Milling machine belts

Hi, I am in the middle of building my small hobby Engineering workshop, I just acquired Myford vertical milling machine VM- E it needs new belts, the manual said B33 and a B40 I got the new belts today ( I couldn’t see anything on the old belts as the writing had worn away) B33 looks ok but the B40 is too big; I was wondering if anyone else has got the same machine and can tell me what size they’ve got on their machine many thanks Dave.

Hi Dave,

Can't help with exact measurements as I don't have a VM-E, but I've always just measured the length of old belts and bought accordingly (use a bit of string and then measure the string rather than the belt directly). I had a mill drill that came with no belts at all, just used string round the appropriate pulleys to get lengths then wandered down to the local auto factors and bought a couple of their fan belts in the correct lengths. They were still going strong when I sold it a few years later.

regards

Bill

At the risk of teaching granny to suck eggs, when you measure the circumference around the rim of the pulleys, do make sure that they are in the closest centres position.

Even professional engineers and belt suppliers get this wrong sometimes.

I found that Gardners and Ferodo had got at cross purposes over this when specifying the belts for the air compressors on engines in Bristol RE buses back in the late 60s. I messed up the Ford spares supply system along the south coast by buying up every Ford Trader belt that we could find - 3 needed per engine. It took 6 months for the system to get back to normal!

When you finally get the correct belts, make a note of the lengths and keep it in a safe place. My belts are A section rather than B, but the label is kept inside the belt cover for my Mill.

Howard

Hi thanks for the replies I went to Motor Factor this morning and they have ordered a B38 and a B33 belt for me, cheers Dave.

Or write the size on the belt guard in felt pen.

Hopper's right......I write the numbers down with indelable felt tip h/marker pen in the cover........

if ur old belt is intact u can measure the outside distance BUT be accurate.......

a lot of belt companies now only quote the inside measurement....they do have a table to compare......

I order loads'a belt's this way.....belts over here ( Frogland) reg cost 10 times the price compared with the UK.....

so for the money I order the next belt either side......BUT I do repair a lot of machinery / tractors etc and they get used up quite quickly.......

for example wanted a 4.5m belt for my ride on mower.....quoted price + Vat here was not less than €160...

UK cost for exactly the same belt (Optie belt, German I think) was £6,80 + Vat....bought 2 and the postage was less than a tenner.....nuff said........

Why not use link belts? Adjust to size, end of problem, smoother drive.