Linked drive belts from RDG

Edited By Clive Hartland on 25/07/2011 08:38:25

Edited By Chris Trice on 28/07/2011 15:24:36

Edited By John McNamara on 31/07/2011 15:06:15

My Boxford AUD lathe used a fibre and rubber type linked belt. Last week it broke after 25 years of service. I was amazed at just how much rubber had adhered to the pulleys. It was difficult to remove and reminded me of the horrible goo which forms when the belts in old Philips tape recorders decay. There were many split links in the belt so I scrapped it despite having some spare links.

I replaced it with a genuine Fenner Super TLink SPA wedge belt. I was dubious about fitting the belt by stretching it over the pulleys, thinking I'd have to remove the counter shaft to get a decent tension in the belt. However it works well with no slip, flap or excess noise. I'll recheck the tension after a few hours use.

All in all I can recommend these belts.

Max.

Ive just fitted a link belt on my ML4 ,I bought the belt from RDG tools ,my standard V belt was looking a bit worse for wear so I decided to be proactive with my maintance ,just for info I have an ML7 counter shaft and matching pulleys on the head stock the conversion was carried out by the previous owner .

At this moment in time I'm not impressed with the link belt ,it is noisier than the conventional V belt at higher RPM and I'm experiencing belt slippage , I've tensioned the belt as much as I can and tried running the belt in either direction to see if belt slippage improves and there's no difference .

From what I can see the original V belt is of a softer more maluble material hence giving more bite and the link belt consist of a harder less flexible material,I think that's why I'm getting the belt slippage .

My experience 2 years on from fitting the linked belt is that it's a fair bit quieter than when first fitted but nowhere near as quiet as a proper V belt which is virtually silent. Tension needs to be fairly high but not to the point where I think it's excessive. Overall I'm very satisfied.

It's just so much more convenient to install then the V belt.

50 years ago I worked for BR repairing and maintaining diesel electric locos, on some the auxillary generator was belt driven, a matched set of six. On break downs or failure we got them going by fitting link belts, we counted the links or often remembered from previous experience to attempt to load each the belt the same (one sixth of total load) Once we had the job on the moved we did remove a link or two and we did mark them with a bit of chalk. It was an expensive and time consuming to replace endless belts even on the depot. Its not such a big job to change an endless belt on a Myford lathe if one follows the instruction in the book. Most motor factors and agricultural dealer stock an equivalent belt for half the cost which the Model Engineer dealers ask. Whilst you are at the agricultural dealer ask about the cost of Esso Noto or the equivalent and you might get another pleasant surprise.Ted