Thread: Lathe drive belts

Hello all,

I am still in the cleanup/replace parts stage on my recently acquired Hafco AL-900A. I have stripped and cleaned the quick change gearbox, and the entire apron/carriage. Fortunately I have only had to replace the bronze carriage feed worm gear.

Next up is the headstock, and looking at the belts (B section) they need replacing, which means removing the spindle. That's OK, because I want to strip and clean it anyway, but I am wondering if anybody has recently changed over to the segmented/link belts on their lathes.

I have read some of the old posts on this subject, but thought that maybe there is a newer better linked type belt that people have tried, and would like to hear how they went, both good and bad news.

I am about to go away for a couple of days, so please don't interpret the lack of a quick reply as a lack of interest.

Cheers,

Ned

G'Day Ned,
Just wondering where you found the bronze gear, I thought they were pretty hard to come by.
Regards,Martin

I've never used segmented (link) drive belts on a lathe, but I have used them over many years on a heavy duty mulcher, and apart from having a higher depth profile due to their construction, and looking a bit like the olden days when these belts were widely used, the modern synthetic versions are really, really, durable and tough.

They are made out of a sort of nylon composite block and belt wear is just not a factor. They are almost indestructable compared to a standard V belt.

They also take a much greater shock loading - hence good for mulchers.

Provided you have adequate belt clearance and are not running a tensioner pulley against the flat section I can't see any downside with them.

Cheers

Rob

Originally Posted by toolman49

G'Day Ned,
Just wondering where you found the bronze gear, I thought they were pretty hard to come by.
Regards,Martin

Martin,

It is a bit of a long story, but when I stripped the lathe, I found the worm drive gear wasn't original, in that it had been bored out and another centre with the key way had been press fitted, then drilled and tapped 3mm with screws which were then cut off. I drilled out the screws and out took the centre piece with keyway with the aid of a drift.

I talked to Craig Smith at Hafco Brisbane and he was very helpful. He said the Sydney store had a 19 tooth gear in stock, and it was described as a "worm gear 19 tooth - no key way'. I took a punt and ordered one, which arrived overnight. It didn't have a key way, and the bore was about 3 mm larger than the shaft on my lathe which is 5/8"". So, I took it to a local F&T and asked him to bore out the new gear so I could press fit the old centre in. I did that with some good Loctite 609 , then re-drilled and tapped the join between inner and outer, and countersunk some 3mm screws in, as it had been when I took it off the lathe.

Needless to say, the quality of a cut done with auto feed has improved 100%.

Unfortunately I didn't take any pics of the process, but attached is a pic of the gear I removed.

IMG_0471.jpg

Hope this helps.

Cheers,

Ned