Link belt vs regular belt

I've had a link belt on my table saw for almost 25 years and it's still in great shape. But for the lathe and the drill press I bought
Continental cogged belts because they were cheap and they run smoothly. Take your pick.
 
Since I have no belts to determine the right lenth, and two belts x2/3 trips to town to adjust for size and looks like a better belt........ link belt it is!




Bones
 
boneyard51 said:
Since I have no belts to determine the right lenth, and two belts x2/3 trips to town to adjust for size and looks like a better belt........ link belt it is!




Bones
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It will take some experimenting to get the exact right length for both belts to fit and clear the cover. It will go down to one link plus or minus. Good thing is with the link belts you can do that. Will have a little left.

I first used a link belt when I needed to replace the belt on a lathe 25 years ago. It would have been disassemble the spindle to get a solid belt on or link belt. It has been better than a regular belt and still going strong.
 
I am also in the link belt club. I got mine at harbor freight about 15 years ago and they have been doing fine.

www.harborfreight.com

Vibration-Free Link Belt

Amazing deals on this Vibration-Free Link Belt at Harbor Freight. Quality tools & low prices.
www.harborfreight.com www.harborfreight.com

291857
 
About the only downside I've seen to link belts is the fact that, with the fibers exposed as they are, they appear to be a bit hard on aluminum pulleys. I have a friend who replaced the belts on his RF-30 clone. The belt box on his mill has quite a bit of powdery black "soot" in it.
 
mikey said:
I use Fenner Powertwist belts and they are better than the stock V-belts in my opinion. Quieter, smoother and easier to move for speed changes. Should also live longer without getting hard.

I own an RF-31 and it uses B-type belts.
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I tried using the same link belts on my lathe and one or two tabs would always come undone when moving from one pulley to the other. Have you had any issues with yours? Not sure if it gets better with use.
 
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?
 
MSD0 said:
I tried using the same link belts on my lathe and one or two tabs would always come undone when moving from one pulley to the other. Have you had any issues with yours? Not sure if it gets better with use.
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The tabs have to twist 90° for them to push through & come apart. Mine are tight & I need to use pliers to twist them (edit: for ease of reassembly, noted in a post below). Are they the same exact tabs that always come undone? I would check to see if they're worn or cracking.

The belts (dual) on my lathe are about 10 yrs old now & still in good shape. They have never come apart but I never need to switch pulley sizes repeatedly. On my old lathe & old bandsaw I did need to change pulley sizes for speed changes but the link belts never came apart for me either. On my old lathe I did wear out the belt by using a screwdriver to help guide the belt off the pulley cause it was tight. Once I replaced it with a slighly longer length I never had a problem again.
 
I have link belts on 2 of my lathes, I mill and 2 bandsaw. When I purchased my pm1440gs, I stayed with the standard power belts, gates I believe. I have been troubleshooting and eliminating problems with vibrations since I bought the machine, because of this thread and the people here in it, I decided to try some of the harbor freight links I have. It is the next size bigger than I need, but holy cow, the difference! I have the fenner powertwists of 3l size ordered, but, than you one and all for this thread and your input, i was determined to use the standard belts based on the recommendation of PM and others, but the added smoothness for me outweighs any disadvantages, if any they may have had.

:cheer:
 
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