Link Belts are Awesome!

[Hal Forsen]

A few years back I was lucky enough to score a deal on an older Rockwell Radial Drill Press similar to this one.

http://www.owwm.com/PhotoIndex/images/1067-B.JPG

Today, I finally got around to replacing the old V belt with a link belt

http://www.woodcraft.com/Images/products/145530.jpg

OMG!
No more woogedywoogedy!
I am simply astounded at how much smoother the tool runs.
It's like a brand new machine!
If you have belt driven tool that's a little shakey, suggest you give a link belt a spin. ;)

[MoMan]

question for boaters regarding this product: I was thinking of buying some link belt as an emergency backup for the three different sized belts on my little 18' ski boat (gasoline stern drive volvo penta 3.0 liter). My father in law says it wouldn't work but I want a 2nd opinion.

[Bill R]

Yup. I have link belts on all my belt driven machinery. They also seem to hold up better than conventional belts.

[Gerarddm]

I see you can buy some on Amazon- does local Ace hardware or similar carry them?

[BrianW]

I thought this was going to be a crane thread.

[S/V Laura Ellen]

I thought this was going to be a crane thread.

What do link belts have to do with cranes?
http://www.audubon.org/centennial/images/species/Whooping_Crane_lg2.jpg

[BrianW]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v136/BrianW/70ton.jpg

[Doug B]

Moman, Linkbelts work great for emergency repairs. I have used them on everything from cars to roof vents on resturants. I have only had one failure , but I realize that they were never intended for use on a rototiller. The other thing they are great for is measuring if you don't have the original belt.

[Paul Pless]

I have only had one failure , but I realize that they were never intended for use on a rototiller. > :D

[cookie]

A few years back I was lucky enough to score a deal on an older Rockwell Radial Drill Press similar to this one.

http://www.owwm.com/PhotoIndex/images/1067-B.JPG

Today, I finally got around to replacing the old V belt with a link belt



OMG!
No more woogedywoogedy!
I am simply astounded at how much smoother the tool runs.
It's like a brand new machine!
....

Better I'd think.... just look at the reach and vertical travel of that machine, and built so elegantly. I WANT ONE!!!!
Much better than my rusty 12yr old hf chunk o'junk :cool:

[ILikeRust]

A new regular v-belt also would have eliminated the woogedywoogedy. An old v-belt will dry out, get stiff and will take a set from sitting wrapped around the sheaves. A new belt will be pliable and won't have that "set."

Link belts were invented for industrial machinery repairs that need to be made quickly, without having to rely on having the exact right-sized belt available, and for replacing belts in situations in which you might have to partially disassemble the machine to get a regular v-belt off and on. A correctly-sized v-belt is preferable, however. Link belts, believe it or not, will actually cause more wear on the machinery, because they do slip in the sheaves more easily. In potmetal sheaves, as yours appear to be, this can cause wear on the walls of the belt grooves. To prevent slip, they have to be run more tightly than a regular v-belt, which puts more lateral strain on the bearings of your motor and headstock. Final consideration is that link belts are a good deal more expensive than a good v-belt. I use Gates v-belts on all my woodworking machinery and they run very smooth. In fact, I replaced a link belt with a new Gates belt on my bandsaw and it runs much better than it did before.

Just another data point for your consideration.