Lathe flat belt help

Yeah, I'm leaning hard that way. Sure wish their site wasn't down a couple weeks ago so I wouldn't have flushed $25 on that lousy other one.
 
I used to have a Logan 820, and was also having problems getting a new belt to work properly. I finally just decided to pull the head shaft and use a serpentine belt. It worked great, and I liked it a lot. More work, of course, but worth it to me.

GG
 
I went with the Al Bino glued belt, and received exactly the package shown by Dave Paine (I got a Twix, not a Snickers...). For the wood clamping block, I made a piece the width of the belt, then tacked some thin bits of wood to the sides, and made the top block of another piece that would fit inside this. This was to ensure the glue joint wouldn't slip sideways under clamping pressure. I waxed them to keep the glue from sticking. I followed the gluing directions exactly and left it clamped for over 24 hours. The joint slipped about 1/16" longways when I clamped it, but I didn't unclamp and mess with it, figuring that was inconsequential and messing with it would just mess it up.

I only have a couple hours on it so far with no issues. Runs very smoothly, it seems to take a bit more tension than the serpentine belt I had before, the material perhaps a bit less "grabby" if that's a word. No squealing upon startup! My current project is brass, so I haven't had a chance to test depth of cut on steel to compare with the serpentine.
 
The way you say the belt walks off may be your bearings on the counter shaft are worn. Or they're not lined up . That could be why your slipping to when cutting. Just thinking. I have a clipper tool or two and some of the clips. I'm in need of belting too. For the planer. My logan I have had for about forty years and I've only had one belt , I never leave it tensioned unless I'm running it ,and have ran it ALOT over the years. I guess I've been lucky . If anyone needs there belt laced if your near me your welcome to use it just pay for the clips , like a buck .
 
sorry but to use a serpentine belt you will need to at least slide the spindle forward enough to get the belt in. but may I suggest what I have seen is to cut the grooves in the drive pulley flat areas to accept the belt without turning it upside down. this will give you drive beyond your needs. you will need to change the other pulley also. use a belt that you can identify the car it comes from and you have belt avail. to you even on sunday. what I did was to go to the auto parts store and buy a pulley for an alternator so I could grind a tool bit to match and figure what the center distance from groove to groove then made my own pulley for my air compressor to use a serpentine belt on ( one pulley had a serpentine belt already but I switched motors and in order to take advantage of a higher hp motor I had to run it faster. bill
 
I have some time on the Al Bino belt. I really want to like it, but.... This is the only lathe I have ever run, so perhaps my expectations are incorrect. I have to tension it more than I think is good - I have read that too tight is hard on bearings, and it is certainly tighter than the Logan manual recommends. It has to essentially be taut to not slip, and even then the maximum depth of cut I can take in steel is .020 off the diameter. More and the belt will slip (the auto serpentine I had on for a while would let me take .060 or so before the lathe slowed, but I don't think that was belt slip, just not enough power, that made me nervous). . Then I made the mistake of remembering to put oil in the middle drive cone pulley oil hole, the one with the screw. Whenever I do that, most of the oil comes back out the screw threads when the lathe runs. It got on the belt and the lathe wouldn't run at all. After much scrubbing of the pulleys and the belt with acetone, it runs again, but noticeably worse. Now, to get .020 off diameter in steel, I have to tension the belt very tight - the belt cover starts to raise up a bit with the tension. It takes forever for the lathe to spool up to speed, especially on the fastest speed. I suppose that is good to an extent, in case of a crash it will slip and not damage gears. Is that all to be expected?
 
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Mw , Ok your frustration is normal. Let's take a look at some other options which may help. First what kind of steel are you cutting. Second the speeds and feed your using. Third what kind of cutter and shape. High speed tools will always cut easier and faster then a carbide insert. I will guess your using carbide either insert or brazed . My reason for saying carbide is they take more pressure to cut . The sharp edge of a high speed steel tool will usually slice steel like it's butter. I'm sure it may help to use high speed steel . I've even used rounded tool bits with ease in my logan lathe. Have you tried cutting in back gear for heavy cuts it will be hard to stop. If you find a belt ill lace it for you. The leather should be 10 - 12 ounce leather or about 1/4" thick a little more Wont hurt. I forget the name of the stuff we used to help stop slipping but it'll come to me sometime . Use marks idea of ivory soap , we use to use it on car belts to quiet them down forty years ago. Just trying to help
 
It may be taking longer to spool up because of the additional friction from having the belt so tight.

My Logan 820 came to me with a laced leather belt, and I thought it was a good compromise of traction and slip. Unfortunately, it was old and brittle and didn't last very long after I started using it. New real leather belts seemed very expensive. I thought about buying a leather belt from the men's clothing department at Farm & Fleet, then cutting and lacing it, but I didn't have access to a Clipper lacing tool then. Those cost quite a bit more than a new leather belt.

I tried one of the composite belts they sell on eBay and was very unhappy with it. There was almost no traction at all, very much like you're describing.

I was pulling the machine apart section by section to clean it up and check for wear/damage anyway, and that's when I decided to try the automotive serpentine belt that I mentioned above. The serpentine belt was cheap, and once installed seemed to have very good traction with light tension. Since they are made to go thousands of miles in a car engine, I figured it would out live my needs as well. I installed it with the rubber grooved side against the cone pulleys in a conventional way. I ran it that way for a year until I traded up to a larger machine.

I've heard of people cutting and lacing a serpentine belt, but I don't personally know anyone who has done it successfully. If I were to do it all over again, I would go with either a real leather laced belt, or an automotive serpentine belt. Leather would be easier, but more expensive. Serpentine is more difficult, but much cheaper. That's just my own personal experience.

Good luck!

GG
 
Wow, if the lathe is taking a long time to get to speed, it sounds like the belt is slipping. The acetone may not have been able to extract all the oil. If the belt was not glued in place I would clean with one of the purple degreasers. I am able to degrease things with these products.

Just for a test, try flipping the belt so the present outside is on the inside. If this makes a difference you know the inside is the issue. I appreciate the scarf joint is the wrong way round, but this is just for testing.

I did not have issues with my belt, although I have not used the SB for awhile. I have a VFD on the lathe so it ramps up to speed which helps the belt.
 
Wow, if the lathe is taking a long time to get to speed, it sounds like the belt is slipping. The acetone may not have been able to extract all the oil. If the belt was not glued in place I would clean with one of the purple degreasers. I am able to degrease things with these products.

Just for a test, try flipping the belt so the present outside is on the inside. If this makes a difference you know the inside is the issue. I appreciate the scarf joint is the wrong way round, but this is just for testing.

I did not have issues with my belt, although I have not used the SB for awhile. I have a VFD on the lathe so it ramps up to speed which helps the belt.
 
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