Myford Tri-leva

I am very much a newcomer to the working of lathes. I have a Myford Tri-leva which has recently started making a clunking noise from the belts in the high and middle speed setting. The slow speed setting is not noisy. Is the noise being caused by the belts being worn? I have looked on the internet to find Tri-leva belts and all the suppliers I have found only offer one belt. Are all three tri-leva belts the same?

Finally how do you adjust the positioning of the belts to ensure a straight run between the two sets of pulleys?

Thanks

Graham

Hello Graham,

I had a friend with a Tri-lever; he told me the belts are all identical length. Pulley alignment is I would think straight forward, slacken the grub screw on one and align the pulleys with a ruler across the flanges. Nip up the grub screw again.

The noise is not something I can help with other than suggest you attend to belt tension.

Brian

Graham,

As Brian says, the belts are all the same length. To line up the pulleys slack off the grub screws on the countershaft cone pulley and slide it whichever way to line up with the headstock cone pulley, using Brian's ruler as a straight edge on the end faces of the cone pulleys.

The grub screws are in the 'V's of the pulley, so you will have to move the belt out of the way to find them. They only serve to locate the pulley laterally on the shaft, the drive strain is taken by a Woodruff key inside the pulley cone, so don't overtighten them.

When you have sorted out your belts, check all pulleys are tight on their shafts and your noise may have gone.

Graham,

I am not Tri-leva familiar, but on the basis that you have checked for the obvious like play in the mandrel or pulley wheel shafts, are your pulley wheels in good condition? You seem to suspect a belt related fault so are the sides of each pulley forming a V with straight sides. If not then the belts are effectively gripping the worn sides. The same may apply to the motor pulleys as they would have more forces on them at higher speeds.

Another possibility coupled with any pulley misalignment might be end-to-end play in the countershaft.

Dennis