Jet Jointer and Link belt

[Kevin Womer]

I have a 6 inch jointer and some link belt that I wasn’t using. I purchased it years ago for an old contractors table saw I had. “Set” can develop in belts causing vibration on machines, link belts are designed to eliminate any it. I put it on last night to give it a try. The vibration was noticeably improved as well as the noise level. I wish I had measured it in decibels prior to installing it but I didn’t think of it. Anyway, the decibel measurement now is around 97 decibels. The vibration is what is most noticeable to me. It worked fine before and the noise didn’t bother me as I wear hearing protection but am glad I did this. I just thought I would share with others that might want to give it a try.

[Jim Morgan]

Link belts can certainly help reduce vibration. They do stretch more than standard belts, however, so be sure to retension your newly installed belt after you have run it for a few hours.

[glenn bradley]

+1

I have been running a single 1/2" link belt on a 3HP insert head jointer since the day it was assembled. Same belt, never adjusted, still tight (I do routine maintenance checks on my machines regularly). I do live where we have no real seasonal weather so factor that in.

[Jim Morgan]

I don't believe that it is the links themselves that stretch; rather, the connections may not be fully seated when the links are first assembled into a belt. Running in the belt for a bit seats these so the belt as a whole appears to stretch. I have had new link belts loosen up on a few occasions. After the slack is taken up once, however, they don't seem to stretch any more.

[Tom Welch]

We used link belts on most all of our machines in a medium sized factory that I used to work at. They sure were handy, as we could build the correct size belt for our need. We stocked several width sizes. They held up well too. We never had to retighten after installing correctly sized link belts.
Just do regular maintenance on your machine, this includes checking tension on belts.