Love of lathes.

[Retired]

Hi,

Thanks for your interesting suggestion Refugee. Rubber sleeves if possible to add would definitely solve the clicking noise as the metal clips travel over the pulleys but unfortunately would cause other problems?

Metal belt joining clips (alligator clips for example) are surface mounting clips therefore add to the thickness of the belt at the joint; as the clip travels over each pulley it is bound to give a slight "bump". This then for me who is downright picky poses two problems; one is the clicking noise and the second is the number of bumps as the clips travel over five pulleys.

I was reading a few days ago an article regarding "chatter" and could this partly be due to the motor pulses on single phase motors being transmitted to the work being turned setting up chatter? If this is to be taken seriously then what effect would metal clips travelling over metal pulleys have on the finish of the turned work? This is something I've never previously considered but I know it takes little to produce chatter on a lathe?

Stitching a leather belt joint with waxed cord is an excellent way to join such belts and this method has been used since leather belts were introduced. However a tapered glue joint gives all the advantages of a truly endless belt but with the one disadvantage of joint strength. If the tapers are not perfect or the wrong type of glue used or applied wrongly then of course the joint is prone to early failure. I've done a bit of research and found various types of glue has been used over many years with success. Hot hide glue I believe is the oldest type glue used and even today will take a lot of beating and using hot hide glue is something I'm very familiar with. In the States "Barge" glue is commonly referred to and this glue too is as old as the houses but not a glue I'm familiar with. Other glues are more modern such as PVA and Gorilla glue has also been tried with various degrees of success; one guy used Gorilla glue expecting it to give years trouble free service but the joint failed almost immediately under power.

Joining leather belts is not as easy as it would appear for providing drive to machinery. I could take the easy option and add alligator clips after all I was using alligator clips to join huge conveyor belting underground 50 years ago and alligator clips do work; alligator clips come in a number of different sizes. There are also wire clips like staples.

As I say though I'm picky and to go to all the trouble I've just gone to in fully restoring this Lorch I want it to run as quietly and smoothly as possible. I'm trying the hot hide glue method first because I have a stock of hide glue and the proper glue pot; I'm also very interested to try this old technique; if it fails then I've lost nothing and will look to modern types of belting and modern methods of belt jointing; I've already obtained a sample of modern laminated belting so I'll do a bit of experimenting first?

I see fun and games ahead once I start to glue these two belt joints; one belt I can joint on the bench but the second belt might prove to be a load of frustration because not only has it to be jointed on the lathe the belt needs feeding through the head-stock and through the belt adjuster at the counter-shaft; I think I can obtain enough slack by not trying to joint this belt with it round the counter-shaft pulley because the counter-shaft pulley unit is easily removable but I'll no doubt find all the problems later today once I attempt to joint the two belts?

Kind regards, Col.