I just wanted to give a plug for those link belts that are available for wood working machines. (I have nothing to do with the company)
What a huge difference they make. I just purchased a Jet 8 inch Jointer. After cleaning it and setting it all up. I turned thejointer on and there was a harmonic vibration that cycled through the machine.
<!—-><!—-> <!—->
I re-tensioned the belts but it made no difference. I took off what I thought might be the offending belt and ran the machine. Still it had a harmonic vibration in it, though it was reduced. Went to Acklands-Granger ( <!—-><!—-> <!—->Lee<!—-> <!—->Valley<!—-> <!—-> only sells the ½” link belt) and picked up 25 feet of 3/8” link belt. Voila! No more vibration and much less noise. I would highly recommend them.
(I have 16’ for sale in the Reader Classified)
http://www.fennerindustrial.com/applications/ptp_wood.html
Replies
Wow, I gotta second that. Put some on my clunky old bandsaw as well.....sigh.
Now gotta do that with my Cabinet saw I think....just because! They're worth the price I think.
Darn! Wish I'd seen this earlier. Oh well, congrats on fixing the vibration. I have a link belt on my old Jet contractor saw and it's wonderful!!
forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
Another proud member of the "I Rocked With ToolDoc Club" .... :>)
Folks,
Am I correct in believing that a link type belt copes better with very tight radii (small diameter pulleys) than the usual vee belt?
Also, a long shot---anyone out there got a vintage SouthBend metal working lathe? If so the question is: could I substitute two link belts side by side for the standard leather flat belt, which is soon to die on my lathe? If this works it would be an easy fix, because I am not keen on sourcing the leather and then splicing and glueing insitu (don't want to disturb headstock bearingsthat have paper shims etc).
Philip, I would say that the top pulley that attaches to the cutter head is about 2.5 inches? I am not in my garage to measure it. But the belt works great!
Forest Girl, What do you mean by "Darn! Wish I'd seen this earlier."
dale
Actually link belts don't work especially well on very tight radius pulleys, I tried one on a 1 1/2 inch pulley turning the arbor on a small vintage Sears tablesaw and found that it was rough running at such a tight radius. The poly v belt drives, the type used on modern car engines are best for small radius pulleys, but I don't know of a source for pulleys.
I can't see how a link belt would work on a flat pulley, without the vee's, it would just roll on its side and slip. Leather belts and lacing are still available commercially, Google something like "leather drive belts" you should get several hits. The lacing hardware allows you to wrap the belt around the pulley and then join the ends quickly.
John W.
John and Lumberjack-thanks for your input. I feel I owe it to you to clarify what I was talking about:- in the first picture I am talking about that belt at the rear which goes round the two ali pulleys ,down to a 2" diam. pulley behind the gear wheel and has the tension wheel at right bearing on outer edge. It is the feed gear for a little 13" planer, so the ali pulleys at top have to move up and down-no high rpm's there so I think either a cogged or link woulkd work better than a solid vee belt?
As for the South Bend-I think I'll just have use a leather drive belt, but can't use metal link connecter-too small and would run rough-unless there is a better plan? The problem here is that I am loathe to dismantle that head stock assembly. The original method was to either glue a skived join insitu or dissassemble the headstock and fit a factory supplied belt already joined.
Edited 8/9/2005 5:59 am ET by Philip Marcou
Hey Mook, Did you buy that tool new, and keep it looking that way all of this time? Ha, I am sorry to admit that I laughed out-loud when I read your first post, in that I envisioned something much cruder than what you have in the photos. I have an old friend who had a whole shop of line-drive tools that he was working with when we first met at a crafts fair back in the sixties. I was into leather back then. Somebody came along and bought his whole shop and turned it into a museum, and he got a bunch of new tools. I sold him a machine lathe with a 12' bed not long after that, so his passion for old tools didn't die. What a great guy old Ben is. His shop takes up all four corners of a little cross-road town.Well I have egg on my face now. I was expecting something more old and run-down looking, but you know that you have a fine tool there, and you need to keep it true to its original form. You can't put link belts on that tool. I would stick with the flat leather, and would do a compound bevel at the seam and glue and hand stitch it, if you don't want to take those bearings apart. K
Keith,
That lathe is 3 years older than me. I got it from an old guy ex R.A.F who was a model engineer fanatic so he looked after it well-although he did re-paint it by hand the original grey-so I stripped, cleaned and sprayed it the colour I like which is dark green, (not frizzily green).When I paint machines it means I have re-built or gone over them very carefully.
In fact that lathe is anything but crude-I have lots of attachments and tools made by the former owner, and with power cross feed and gearbox with many change wheels I can turn "funny" threads such as Stanley plane threads. I also have an Emco Super 11-nice machine but the S'Bend is smoother to operate and less prone to chatter, due to white metal bearings.
"Crude and run down??" Goodgodman what a thought!Even that little Tanner thicknesser you see (made in New Zealand About 38 years ago) got the treatment-it is very good for planing thin .I have lots of old stuff- only one Brizzly -like item which I must say I am very impressed with- shaper with sliding table-but I virtually had the sales people dismantle it before I bought...
Yah, I will replace the belt with another leather one-I don't believe there is need to stitch-a long skived and glued join should be very strong.
Link belt-must have been a temporary aberration...
Philip,
Depending on your pulley type you would be best using a cogged v-belts as they run better over small diameter pulleys. You just need to verify the type of belt section: A, B, or C. The cogged v-belt will designated AX, BX, or CX
Use McMaster-Carr as a source for flat leather belts and lacing.
LumberJack
12" Tanner Thicknesser
Hi Philip,
i have recently inherited my Dads vintage Tanner thicknesser and have been searching for schematics or pictures of similar machines as the one i have appears to be missing a few parts. I noted in some of your posts that you have a Tanner? The motor and mounting setup are missing on mine so i am unsure what speed the unit turns at (2 or 4 pole motor) and how the drive is coupled up. would you possibly be in a position to assist with some data or possibly a few photographs of your unit?
i have included a photograph of the drive end of the machine for sake of clarity.
Many Thanks
Greg Cummings
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