Flat belting for transmission use on models?

[Brian Rupnow]

Excellent work Tony. I generally use rubber o-rings for my power transmission belts, but they don't look all that authentic. I do use vacuum cleaner belts for a couple of my models, and they are quite fussy about the perfect alignment of the driver and driven pulleys. Also I find that turning a 1/2 to 1 degree crown from the center of the pulleys outward does help a great deal with belt tracking.---Brian

 

[Tony Bird]

Hi,

A bit of progress with the belts. The latest and very promising is using a section of the PMR belt to join the 10 mm x 1 mm rubber belt this stops the belt jumping when it goes over the pulley. The section of PMR belt which has no stretch is glued over the butt jointed rubber belt which does.

The joined belt managed 20 minutes at 600+ rpm with seemingly no effect on the joint.

Regards Tony.

 

[Mike1]

A way to make flat drive belts for model engines. Mike.

https://youtu.be/ds8un0NGrPw

 

[Tony Bird]

Hi Mike,

Many thanks, it is very interesting though a little time consuming, but gets a result!

Regards Tony.

 

[Tony Bird]

Hi,

I have finished the last (4th) pulley using the serviette rings bought in a charity shop. I have more or less decided to use the 10 mm x 1 mm rubber belt with some PMR belt glued to it to make the joint. I have run the belt over the pulleys made for several hours and no problems have occurred. If I find some leather belt which might look a little better I will check it out. My one lathe and a drill use round leather belts which I have found much better than the more modern plastic ones. Some photographs of my belt test rig attached.

Regards Tony.