Subject: lathe drive belt

From: [email-masked] (Joe Landau)
Date: Fri, 07 Jan 1994 03:55:44 GMT

Can anyone advise me regarding a leather drive belt on a 10" Sheldon lathe? 
The belt that's on it is over 20 yrs old, a bit oily, and slips whenever it
has a chance.  Heavy cuts are impossible.  The belt is about 1.5 inches wide,
can't be taken apart (no clips--it apparently was glued) and maybe 15-18
inches center to center. The pulleys are nicely polished now, and I'm sure
that does not help. 

What is the best fix--or replacement?  If I replace the belt, I'd rather not
have to dismantle the headstock to do it--this means I'd have to use a belt
that could be joined in place. 

Thanks, Joe

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From: [email-masked]
Date: 7 Jan 94 06:46:35 -0600

> that could be joined in place. 

The drive belt on my Van Norman lathe is stitched together at a butt joint.
It looks like it is sewn with a heavy three strand thread (no fancy stitching
either.)

>From this, I assume that old drive belts were simply cut off and a new one
stitched in place.  (getting the pulley off the spindle, while a relatively
straight forward procedure, is not a lot of fun! )

I am also curious what the correct method for replacing a worn belt is, so
please post any good solutions.-- 

Barry

Barry B. Wolinetz             |   Opinions, etc.... mine, not those of the 
Northern Trust Co.            |   Northern Trust. 
Chicago, Il                   |

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From: Doug White <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 7 Jan 94 09:36:55 -0500

> that could be joined in place. 

I'm not sure what it's called (belt dressing?), but there is stuff that
specifically designed to stop slipping belts available from industrial
sources.  I've also heard that powder rosin works very well.  Look
under 'Belting-Mechanical' in the Yellow Pages.  If you need to replace
your belt at some point, there are now belts made from interlocking
pieces that avoid the gluing process.  They may be noisy, and I'm not
sure how well they work in reversing situations.

Doug White
MIT Lincoln Laboratory

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From: [email-masked] (William F. Kaiser)
Date: 7 Jan 1994 15:42:40 GMT

> Thanks, Joe

Have you tried belt dressing?

I have a South Bend 9" with leather belts.  I found a local place, New
England Belting, in Springfield MA.  They sell a transparent liquid goo
suitable for leather belts.  I don't recall the name of the stuff off
hand, but I can look at the can if you're interested.  It greatly
increases the friction between the belt and polished pulley. 

Try your yellow pages and see if there is a place that sells belting and
ask them about dressings.

If you have to replace the belt, look for some old machinery books, they
often have instructions for joining the ends of leather belts.

Bill Kaiser
[email-masked]

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From: [email-masked] (Andy Dingley)
Date: Sun, 9 Jan 1994 11:02:54 +0000

> Can anyone advise me regarding a leather drive belt on a 10" Sheldon lathe? 

If the belt is dry, use belt dressing on it. If you don't use dressing often
enough, the inner surface of the leather can slip and polish smooth. Oil
fouling is also a problem that may need a new belt. If the inner is dark and
shiny, try using a brass wirebrush (suede / spark plug brush) on it. If you
do this while the belt is moving, count your fingers afterwards !

I'm not aware of a "sectional" replacement for flat belts, as you can get for
V belts. This means you either assemble the belt on the machine (by sewing,
or metal clips for big belts) or you will need to split the headstock.

   _                              Andy Dingley
 /  ) ' ,_  _,  /   _ ) _/_       Codesmiths of Newcastle
/_ / / / / (_) /_) (_)  /_        [email-masked]
          (_)                     +44 091 230 1695

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From: [email-masked] (Bill Brown)
Date: 10 Jan 1994 05:30:37 GMT

>do this while the belt is moving, count your fingers afterwards !

When I worked in a sawmill, the millwrights talked anout cleaning the
belts in "the old mill" with acetone.  Half of the "old mill" (2 head-
rigs and the associated edgers, trimmers, conveyors and slashers) was
driven by a Coreless steam engine - the drive belt from the flywheel on
the engine to the main lineshaft was about 3' wide.  One did not even
_think_ about replacing that belt unless absolutely necessary.  I did
see them splice it once - with glue.  Sort of a larger-scale version
of glueing the belt as shown in the old South Bend lathe manual.

