What to use for miniature drive belts???

[Bentwings]

Can't say for sure about that but leather's always a good choice. Watchmakers have used roughly 4mm square leather lacing for belts since Noah was a cabin boy although the current trend is to baloney slice and glue rather than staple them together since it reduces the wear on the pulleys. Leather's good stuff since it grabs the pulley surfaces and is tough enough to handle a bunch of abuse. Cows seem to like it anyway.

Taking that as a lead, look around to see if there's any thin leather laying about not doing anything (that you can get away with; cutting up someone's purse et al for the leather is not considered good form. Besides it's usually fake now anyway.) or take a look at a thrift store. Also, leather goods shops have lacing of several orders and round lacing, which is nice for some applications, is also available and isn't all that pricey.

The belts from cassette decks (the better ones since some of the cheapies use what they like to refer as "direct drive"), VCRs, some older camcorders (I don't know about the newer ones.), printers of a fairly broad selection of types, and I think even scanners (most all of which have already been mentioned) are pretty cool as well. Ummm ... it would probably be a real good idea to ensure no one wants them first. Casually informing your first born that his/her printer just gave up its life so your engine driven accessories could live might not play well over dinner.

Best regards,

Kludge

sometimes you can go to good will and find fine lays purse dirt cheap. By using a new exacto blade in a balsa stripper toool and carefulycuttingbghr purse apart you can reclaim fine letter for belting. I till save my old TIG welding gloves as they have very soft real leather. Being well used they even have worn belt look while doing a good job. We never treat the gloves so they are naturally smoothe. They are about $15 new sometimes at harbor freight otherwise any welding supply has them.you may have to have several splices in a belt but done nicely with super glue they work ok. Easy to fix too.
Otherwise if you are using vee groove pulleys McMaster Carr has o ring material in a variety of hardness and materials even automotive washer tubing might work. Have not tried it yet but it might depend on your pulley groove. The rubber will take to superglue pretty well.
im undecided on pulleys. My new engine will have both flat belt and v belt capability.. I have spring belts now but I’ll need something.
I may ve to McKee pulleys unless I can find some.

bbyron

 

[Charles Lamont]

+1 on pigskin for flat belt for authentic old fashioned drives.

Looking for a belt drive for an engine coolant pump, and being mildly surprised to find belt and pulleys readily available, I settled on MXL pitch toothed belt.

 

[Aerostar55]

Yesterday when I was at the steam show in Muskoka, thre were many old steam toys that were driven by little steam engines. They all used drive belts that appeared to be about .060 to.080" diameter round fabric covered material. Does anybody know---what was it --- and where to get it---and can it be cut to size and spliced? These tiny engines don't develop a whole lot of power, so whatever this miniature belting is, it must bend very easily but still have a high enough coefficient of friction to drive things properly.

I’ve had good luck using the larger “O” rings used in home water filters they come in sizes from about 4 inches in diameter to 6 or more and with various thickness

 

[SmithDoor]

I have used rubber bands or o-rings.
They are low cost they but have life of around 5 to 7 years. They both have good rip.
The rubber bands need a crowned pulleys like used for flat belt. The o-ring need a groved pulley in shape of the O-rings.

Dave

Yesterday when I was at the steam show in Muskoka, thre were many old steam toys that were driven by little steam engines. They all used drive belts that appeared to be about .060 to.080" diameter round fabric covered material. Does anybody know---what was it --- and where to get it---and can it be cut to size and spliced? These tiny engines don't develop a whole lot of power, so whatever this miniature belting is, it must bend very easily but still have a high enough coefficient of friction to drive things properly.

 

[Bentwings]

I’ve had good luck using the larger “O” rings used in home water filters they come in sizes from about 4 inches in diameter to 6 or more and with various thickness

I too am going to use prongs for belts to start with. You can get prong material from McMaster Carr just cut clean and square and super glue ends together. I also save my old Tig welding gloves and cut flat leather strips from them again super glue them together some times you have to slice or taper the flat surface. I super sharpen exacting or plain straight razor blade with fine hone usually Arkansas stones they are usually white very hard very smooth then use leather belt for stripe to break honed edges . You can make crowned pulleys by swining coin pound on lathe then polish the point to radius. It’s a little fussy but works. I found it’s not too critical once I got the technique steel I probably best for wear but even polished is ugly brass does wear a little aluminum is ok if you can get 7075 or 2024 material there is home anodizing kits available but I have not used them . You can lightly knurl them but it’s ugly functional yes but…… I also got spring belts from mc master Carr . My new turbine has round knurl on the pulley groove. Sounds like another tool to make I have some air hardening tool steel that is easy to heat treat so I’ll look into tool making later if needed .
Byron

 

[Bentwings]

I too am going to use prongs for belts to start with. You can get prong material from McMaster Carr just cut clean and square and super glue ends together. I also save my old Tig welding gloves and cut flat leather strips from them again super glue them together some times you have to slice or taper the flat surface. I super sharpen exacting or plain straight razor blade with fine hone usually Arkansas stones they are usually white very hard very smooth then use leather belt for stripe to break honed edges . You can make crowned pulleys by swining coin pound on lathe then polish the point to radius. It’s a little fussy but works. I found it’s not too critical once I got the technique steel I probably best for wear but even polished is ugly brass does wear a little aluminum is ok if you can get 7075 or 2024 material there is home anodizing kits available but I have not used them . You can lightly knurl them but it’s ugly functional yes but…… I also got spring belts from mc master Carr . My new turbine has round knurl on the pulley groove. Sounds like another tool to make I have some air hardening tool steel that is easy to heat treat so I’ll look into tool making later if needed .
Byron

What happened I meant o ring material not prong spell check is worse than I am . Sorry
Byron

 

[KJE]

You can use the wire springs from lip type oil and grease seals. Cut them to length and screw the ends together they work slick.

