Power Twist Link Belts

[Mike Stephens]

Any of you turners out there using them? Thoughts opinions would be greatly appreciated.

Mike

[Steve Schlumpf]

Mike - Not exactly what you are looking for but.... I use the twist link belt on my jointer and it honestly made a huge difference. The original belt had a memory from one start up to the next and it would cause the machine to vibrate for the first few minutes until the belt warmed up. Changing over to the link belt solved the problem - seriously, no vibration at all! This may work for your situation but have to agree with the suggestion that you shorten the distance between the motor and the pulley as much as possible first as that alone will help a lot with your vibration problem.

[Ben Johnson]

Hi Mike, I use a link belt on my lathe and table saw. The table saw had a night and day difference no vibration and even a different sound to the machine. The lathe not so much but worthwhile.

[Mike Stephens]

Steve Ive made a 8" tall torsion box the hole length of the bottom shelf and will be filling it with sand. This will add plenty of weight and significantly raise the hight of the motor. Now I'm just not sure what type of belt to go with. Amazon is having a special on the twist lock belts. 5' for $27 and change with free shipping. I figured I would use it on my lathe and on my band saw.

Ben do you experience any slipping caused by the link belt on your lathe. Ive heard that they are prone to slipping.

Mike

[Steve Schlumpf]

Mike - my jointer has a 1 hp motor and I have the belt adjusted so it is pretty tight. It has never slipped. I think link belts would be worth checking out and the Amazon sale is a really good price! Let us know if you decide to go that way and what your results were!

[neil mackay]

Hi Mike,
I use link belts on my lathes. It started out as convenience after a broken belt meant stripping the lathe down to replace the drive belt :mad:
Now I use them as a standard, they will slip if not kept real tight, especially if your using aluminum pulleys that had some wear. In my case the pulleys are steel so no worries.

[Nathan Hawkes]

Steve Ive made a 8" tall torsion box the hole length of the bottom shelf and will be filling it with sand. This will add plenty of weight and significantly raise the hight of the motor. Now I'm just not sure what type of belt to go with. Amazon is having a special on the twist lock belts. 5' for $27 and change with free shipping. I figured I would use it on my lathe and on my band saw.

Ben do you experience any slipping caused by the link belt on your lathe. Ive heard that they are prone to slipping.

Mike

Be careful with buying the belts from Amazon. I bought one a while back, and it is 1/2" wide, not 3/8" like most shop machines use. I still kept it, just in case my planer belt goes.

I like the power twist belt on my bandsaw, jointer, and tablesaw, but on the lathe it seems to stretch, even though it isn't supposed to. I've had to remove links from mine a few times. I have a "rigged" up setup where I installed a "jackshaft" reducing pulley between the motor and the original step pulley setup, which gives me somewhere around a 3.5 to 1 reduction. I have the motor mounted on a heavyduty piano hinge, so its own weight (at least 60 lbs for a 1.5HP motor) provides the tension on the belt. It definitely works better than the original rubber V belt did in this case, but not nearly as well as I thought it should. I've thought about finding a fiber reinforced belt similar to what one might find under the hood of a car. The link belt DEFINITELY slips, but it can be a nice alternative to a bad catch, I suppose. It makes me keep my tools sharp and keep my cuts efficient and at the right angle. I've also had problems with my bandsaw belt slipping when I'm cutting really big bowl blanks. I have a 2HP baldor on it, and it doesn't ever bog down, but it occasionally grabs when the wood isn't perfectly flat on the table (uneven chainsawn wood), and the blade stops, with the motor still going full steam. I have the belt tensioned as much as I can possibly get it by myself. Anyway, that's my $0.02

[terry richards]

Count me in agreement with the others on the general reduction in vibration. I don't have them on my lathes, since neither of them use v-belts. I do have a set on my drill press which has two belts. It made a tremendous difference, and the link belts actually slip less than the old rubber/corded belts that came with the machine.

Before I sold it, my old Craftsman table saw had a link belt, which was the only way to keep it from dancing out the door.

I had to shop around to find 3/8 (3L) belts for the drill press, but they are available on the net from some industrial supply companies. Most of the ones you see advertised are the 1/2" version (4L).

[Mike Stephens]

I believe the Rockwell 46-111 uses 4L 1/2" V belts. Sure looks like 1/2" to me. I down loaded the schematics but they don't say what size belt. I know a lot of the newer small lathes use 3/8 belts but I'm almost certain that mine is 1/2".

MIke

[Nathan Hawkes]

I have the same machine, but with a few modifications.l I may have been mistaken about the width, but the one I got from Amazon was definitely too big; perhaps 5/8". The vibration issue on my tablesaw was cured completely by using a link belt! they are great, I just think in retrospect that they weren't great for what I wanted it to do, and slips just a little too much. Perhaps it is the very limited surface area touching the pulleys, I don't know. Anyway, they are good belts, and the worst that can happen is that you have a spare belt! I think I'm just asking too much of a small machine; I never have any problems unless I'm turning a big piece of wood, or coring. I'm hoping to get a big upgrade here soon, I'm just biding my time for sales.....

[Mike Stephens]

Nathan what kind of modifications did you make. I also have been tinkering and will post before and after pics, probably by next weekend.

Mike