leather belting

Try

or ebay(some up now) AFAIK its all imported from E Europe now and very few firms supply it. It is NOT cheap new! hth

I did this when replacing flat belts on on old mill, and paid about £40 for two long belts. I think I bonded it with copydex or similar. An old Machinery's Handbook will have a section on belt joining/repair.

Only problem was the saddle leather wasn't pre-stretched, and slackened off over time... you may need to stretch the finished belts yourself before installing.

hth Guy

10th Edition says: The most satisfactory method of joining the ends of a belt is by making a cemented lap joint. The belt ends should be tapered to a smooth even surface.....and the length of the lap should vary with the belt width approximately as given below... Which says for a 3" wide belt the length of lap should be 6". The inclination of the lap joint should be in the direction of belt travel. You should read what it says about how to make the glue for it:)

Slightly OT, but years ago we made some moulded parts for a leather stretcher that used memory metal to tension the hides. These were developed by an innovative company called Delta Metals Research which I'm sure was a spin-off from Manganese Bronze in Ipswich. Unfortunately now appear to have gone the way of all the enginnering around here...