Contractor Saw Double Pulley & Belts?

[Jeff Weight]

I have a Delta/Rockwell contractor saw that I bought used several years ago. At that time, I cleaned it up, added a Beisemeyer fence, and replaced the stock pulley's with cast double belt ones. My rationale at the time was that cabinet saw have multiple belt & pulley combinations, why not my contractor saw.

Skip forward to today, and the setup has worked flawlessly. Now I'm considering upgrading to Link Belts and wonder if I really need two belts?

Jeff

[Tyler Howell]

Interesting!
The machined pulleys/ linked belt were the #1 thing to improve my Cman TS.:cool:(kept me from tossing it out in the junk pile years ago.) Now going to a second life at my new home)
The saw would never pass the nickle test. Use to walk across the floor.
I have linked belts on all my toyls.
Calmed down a few of them, no difference on the ones that were rock solid.

[Jim Becker]

Jeff, I have three link belts on the Jet cabinet saw currently in my shop. Even there, they were a nice improvement in smooth running. Your saw will certainly run with just one belt, but there is no harm in using two. Just be sure to use the same number of links in both and re-adjust tension every few days for a couple weeks until they stop stretching.

[Loren Hedahl]

I have a Delta/Rockwell contractor saw that I bought used several years ago. At that time, I cleaned it up, added a Beisemeyer fence, and replaced the stock pulley's with cast double belt ones. My rationale at the time was that cabinet saw have multiple belt & pulley combinations, why not my contractor saw.

Skip forward to today, and the setup has worked flawlessly. Now I'm considering upgrading to Link Belts and wonder if I really need two belts?

Jeff

Jeff,

Of course you don't really need two belts. Contractor saws have been getting along nicely with just one belt for decades.

However, since you already have added the second pulley set, your saw is definitely a cut or two above the normal and probably rates in the 99th percentile among contractor saws.

Why would you want to give up that distinction? The cost of an extra belt certainly isn't going to break the bank!

Loren

[glenn bradley]

Link belts made a very noticeable difference on my contra tor saw. If your double pulleys are balanced I would go ahead with two belts. If they're just machined pulleys I would take the money the second belt would cost and buy balanced pulleys. Kits with pulleys for a given saw with more than enough belt material are around $50 from Woodcraft, Rockler and others. I was very happy and now that my dad has inherited the saw, he is enjoying the smoother ride.

[Jeff Weight]

Link belts made a very noticeable difference on my contra tor saw. If your double pulleys are balanced I would go ahead with two belts. If they're just machined pulleys I would take the money the second belt would cost and buy balanced pulleys. Kits with pulleys for a given saw with more than enough belt material are around $50 from Woodcraft, Rockler and others. I was very happy and now that my dad has inherited the saw, he is enjoying the smoother ride.

Balanced pulleys? What the heck.... I've never heard of such a thing. The pulleys on my saw are from a bearing supply house and each one is machined with two groves. I't not like I have two different pulleys at the arbor and motor.

[glenn bradley]

Your pulleys are probably just fine. Any quality machined steel pulleys are balanced to a reasonable degree to compensate for the key slot, thread hole reinforcement, etc. In other words, by design they are not symmetrical, eh? Lighter weight materials or just inconsistent material used for castings can be out of balance (within the manufacturer's tolerances) or made that way with the addition of the retainers. No rocket science indication intended ;-)

[M Toupin]

Jeff,

A Link belt might help out a bit if you have a vibration. You really don't need the double belts on your contractors saw which I assume is in the 1.5 hp range. Multi belts are used to increase the power transfer from your motor to the driven object. Generally speaking, until you get above the 2hp range multi belts do nothing to improve the power transmission. Most cabinet saws are 3hp+ saws hence the multi-belts.

I'm not sure what you have on the saw now, but a good set of balanced pulleys might make more improvement if your present pulleys are cheepies. If your pulleys are good quality and balanced, I'd try a single link belt and see what happens. There's really no need for the second belt other than to double your cost.

Here's a link to more info on v-belts than you ever wanted to know:)

http://www-mdp.eng.cam.ac.uk/library/enginfo/textbooks_dvd_only/DAN/V-belts/home.html#top

Mike