Disclaimer:  These opinions are my own and have	    |
    nothing to do with the official policy or the   |  -bill
    management of L.B.L, who probably couldn't      |   [email-masked]
    care less about employees who play with trains. |

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From: [email-masked]
Date: 10 Jan 94 09:45:31 PST

In article <[email-masked]>, 

> that could be joined in place. 

I bought a replacement leather belt for my Logan 200 10" lathe
for the same reason -- I don't want to disassemble the headstock.
My belt is only 1" wide, but perhaps Logan has wider ones available.
Mine is 43.5" long, with about 4" of that being overlapped at the 
ends.   The ends come already tapered for a smooth connection.   
It comes with instructions and a small bottle of the special cement.
It is part number LP-1183 and cost $31.00 in 1992.

	Logan Actuator Co.
	4956 N. Elston Avenue
	Chicago, IL 60630

	(312) 736-7500 (Voice)
	(312) 736-6854 (FAX)

By the way, the folks at Logan are very nice.   I gather that
they support these old machines as their way of being a "good
citizen" -- they certainly won't get rich doing it.   Every
time I had a question about a part for my lathe, they were
able to find someone who remembered exactly how it is constructed, 
despite the fact that it is 50 years old.

--  Alan E. Frisbie               [email-masked]
--  Flying Disk Systems, Inc.
--  4759 Round Top Drive          (213) 256-2575 (voice)
--  Los Angeles, CA 90065         (213) 258-3585 (FAX)

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From: [email-masked] (Knaell)
Date: 10 Jan 1994 20:17:50 -0500

>> Can anyone advise me regarding a leather drive belt on a 10" Sheldon lathe?
[stuff deleted, then the following response:]
>By the way, the folks at Logan are very nice.   I gather that
[stuff deleted]
>despite the fact that it is 50 years old.
Isn't this nice?  I also had a very unexpecedly nice experience with
Atlas Press Co. regarding gear changes for an old lathe that they
made only for a couple of years when they changed from manual change
gears to quick change gears.  The gentleman there sent me a xeroxed
copy (many pages) of all the gear changes and thread feeds possible
with this old unit at no cost.  I feel like I owed him a major favor
and called him back afterward to thank him.
ken knaell

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From: [email-masked] (Joseph Stoltzfus)
Date: Tue, 11 Jan 1994 01:39:38 GMT

>> Can anyone advise me regarding a leather drive belt on a 10" Sheldon lathe? 

(Stuff deleted)
>/_ / / / / (_) /_) (_)  /_        [email-masked]

You don't need to sew the belt, or use clips. You can bevel the ends
and use glue. At least if the space around the belt isn't hopelessly
crowded. 

I replaced a flat drive belt on a 9" or 10"" South Bend lathe a few years 
ago. It's really not that difficult.

Joe Sz.

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From: [email-masked] (Michael J. Edelman)
Date: 11 Jan 1994 13:20:34 GMT

In addition to the solutions suggested for reconditioning leather and sewing or 
gluing new leather belts, there are also flat synthetic belts on the market. I
think this was convered in a 1993 issue of HSM; I'll check whedn I get home. As
I recall, these are available in glued and stiched versions.

--mike

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From: [email-masked]
Date: Fri, 21 Jan 94 20:54:55 EST

Hi. I have a 1950 11" Logan lathe and have also used the services mentioned
by  Alan Fisbie (RT-11 Forever!). Anyway, there's a company here in
Worcester Ma that sells a very thin belt designed for grinders that works
very well. The place is Called Hudson Belt, since 1854, (508)756-0090 (and
I have no connection with this company other than being a very satisfied
customer.) The belts are inexpensive. They are endless so you do have to
remove the spindle. That is generally not a big deal, you just have to be
careful. And, by the way, I've found that a really fine v-belt for the
motor to countershaft spindle is *really* important in reducing vibration.
Please forgive the crappy typing. I;'m not used to SET TT NOCONSOLE mode!!
 
Regards,
 
Charlie Greenman