 

[Wheat47]

sometimes you can go to good will and find fine lays purse dirt cheap. By using a new exacto blade in a balsa stripper toool and carefulycuttingbghr purse apart you can reclaim fine letter for belting. I till save my old TIG welding gloves as they have very soft real leather. Being well used they even have worn belt look while doing a good job. We never treat the gloves so they are naturally smoothe. They are about $15 new sometimes at harbor freight otherwise any welding supply has them.you may have to have several splices in a belt but done nicely with super glue they work ok. Easy to fix too.
Otherwise if you are using vee groove pulleys McMaster Carr has o ring material in a variety of hardness and materials even automotive washer tubing might work. Have not tried it yet but it might depend on your pulley groove. The rubber will take to superglue pretty well.
im undecided on pulleys. My new engine will have both flat belt and v belt capability.. I have spring belts now but I’ll need something.
I may ve to McKee pulleys unless I can find some.



I have used O-rings. They work pretty good, unless you are using small, like less than 3/4" pulleys.
I have also used the retainer springs that are in axle seals and such. They don't like small pulleys either.
Also, you are limited in what sizes you can find. I think the biggest one I have came off the wheels on a
Kenworth. It was 4 or 5 inches in diameter.
A while ago, there was an article in Machinist Workshop or Home Shop Machinist about using the urethane
material for belts. They showed how to make sure you cut it square and how to glue it up, so it would run
straight, without any humps or bumps.

 

[Rustkolector]

For the DIY belt makers here is an option...

 

[Steamchick]

I have used spliced and glue o-rings for belts with V-pulleys on my little lathe successfully (2 ends cut at 45 degrees and superglued). (150W motor at 10.000rpm reduced to 300rpm at shaft).
On a boat with a steam engine, I used a bought "computer printer toothed belt and gears" - worked fine for the torque applied to the screw. I.E. 3/4" bore 3/4" stroke steam engine at 20psi, with 3:1 speed reduction from 2000rpm max. => max torque = 8.8lbs (on piston) x 0.38" (crank throw) x 3 (gear ratio)= 10.2lb.in. This applied at 1/4" radius was 40.8lbs. - if the screw stalled. But I doubt I ever realised the full torque applied from the engine. The Polyurethane belt has done all the runs I have made with this boat and shown no signs of wear. But I selected it for the speed and load against the manufacturer's tables, so that's all I expected.
I also use vacuum cleaner and other small power tool drive belts for some generator installations with steam engines.
If you make a mill engine, with multiple grooves, you can use spliced cotton string (bind the splice with fine cotton thread seizing) - as it nicely represents the ropes used to the various floors of the mill...
So do the sums and decide what strength of belt you need?
Cheers,
Ken

 

[perko7]

Shoe laces? Would be strong enough and hard-wearing, and the newer synthetic ones have a little bit of stretch in them too so would possibly make it easier to maintain tension. Not sure how you would join them. Superglue for the cotton ones, melted ends pressed together for the synthetic ones?

 

[Wheat47]

Someone mentioned tape decks and such. I was reminded that I have two big ol' outdated copy
machines in the shop, under foot. I got them for hauling them away, with the intension of
taking them apart for the goodies inside. This gives me new incentive to take them apart.

 

[ytrose2]

I have used urethane belting with success. My milling machine is driven by a 9.5mm round belt instead of a V-belt. I welded it together with my soldering iron.

My method was to make a small plate with a tail, which is inserted into my iron after removing the normal copper tip. I fixed the iron in the vice, whilst holding the belt ends against each side of the plate. When the ends start to melt and squish out, I remove and simply press them together, and wait until the joint cools. All I then do is dress the join to remove the squished-out bit, and fit onto the machine.

The belt drives a 1HP motor, and has only broken once on the weld. For smaller diameter belts, I have made a jig from a hinge to keep the belt aligned during the heating and welding process.

 

[Bentwings]

I have used spliced and glue o-rings for belts with V-pulleys on my little lathe successfully (2 ends cut at 45 degrees and superglued). (150W motor at 10.000rpm reduced to 300rpm at shaft).
On a boat with a steam engine, I used a bought "computer printer toothed belt and gears" - worked fine for the torque applied to the screw. I.E. 3/4" bore 3/4" stroke steam engine at 20psi, with 3:1 speed reduction from 2000rpm max. => max torque = 8.8lbs (on piston) x 0.38" (crank throw) x 3 (gear ratio)= 10.2lb.in. This applied at 1/4" radius was 40.8lbs. - if the screw stalled. But I doubt I ever realised the full torque applied from the engine. The Polyurethane belt has done all the runs I have made with this boat and shown no signs of wear. But I selected it for the speed and load against the manufacturer's tables, so that's all I expected.
I also use vacuum cleaner and other small power tool drive belts for some generator installations with steam engines.
If you make a mill engine, with multiple grooves, you can use spliced cotton string (bind the splice with fine cotton thread seizing) - as it nicely represents the ropes used to the various floors of the mill...
So do the sums and decide what strength of belt you need?
Cheers,
Ken

I just got a micro gear belt. I got it on limited info maybe just to see if it would work it looks pretty I have enough pulleys and belts to do a double reduction so I can test he belt strength . Somewhere I saw a spool of belt material
Byron