections are pre tightened at the factory and they recommend you make your splits at intervals so you don't have too many loose connections close to each other. They also recommend rechecking tension after a bit of use which is probably needed once your connections have tightened.

Wondering if this has anything to do with some of the issues mentioned here. I would think overtime the links would all eventually tighten up but I'm sure Fenner probably has a good reason on why they recommend this.

View attachment 291896
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That might be the problem. I didn’t bother counting the links and just removed the links from the end instead of every 24th link (they all looked the same).
 
MSD0 said:
That might be the problem. I didn’t bother counting the links and just removed the links from the end instead of every 24th link (they all looked the same).
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Curious, do you have the red Fenner belts or the green AccuLink belts? I wonder if AccuLink says the same? I would think it should be fine even if you didn't remove links from the recommended sections once you tension them, run them for a while, then retension. They should tighten up? But I don't know, wish they gave the reason why. It wouldn't always be possible to remove links every so many links exactly as they recommend. :dunno:
 
MSD0 said:
I think it will improve once it breaks in a little and everything gets seated. It’s was just a pain to install when new.
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I hope so. My Fenner belts have seen a fair amount of use and they're still pretty stiff. I don't know when they'll be "broken in" but I suspect it will take a long time.

I didn't remove links as per the instructions. I just took them off wherever my hands happened to grab it. As Will said, there is a proper way to do this but since I didn't mark the end of the belt in the beginning I had no way to know where it was so I just did my adjustments randomly and it seems to be fine.
 
mikey said:
As Will said, there is a proper way to do this but since I didn't mark the end of the belt in the beginning I had no way to know where it was so I just did my adjustments randomly and it seems to be fine.
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According to the instructions it says every tenth link is marked by an arrow (the arrow that denotes rotation). That's what I counted from. Who knows, maybe I didn't even do it right either. And same here, mine have been fine.

I almost want to call and ask what the reason is, they even recommend a different amount of links according the the belt profile. But whatever, I won't be calling. :)
 
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