Broken Drive Belt Questions

[George Summers]

What's a Reeves Drive

A reeves drive is a mechanical method of making a variable speed mechanism. It uses two spring loaded split pulleys and as you turn the knob or stick on the front of the machine the top pulley flanges seperate and the bottom pulley flanges move closer together thus changing the ratio between the pulleys and changing the speed. The reverse happens as you turn the other way. The Shopsmith, the old Jet 1236 and the Harbor Freight 34706 among others use this variable speed control method.

George

[Paul Engle]

Try an automotive part store ( NAPA ), gates or goodyear should have one to fit dont recommend fractional horse power type ( washers ,dryer ,etc) as the automotive will handle the power and torque much better.
Paul Engle

[Jonathan Magnus]

Midway through roughing out a bowl this evening, the drive belt on my Craftsman lathe broke. Two questions:

Anyone know of a less expensive source for the replacement drive belt (not the bigger Reeves drive belt) than Sears? They want about $27.00 plus tax and shipping for a dinky little belt.

Anyone have any suggestions on how to get the belt back on once I get a new one? I can start randomly disassembling things until I get it done, but I'm hoping someone has been through the process and can give me some tips.

Thanks in advance.

Suggestions? Well...
The belt is a 3mm tooth pitch 20mm wide.
Purvis Industries in Houston, TX 713-921-3200 was able to get me one 15mm wide for $7.20.
It is narrower and will probably wear out faster, but for $7.20 plus the trouble to change. It may be worth it.
I just replaced mine and it works well, I have no idea for how long.

I am sure some Gates dealer can get it almost 20mm wide, but....

Best of luck.

[Dennis Puskar]

Try www.aroundthewoods.com he explains how to replace the drive belt very well, and for the drive belt go to www.beltsforanything.com they are cheaper than Sears.

Dennis

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Uh guys.



This thread is 3 years old. I can tell you for a fact, the OP is now driving a PM3520B and is no longer a member here.

[Doug Fries]

Hi Vaughn,

I too have a craftsman lathe, and when my belt went I looked everywhere I could think of to find an alternate source (including Gates), but had no luck. I had to pay Sears the ridiculous price.

Here is a link to Darrell Feltmate's site, he has posted step by step directions, complete with pictures on how to get the belt changed. It helped me out a lot. Hopefully will do the same for you. Don't worry, It's not as tough as it looks.

http://www.aroundthewoods.com/lathemaintenance.html

Make sure you take a real good look at the drive gear while you have it apart, mine was worn where it fits on the shaft & that is what caused my belt to fail. The good news.....the gear is only $13.00 cdn......go figure.

Anyway, good luck on the repairs.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Once again - this is a 3 year old thread and Vaughn now uses a Powermatic 3520B.

[Kyle Iwamoto]

Even if it's 3 years old, I STILL have nothing better to do..... LOL

[Mike Minto]

vaughn, i had belts custom made for my 1642 in the past; don't know what your belts look like, and don't remember where i got the ones i needed, but if you do a search, i'm sure you can find a company that will charge like a third of what sears wants; sorry to be vague, but at least i can tell you a person can find such with a little looking. good luck, mike

[robert hainstock]

I bought my first replacement belt at an auto parts store. I think if you were to take that expensive new belt to the nearest parts store, you chould get a part number for future referance. The way that I replaced the belt on my HF reeves drive was to horse it around and rotate it on by hand. Good luck.
Bob