Link Belts & the Lathe

[Woody]

Has anyone used a link belt in a variable speed lathe ? (The kind with expandable pulleys.) I was wondering if the links would get caught in the interlocking jaws of the expandable pulleys ?

Thanks in advance,
Woody
monshonday@yahoo.ca

[Darrell in Oakville]

The upper belt on my General 160 was disintegrating around Xmas time, and I had to change it in early January. Trouble was I could not pull the spindle off the machine to get a new belt on. Spindle is FROZEN on there. So I asked around a couple of forums and several people said that those variable speed drives worked fine with a link belt. I too thought that the meshed gears would eat the link belt, but 'tis not the case. I popped in to Lee Valley and bought enough link belt to replace both belts on my lathe. Problem solved, and it runs smooth and quiet now.

Go for it.

Darrell
Wood Hoarder, Blade Sharpener, and Occasional Tool User

[Mark in Burlington]

Woody, They say you not reverse the link belt direction. Do you run you lathe in reverse?
I use the link belts on my boice crane shaper and run and run it backwards once in a while no problems so far.
Mark

[Ken in Dartmouth]

I'm not sure what the manufacturers say about not reversing link-belts, but it doesn't make sense if you think about it. If the belt is running in the "correct" direction around the motor pulley, then the effort is in the "wrong" direction on the driven pulley, n'est-ce pas?

Ken in Dartmouth

[J.P.Rap in Hamilton]

I have one on my lathe (reves drive).
It works fine but,unlike Darrell, I find it to be quite loud. It might be the make. There are several differant kinds.
I too have heard they shouldn't be run in reverce. Although my lathe isn't set up to run in reverce now, it will be in the future. I guess Ill find out if it works or not.
BTW...I only have a link belt on the top pully. Thats the one that requires removing the spindle to replace it. The lower belt is a regular V belt.

J.P.

[Bill Howatt]

There are arrows on the links showing which way the belt should move and if put on correctly the arrows do point in the direction the belt is moving.

If you examine the belt you'll notice that the force of the motor and load pull the links tight when running according to the arrows. In the opposite direction it loosens them. I doubt the belt is likely to fly apart but they obviously think one direction is better than the other.

Bill

[Bruce from Oakville]

I have one on my 14" variable and it works great....never had any problems with it...

[J.P.Rap in Hamilton]

Thats true Bill but Ken has a good point about the load.

Regardless of what direction the arrows are pointing, the load on the driven pully is oposite to the load on the drive pully.
Think about it.
J.P.

[Bill Howatt]

I am retracting my previous reason. The belt will tighten no matter which way it is run.

I think when run in the direction indicated the belt is stronger due to the way the links and tabs are pulled together.

The links are tapered by about .050-.060" and when the belt is run the correct direction the small end enters the pulleys first. The tabs protruding out the bottom are also bent in a direction to flow with the pulley not against it but I'm not sure if that is important at all.

Personally, I don't think running it a bit in the opposite direction is a big deal but if the manufacturer recommends running it a certain way then why not just do it?

Bill

[Ken in Dartmouth]

I agree, Bill. After all, Link-Belt has been around for donkey's ages, and I think it can be assumed that the manufacturers know what they're doing!

Ken in Dartmouth