Lathe question

Hello again

first thanks very much to all involved in my last question.

After running my lathe for seconded day I have now broke the motor belt. !! First does anyone know where I can get a belt for a Colchester 6 1/2 mater 500. ?

I have just fitted a single phase motor with an aluminium pulley wheel ,the belt was a little tight would this be the reason why it has snapped ?

thankyou very much

leigh.

Hi Leigh,

Assuming it is a V belt it is unusual but not unknown for them to snap -- they often wear due to poor adjustment thus causing them to slip.

It will be a standard unit and if you look on the outside it will have some letters and numbers denoting the section and diameter or circumference. You can get Kevlar re-inforced belts now and they are very good for high power transmission.

Look at Simply Bearings web site http://simplybearings.co.uk/shop/Belts/c4601/index.html I have used the people and find them very helpful and good on price.

Regards John

hi it may not be of help but when i was working in the industry the belt on the bridgeport snapped and we got hold of a belt that clicks togethor in sections i cant rember what the system was called but should be avalable as it was not over long ago the beauty of it is that you can make to a length to suit we used it for ages and never had a problem mayby some one on here will no the name of it so if you get stuck that might be an option

regards mike

Michael

Do you mean T-link V belts?

http://www.lathes.co.uk/page4.html (about 25% down this page)

John

hi john yeah thats the ticket it was very handy as we didnt have to take much off the bridgeport apart just threaded it thru like i say we used it and never had a problem

What tpi are you after??

It all boils down to tpi, 25.4 for a 1mm thread etc

If you can give me the tpi and your gears, plus your leadscrew tpi, I can find your perfect or nearest combination.

oops

sorry, wrong thread

Edited By Ady1 on 29/02/2012 23:48:58

Leigh

RDGTools sell the link / V Belting by the metre.

www.rdgtools.co.uk Code No.874923

I saw some horrible plastic linkbelt at a recent show which seemed rather rigid and hard. I was tempted for a few seconds as the proper stuff is horribly expensive but have since seen a post saying it slips. Newcomers to the hobby might not be aware of the proper fibrous stuff.

Wait five more minutes and Queeny ' queen of the spam' Lin will start a factory making the stuff.

There are a number of types of link belting, the T link belts are good, I use that and also belting similar to the origional Brammer belt, but with rivits with a T shaped head that just pops through the holes in the belt, and is then rotated 90*. Definately makes belt changing easier. For the head stock of my lathe, I have a bit of wire with a hook on the end, feed the wire through, pull the belt through, hook it together, done. With ordenary V belt, disassemble the mandrel and counter shaft, remove from the lathe put the belt in and reassemble, first time took two or three days because I bumped the pin on the back gear, and broke it. I used the mill to turn a new pin after I went to town and got a bit of silver steel to make a new one, and a die to put a thread on it. The new belt lasted about as long as the first, about a year, the link belt does better than ten years. Ian S C

My mini lathe is running on 1/4" plastic belt, the kind you join using a hot knife. Perhaps not a long term solution but it got me up and running. The pulleys I made for a standard V-belt though.

Neil

Neil, if you have the green stuff, it will last well, I'v got 5mm green on my Super Adept, and a local clothing factory used it on their sewing machines, until their production went to China, or some where similar.

Ian S C