Jet 1442 problem

[Silas Smith]

I have a jet 1442 that has been wonderful, but since our move to Utah a few months ago, the speed adjustment has been very difficult to turn and at high speeds, I can stop the lathe with my hand. I opened up the motor cover and it seems like something isn't right. At low speeds, the belt is tight and just fine, but when it's sped up to over 1000 rpms, the belt almost comes off on its own. I'm not familiar with how the reeves drive works, but I'm pretty sure it's not like this. Anyone have any help they can give me?

[Ron Ainge]

Silas, my buddie has that same lathe and he had the same problem. He had to clean the reeves and the speed control lever to get the stuff the ship it with off of it. He then used some type of dry (non-petro based) lube and it now works great. I hope this will help you get yours running better. He told me that form the time he got the lathe the speed was hard to adjust even when the machine was running.

[Ron Sardo]

Ditto what Ron says. I used spray on brake line cleaner.

When you move the lever to a higher speed, the reeves drive closes to keep the belt tight. For some reason the outside plate of the reeves drive is sticking.

[Silas Smith]

When I turn the speed up, the pully opens up and when I slow it down, the pulley system closes. Are you saying that this is not how it is supposed to work? It seems that it would need to open up at higher speeds to increase the revolutions. A small pulley turning a bigger pulley = slower rpms right?

[Robert E Lee]

Both pullys will open and close, one open when the outher is closed. If they get stickey on the shaft the belt will not stay tight.
Bob

[Chip Sutherland]

You guys made me nervous since I just bought my 1442 before Thanksgiving. I decided to check mine out as I had not done any inspection of the reeves drive. Mine looks fine and had absolutely no shipping film/grease on the drive coils. The belt was clean and firm. I ran it through all the speeds a couple of times. No problems noted with the drive. I didn't however like the fact that there was dust built up after one month of turning. Either the motor fan is pushing dust into the gaps in the housing or the reeves drive has a bit of a suction. Now that I am alerted to the dust build up, I'll get out some painters tape and cover up the gaps.

As far as the speed shifter....I believe the difficult lies in the set pin as it is a bit 'sticky'. But I can always hear a satifying click when the pin disengages....then changing speeds is simple. It hasn't been a problem for me.

[Andy Hoyt]

.... Now that I am alerted to the dust build up, I'll get out some painters tape and cover up the gaps. .....

Chip - I'm not familiar with the layout of that machine, but be careful with the tape. It may be that those gaps are semi-intentional and the motor fan pulls or blows air through there for cooling purposes. Hate to see you burn out a brand new motor.

Perhaps an occasional sprtitz of compressed air would suffice to keep it clean?

[Scott Crumpton]

After several months of use, my 1442 speed selector started to get a bit sticky. While cleaning and lubing it I discovered a loose screw. The screw (#48 in the headstock assembly diagram) is on the bottom of the sliding bracket (#45) along with a lock nut (#49). The loose screw allowed the bracket to rack and prevented smooth movement along the spindle. You'll need small hands to get an allen wrench and an open end wrench in there to thghten it.

My point is that it would probably be a good idea to check this and everything else about the reeves drive while you have the cover off.

Another thing I noticed is that the belt has worn down quite a bit. I would guess that it's lost at least 1/16" in width. This has probably shifted the speed ranges a bit. Sure hope the length of 3/8" link belt I have will work as a replacement because I dread pulling the spindle and disassembling the reeves.

I think there's a design flaw in the reeves drive on the 1442. The movable pully halves for the motor and the spindle (parts 59 and 62) are on oposite sides. I believe that this results in the pullys going out of alignment as the belt wears with the misalignment causeing accelerated belt wear. I'm no mechanical engineer, but that's how I read it and see it on my lathe.

---Scott.

[Chip Sutherland]

Good comment....made it's time to email Jet support and ask.

[Randy Meijer]

.....Sure hope the length of 3/8" link belt I have will work as a replacement because I dread pulling the spindle and disassembling the reeves....

Scott: According to all of the information that I have seen, link belts should "NOT" be used with reeves drive mechanisms. There is a discussion of this very point going on on another forum and I have emailed the manufacturer.....FENNER......to get their take on the issue.

[Randy Meijer]

Silas: I made this comment last night; but apparently failed to push the correct button and it never got posted. Question is how old is your lathe and the belt. Maybe you are looking at a belt that needs replacement??

[Randy Meijer]

.....I think there's a design flaw in the reeves drive on the 1442. The movable pully halves for the motor and the spindle (parts 59 and 62) are on oposite sides. I believe that this results in the pullys going out of alignment as the belt wears with the misalignment causeing accelerated belt wear. I'm no mechanical engineer, but that's how I read it and see it on my lathe.

I'm no ME either and stranger things have happened, so it wouldn't hurt to contact JET; but I doubt there is an alignment problem. I bet that if you measure the actual misalignment, it is not very much.

If it were my design, I would position the pulleys so that alignment was spot on when the lathe speed was at the midpoint of its range. Then there would be some small misalignment when in the high end or the low end; but it would be in opposite directions which would equalize the wear and , hopefully, mimimize any problems. My "guess" is that excessive wear of the belt is more likely due to sticking of the moveable secetion of the pulley rather than any alignment problem.

It will be interesting to hear what JET has to say on the subject.

[Randy Meijer]

When I turn the speed up, the pully opens up and when I slow it down, the pulley system closes. Are you saying that this is not how it is supposed to work? It seems that it would need to open up at higher speeds to increase the revolutions. A small pulley turning a bigger pulley = slower rpms right?

Silas: Not sure which pulley you are refering to as both pulleys change configuration. At low speed, the large(driven) pulley closes(squeezes together) and the belt rides farther out on the radius effectively making the diameter larger. At the same time, the increased belt tension causes the small(driving) pulley to open(get wider) allowing the belt to ride closer to the shaft and effectively reduce the diameter. The oposite happens at high speed. I think you correctly understand how it is supposed to work!!:D

[Scott Crumpton]

I took another look at it this morning. And I think I was wrong in my previous post. The movable sides are supposed to be on opposite sides. I now think the mis-alignment I'm seeing is due to belt wear. Like I mentioned, the belt looks about a 1/16" thinner than when I first bought the lathe. Maybe the reeves is fussy about the belt's width and as it wears, both movable sides compensate by coming closer together. This shifts the effective center of each pulley slightly, in opposite directions, making the belt run at a slight angle.

The lathe is only about 6 months old and I've turned around 50 items of various sizes. So, at least for me, belt wear seems to be an issue.

I've read message threads about the reeves and link belts and there doesn't seem to be a consensus. Some say that they won't work, some say they will and at least one who was using one said "tell that to my lathe". The manufacturers say no, but is that just for liability reasons. What are the actual observed problems of using a link belt on a reeves drive? Has anyone had a drive damaged from one?

Many thanks,
---Scott.