# 9x20 chinese lathe belt



## Jadecy (Feb 9, 2008)

I broke my belt last night when the tool dug in. Here is some information I've gathered from places like CNC Zone, Steve Bedair's site, etc.
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The small drive belt is made by Gates.
The two sizes for the lathe are 5M710 or 5M730.

5M710 = 28.00 inches
5M730 = 28.70 inches

My harbor freight lathe came with a 5M710 but I've read in another post that the 5M730 will work on it too.
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The cheapest place I've located is LIMCT price($5.78 US):

http://shop.limct.com/?page=shop/fl...cc&PHPSESSID=9473e6836ad5e5b5dc4ba0ca538b227d

There are several other places to get them online such as Wholesale Tool. 
Alink on Steve Bedair's site: http://www.bedair.org/Shifter/Belt.html 
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I got them locally for $13.00 each at Motion Industries. They have quite a few locations around the country.


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## rake60 (Feb 9, 2008)

WOW!

I've been paying almost triple that!
That site has been added to my bookmarks.

I've broken two of those belts in the past 2 years.
There's a spare hanging in the rafters above the lathe.
Next time I break one the spare will go on, and I'll be 
ordering a new spare from LIMCT

Thanks for posting it!

Rick


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## deere_x475guy (Feb 9, 2008)

Guys isn't the clutch suppose to slip before anything breaks? I know the one I had from HF did way to much. No matter what I did it would always slip what I felt was way to easy. I don't remember now if there is a way to adjust it or not. I sold it 4 years ago.

Here is a pic of mine when I was working out of my 2 car garage.


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## rake60 (Feb 9, 2008)

Bob 
The 9 X 20 import lathes do have a slip clutch.
It's built into the idler pulley and is not adjustable.
I had a friend ask me to come over to see if I had any ideas as to why
his HF lathe was slipping so often. That clutch was JUNK! You could slip
it turning it my hand.

That little 5M710 belt is by design the machines weakest link.
If you constantly horse the little lathe you will break the belt.
If you crash the machine, (see my post _The Chuck Key_ on the Safety board),
the belt will quite thankfully break.

It is the machines most positive safety link.
If a less expensive belt breaks easier I can't really see that as a bad thing.
For the price of these ones I'd just buy more spares.

Rick


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## Loose nut (Feb 9, 2008)

THE SLIP CLUTCH ON MINE SLIPPED SO BADLY IT MADE THE LATHE ALL MOST USELESS UNTIL ONE DAY I ACCIDENTAL SPILLED SOME LOCTITE ON TO IT , NOW I HAVE NO PROBLEM WITH IT AT ALL


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