Minor surgery for lathe

[Brian Brown]

Last night my lathe spindle started slipping. Fortunately it wasn't serious. The set screw came loose on the motor pulley. My problem is that when I tightened the set screw, I had no way of knowing if the lower pulley is aligned with the top pulley, so that the belt won't wear. Does anyone know how to properly align these pulleys, or where I can get specs for the alignment? I use a Delta LA 200. Also, I noticed my drive belt is getting quite worn. Where can I get a new belt, either OEM or after market? Thanks for the help.

Brian

[Steve Schlumpf]

Brian, don't have a Delta lathe but used a Sears mono-tube for years and it uses pulleys. Easiest way to align pulleys is to use a straight edge - any straight edge as long as it is physically long enough to go across both pulleys. All you do is place the straight edge across both pulleys and adjust one of the pulleys such that the straight edge touches both the top and the bottom of each pulley. At that point you know they are aligned.

As far as a new belt - I have no idea what size you require - but I would remove it and take it to any auto parts store and hand it to them and say 'I need one of these' or you could order one of the 4' link belts that are offered in most of the woodworking stores.

Best of luck to you and if you still have problems aligning your lathe - let us know!

[Paul Engle]

Yep, ask for the fractional hp belt, your locale TV hardware may have em also and about 40% less than the auto parts store, they wanted 11.49 for a 3L230 and True V had em for 5.99$ if you can afford the poly link belt they work great , but not on a reeves drive and not if you use a 3/8" ( 3L ) wide belt, if yours is 1/2" (4L) then you could run the poly link( not on a reeves tho) . I have had the same one (poly-link) on my table saw since 1995 and runs great, and they are smooth...

[Gene Kennedy]

I was told that the link belts will not work on the "vee groove" pulleys that the LA200 has, so if anyone could comment on the accuracy of that information it would be very much appriciated.

[Mike Vickery]

I was told that the link belts will not work on the "vee groove" pulleys that the LA200 has, so if anyone could comment on the accuracy of that information it would be very much appriciated.

Yes Gene the link belts are for v drives not the poly v, though I do not know what his lathe has.

http://www.beltsforanything.com/site3.php
this is one place you can get a wide variety of belts from at a good price. THe size of the belt is usually stamped some where on it thoug it can be kind of cryptic. If you post any numbers you find on it someone might be able to help.

I did not have a straight edge that I could fit to allign my pulleys. So I tied a large washer to the end of a string and taped the string onto the top pulley in one of the grooves and used the string to align the bottom pulley. (note I have a 5 step pulley on my lathe and I think it was the third or fourth step where the top and bottom pulleys are the same diameter)

[Gene Kennedy]

Yes Gene the link belts are for v drives not the poly v, though I do not know what his lathe has.

Thanks Mike, but let me clarify a bit- I was told by one of the Delta customer service tech guys that the link belts and regular "vee" belts will not work on the "vee groove" pulleys because the pulleys have those little ribs on them. According to "him" the ribs are critical to performance especially since the belt is only about .25" wide, it needs to make as much contact with the pulleys as possible. The whole "contact patch" thing made sense to me, but does that sound right to you?

BTW - I have already got the closest belt that beltsforanything.com has available ( 250 J3 ), but to use it on my unit I had to make a couple of modifications to make it work. I'm thrilled with it, but I'd still like to find something a little closer to OEM before I order more.

I called Delta today and found out that my OEM belt is finally on it's way (after being on backorder for the last 2 months) and they have them in stock at the moment. If you need one, or think you might need one soon, you might consider ordering them now because from the way it looks to me they seem to be out of them on a fairly regular basis.

[Mike Vickery]

Sorry I should have been more specific.
V belts only have one rib to them ( like this http://www.beltsforanything.com/site45.php)
Poly-v belts have the multiple ribs which is what you are talking about ( like this http://www.beltsforanything.com/site25.php ) and you cannot use the link blets with them

I am not a belt expert or anything, just learned a little when I needed to replace my lathe belt. Usually for poly-v belts their is a style belt such as J that has to do with the size of the groove the number on rib and the length of the belt. So your 250 j3 is a 3 rib J style poly-v belt that has 250 inches outside diamter.

[joe greiner]

So your 250 j3 is a 3 rib J style poly-v belt that has 250 inches outside diamter.

Belt nomenclature can be quite cryptic. Even with national "standards," each manufacturer seems to find a reason to invent their own. BUT, the lengths usually indicate the perimeter, not the diameter; and the length is also usually indicated in tenths of an inch. So xxx250, or 250xxx, would have a length of 25 inches. The corresponding diameter would be about 8 inches, not 21 feet!!!

Joe

[Mike Vickery]

Belt nomenclature can be quite cryptic. Even with national "standards," each manufacturer seems to find a reason to invent their own. BUT, the lengths usually indicate the perimeter, not the diameter; and the length is also usually indicated in tenths of an inch. So xxx250, or 250xxx, would have a length of 25 inches. The corresponding diameter would be about 8 inches, not 21 feet!!!

Joe

Sorry I misspoke when I used diameter. You are absolutely right.