Seamed Belt for South Bend lathe

I have a 9" South Bend lathe with the motor underneath and it needs a new belt. I have heard that there is a seamed belt that goes together with a velcro type seam but I have not been able to find one in any search. Does anyone know of a source for this type of belt?

Thanks, Jim ( snipped-for-privacy@netscape.com)

I have heard that there is a seamed belt that goes together

Jim

Google "lathe belt splice". Maybe a kit is vailable on Ebay or the like

Bob AZ

Try "Link Belts". They are made in a large number of vee section pieces of leather that attach together with metal pins. They can be made to any length and can be installed without removing the pulley or motor

Hi Jim,

I don't know where you are located, but try "Grainger Industrial Supply". It is a national chain and supplier. They have the belts here in Melbourne, FL.. I believe the cost is about $25. for five feet of belting

Dick Hahn

Can't imagine velcro on a drive belt but you never know.

On some of the SB lathe boards folks have reported success using an automotive poly drive belt. Either by getting one of the proper size and R&R the spindle. Or cut and splice one in using glue or some even lace it with heavy thread. Do a search over on :--->

ED

Hey Jim,

Wasn't recently, but I replaced the leather (clickclickclick) on mine with a laminated belt style I'd seen used on commercial sewing machines. Green on one side and yellow on the other, and in operation I have never decided which is preferable. I digress. The belting was purchased at a "power" distributor, the kind that sells hydraulic stuff and V-belts etc etc etc. They also gave me a small quantity of vulcanizing glue, and I skived the belting, put it in place and determined the length, applied the glue, clamped it between two plates, and applied heat to the ends of the plates to make the glue melt and set. Worked OK. I sold that 9" SB and got a 10" which still has the leather, but I'd do it again if necessary.

Take care.

Brian Lawson, Bothwell, Ontario.

On Tue, 22 Jul 2008 04:37:01 -0700 (PDT), with neither quill nor qualm, Dick quickly quoth:

got some of this for my Grizzly ww bandsaur about 5 years ago and it has worked out well.

-- Vidi, Vici, Veni ---

They still make them for bandsaurs? How about tablesaurs? They're extinct, but some of us still need replacement parts.

-- Ed Huntress

On Tue, 22 Jul 2008 13:48:48 -0400, with neither quill nor qualm, "Ed Huntress" quickly quoth:

Ayup. Dina (my ancient Davis & Wells saur) is from the '20s and has a flat, wide motor pulley, so I can't use a link belt on her. But link belts work fine on fixed-width pulleys of all sizes. They're quieter and do either remove or reduce the belt vibration by a large margin.

-- Vidi, Vici, Veni ---

I, too, replaced my clickclickclick leather belt when it finally went on the 9" SouthBend. Used an automobile serpentine belt. Cut it to length and then stitched it together with the heaviest monofilament fishing line laying around. Kept the line in between the grooves of the belt. Nice and quiet and has been running for a year now. BTW- Don't forget to release the belt tension when you are not using the machine regardless of material.

I read another note on that same thing where the guy used .035 mig welding wire for the seam. I may try that because it is a very good belt and the wire should never touch the pulley if you run it on the grooved side. I also have some kevlar fishing line but it is tough to cut - you need a very sharp scissors.

Thanks, Jim

Take a (used is OK, because you will be using it groove side out- there must be NO grease or oil on the belt.) automotive serpentine belt. On a disk sander put a 5° bevel on one cut end. Place on the machine, mark, cut, and bevel a mated overlap.

Use cyanoacrylate (Crazy Glue, etc.) gel type adhesive, and clamp together between a couple of pieces of thick polyethylene (prevents the ooze from sticking to the C-clamps) When on the lathe, the inside lap seam edge should be running in the trailing direction for smoothness. You can sand the lap. Excess adhesive will wipe off with acetone.

Mine has been running in a production envrionment for about five years now.

I tried the Gator clamps, the Heat-bonded urethanes, and the Button together types, and have found the flat rubber serpentine belt to be the easiest to prepare and the smoothest running.

The serpentine belts for most common cars or trucks are long enough to make almost two belts for my SB Mod A. They should be plenty long enough for your motor-under.