Link belt on PM 66 with 2 belt system?

[Scott Davis]

I found some old threads on this, nothing really recently. I took the top off my PM 66 to work on the alignment and I am cleaning it up. It needs new belts which I have been meaning to do for a while, it is a 93 so they are 23 years old.

I thought the link belts would make sense as they don't get a "memory" or "set". That is the problem with my current belts, there is a memory.

All comments I see pertain to 1/2" belts, but I pulled mine off and they are clearly 3/8". I can only see 3/8" from In-Line industries. Anyone have any experience with these? I send an email with no reply. Multiple places have 1/2" belts so it makes me feel I am missing something here :>

[David Kumm]

Link belts are fractional HP and not really appropriate although they will work. I'd get a set of Optibelts or another brand mfg with good enough tolerances to be matched. Dave

[Rick Lizek]

You really want cogged belts. www.mcmaster.com
Link belts are overrated. They were originally used on contractor saws where the motor hangs by gravity and the set would cause the motor to bounce causing slippage on the up bounce. This does not apply to cabinet saws where the motor tension is fixed. Any set will be eliminated in a minute of running. Cogged belts are especially good on smaller diameter pulleys. Just buy 2 belts at the same time. Don't waste the money on matched belts.

[David Kumm]

What Rick says. I deleted the cogged belt part of my response because I refer to them as VX but they are more accurately called AX, BX, CX etc. Couldn't remember until I looked it up but the X belts are hard to beat. Dave

[Keith Weber]

Link belts are fractional HP...

David, Could you expand on that statement? I'm not sure if you were saying that link belts are for use on motors of less than 1hp, or if you were saying that link belts cause you to lose a fraction of your hp. Thanks!

[David Kumm]

You get all the power with link belts, but they were designed for smaller motors. Some V belts are rated as fractional HP too. Link belts are handy when you can't easily change a belt but I don't use them for anything over 1-2 hp. You don't usually want them on aluminum pulleys either as they can erode the soft metal. Dave

[John Aperahama]

Stay with the correct belt and get them as a matched set from Powermatic .....very important

[Carroll Courtney]

Snake oil salesman visit where I work and talk the bosses to give link belts a try.After couple months they were replace back to V-belts so like others said they are over rated,but I'm cheap so I just go down to Auto Zone and buy the house brand coggled belts.Those belts work very well on those smaller pulleys which you won't hear that thump if that's a problem for ya.----Carroll

[Don Jarvie]

Go order 2 Gates belts the same size as what's there and get cutting. The saw is 23 years old and who knows how much it's been used so they need to be changed. Consider this maintenance like you would do on a car.

[Scott Davis]

Thanks all!

[Gerry Grzadzinski]

McMaster Carr sells matched length belts. That's what you want.

[glenn bradley]

It is interesting all the myths that develop surrounding link belts. They have been used for years in multi-belt, high horsepower installations. They are not just for contractor saws; that is just how our narrow slice of the market is exposed to them. I have yet to replace a link belt on anything I have installed them on. 3/8" is readily available from the folks who sell these (I Googled '3/8" link belt' and found it on Amazon on the first hit).

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[Matt Day]

Stay with the correct belt and get them as a matched set from Powermatic .....very important

I'd suggest not getting them from Powermatic, as you can likely get the same thing or better at a fraction of the cost elsewhere. Matched set for sure though.

[Scott Davis]

Well I bought them from Ebay.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Powermatic-66-drive-belts-2-cogged-belts-/381439025841?hash=item58cf89a2b1:m:m7MuSWPjPMgWgFn 9-DD-UdQ

I was going to Pep Boys for a battery anyway but they did not have a match. Curiously, both Grainger and McMaster websites do not have a belt that matches this one that I could see. From Powermatic site, this is part 6077225. It is which is a 22" inch belt. At both Grainger and Mcmaster the shortest I could see was a 25" belt in the 3VX profile.

Whether link belts are needed or not, I did not see correct item for that in some brief searches, almost all that I saw are 1/2" and this machine uses a 3/8". I don't know if there is a 3/8" link belt with correct profile for this machine or not. I did send an email last week to In-Line but they never replied.

From Powermatic these are 19$ a piece. The listing almost makes them sound like they are Powermatic brand but surely that is not the case.

We will see what I get.

[Keith Weber]

They do say Made in USA in the picture, so you've got that going for you!

[Jerome Stanek]

Back when I was growing up we had a greenhouse and my dad always had link belts on hand in case one of the regular v belts broke and he could keep every thing running. We had 3 high pressure boilers with different motors and size belts. He always had a spare set of belts for each motor but like he always said you can not predict what would happen if they spare set also broke. Our lively hood was dependent on keeping those boilers running.

[Jason White]

Try Belt Palace online. Good prices and selection.

[Scott Davis]

Well you get what you pay for!
The picture is of the original belt, saying made in USA.
What I got is a Jason XPZ562, clearly stating "made in Korea". These can be found on multiple sites for 2-3$, but here are 20$ for two.
They are much lighter weight than orginal, and don't measure the same. I measure 8.8mm on one and 9.2mm on the other. These widths vary on each belt by + or - 0.2 mm. The Powermatic belt measures 9.5mm consistently around the belt.
They won't sit straight on the machine either.

So trying for RMA, these are garbage. These lessons are hard for me to learn!
I could not find correct ones on Grainger or McMaster sites, so I just bought the real belts from Powermatic. Tired of looking for them and a weekend wasted!

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[Jerome Stanek]

I have used Vbelts4less.com to get belts for my equipment

[Keith Weber]

Those Korean belts are what you got from that eBay listing??? Now THAT would tick me off! Those are not the belts in the picture of the eBay ad. As a minimum, I would request a refund from the seller and he would get negative feedback for deceiving you and wasting your time. If he doesn't want to give you a refund, raise a claim with eBay. I'm almost certain they will rule in your favor, and force the seller to refund you the money. They will also send you a return-shipping label, which will be charged to the seller's account. That is unacceptable.

[John Lanciani]

And to add insult to injury XPZ belts are metric, not the same profile as the 3VX belts that came on the late model PM66 saws.