Shrinking a flat leather belt

Terry fired this volley in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

Gator lacing. Cut, yes. Glue, no.

LLoyd

Clip on lacing does nicely, and replaced the whole skive and glue process for most people several decades ago. Having a set re-done on a

2-1/2" wide belt at the local power transmission belt shop was all of $12 the last time I needed to.

You could perhaps try to rig a tensioning wheel (preferably on outside of belt, pressing in under spring pressure - thus increasing belt contact on the pulleys - but if there's no way for that to work, it could pull the other way).

Make one of the pulleys a bit bigger.

Got any extra leather?

Hi Lawrence,

A couple years back I bought a synthetic belt with clips and pin. Maybe it wasn't done right, maybe it was the phase of the moon, maybe the material just wasn't as strong as was touted. But after about a month of use, one of the clips ripped out of the belt.

And I never liked the periodic clup-clup-clup of the clip over the pulleys but that's probably just me.

Since then I've skived and glued.

I've also tried belt spray that is supposed to make the belt a little stickier. Not a whole lotta help.

Thanks for the ideas, I do appreciate them. Keep em coming!

Best -- Terriy

My belts shrink as I age. Beer & pizza seem to do that to me.

But seriously folks........ Every piece of leather I have owned has shrunk down when wetted and dried.

A wet belt on steel pullys sounds...........bad, so, I would ponder a drying rack just smaller than the current belt.

just a thought.

mark

Pull the spindle, replace leather with a serpntine belt from teh auto parts place, and get on with never having to do it again. (and if you DO have to do it again, you will know how!)

Cheers Trevor Jones

I've never had a belts clips pull out, and done properly theres no clup-clup-clup, of course if you don't know how to properly clip a belt thats an obstacle.

Question: Doesn't the motor have some method of adjusting tension? Most machinery I have seen that were belt driven had some method or tightening the belts as even though a belt is "exactly" the same size as another the actual dimensions may vary slightly. Vee belts can be purchased in "matched sets" for exactly this reason.

Bruce-in-Bangkok (Note:displayed e-mail address is a spam trap)

Put a rubber skirt over one of your pullies... A cut of inter-tube just the right size works just fine...

On Thu, 01 Nov 2007 22:51:58 GMT, Trevor Jones wrote: \

Trevor, I'd love to be able to do that. But on this 13" lathe, the belt runs through slots in the headstock casting. A cut and glued belt, or spliced, or whatever, is the only kind that works.

Thanks -- Terry

Hi Tony, I bought the old belt with clips and pin already installed. As I said, maybe they weren't installed right. Maybe I put too much tension on the belt. It was over a year ago and I don't remember much except that the clips ripped out and I was unhappy.

Best -- Terry

Hi Bruce, yep, it's got a big nut-n-threaded-rod for adjusting tension. Which is adjusted all the way out---it's as tight as I can make it.

Best -- Terry

Mark, thank you tremendously! I had forgotten that leather shrinks when wetted. That sounds like exactly the kind of idea I'm looking for. I'll give it a try.

Thanks again! -- Terry ...whose other belts are lengthening, just slightly, due to a change in diet...

Then you need to cut it and glue in a section. I assume that if you previously spliced it you already have the clamps and skiving guide so it shouldn't be a tremendous job -- providing you have a short length of belting left from last time.

Bruce-in-Bangkok (Note:displayed e-mail address is a spam trap)

leather will just keep getting longer under tension. Just go to a belting supply place and get a nylon/rubber belt of the proper length. They are even selling custom cut lathe belts on ebay.

At one point, Harley D. was using a toothed belt that had a skive across the face of the belt, for final drive on some of their bikes.

They used a set if screws, across the face, running inside the teeth lugs on the belts, but otherwise pretty much Identical to the type of toothed belt used in timing belt applications.

Dunno if they are still using them or not.

If I were stuck like that, I would way rather glue and stitch the belt, than listen to the clip clunking it's way around. YMMV.

Cheers Trevor Jones

Maybe you have already ruled it out but it might be possible to make a small mechanical modification such as a longer rod, longer slot, or a shim of some sort to slightly increase your adjustment range.

Don Young

Kinda reminds me of the old joke, how many does it take to change a lightbulb? One to hold the belt, and a few to take apart the headstock. :^)