BS v belt

Keye

Keye
Corporate Member
Need to replace the belt on my 14" BS. I have seen a lot about the link belts. Also interested in anything which reduces vibration. Thoughts and recommendations appreciated.
 

pcooper

Phillip Cooper
Corporate Member
I went to link belts on anything that uses a v belt, and I like the results. Plain v belts tend to learn a park spot that vibrates a bit if the belt doesn't warm up. Link belts don't do that. I don't know of anything better to use.
 

mpeele

michael
User
I have no proof of this but I think link belts last longer. Material does not seem to loose it's plasticizers and get brittle. I've replace all of mine and have had one on my lathe since 88.
 

Gotcha6

Dennis
Staff member
Corporate Member
Another advantage to them is you never have to worry about the belt being the wrong length. If you keep an extra around, you can make it whatever length you need.
Does anyone have any experience with using them on higher HP motors? Say, 2 HP, 1725 RPM and up?
 

mpeele

michael
User
I used one on a table saw, 2 hp 3450 RPM for a long time. Cutting some 16/4 stuff and blade got pinched and motor kept spinning. Kinda melted about 3 or 4 inches of belt which I replaced. Worked fine after.
 

Gotcha6

Dennis
Staff member
Corporate Member
I used one on a table saw, 2 hp 3450 RPM for a long time. Cutting some 16/4 stuff and blade got pinched and motor kept spinning. Kinda melted about 3 or 4 inches of belt which I replaced. Worked fine after.
Never tried this on a link belt, but in the case of a regular V belt, an application of Lava hand soap to the belt contact faces usually gives the pulleys enough grit to take the sheen off of them and get a better grip. It might be worth a try.
Also, if I understand motor dynamics, a 2 HP 3450 RPM motor will have half the torque of a 1725 RPM 2 HP motor, thereby decreasing the chances of this unless the pulley sizes are adjusted.
 

junquecol

Bruce
Senior User
Have one on my Delta contractor's saw. 2.0 HP, Century motor. Been on there since before the turn of the century. Band saw has a cogged V belt, which has been on there since I swapped motors out, again before the turn of the century. Check HF's price on link belts. They carry the green one, made in USA. About half the price of the red ones (Fenner.)
 

Oka

Casey
Corporate Member
At work we don't use Link belts pretty much at all. We use mostly cogged V-belts they tend to be better over all. The linked belts can reduce the vibration on some machines, but my experience is they can get a whine to them. They tend not to last as long as conventional belts. With HVAC, that will go through the ducts and cause complaints. Just something to consider.
 

Gotcha6

Dennis
Staff member
Corporate Member
At work we don't use Link belts pretty much at all. We use mostly cogged V-belts they tend to be better over all. The linked belts can reduce the vibration on some machines, but my experience is they can get a whine to them. They tend not to last as long as conventional belts. With HVAC, that will go through the ducts and cause complaints. Just something to consider.
Good to know about. ;)
Are the ducts insulated inside, or outside, as that could have an impact on noise abatement? You are looking at an application where the belt has the potential to be run 12-16 hours a day or more in some instances. Unless it's a commercial shop, I doubt anyone here runs their TS or BS or whatever that much in a month, or has a shop quiet enough to warrant complaining about a whiny V belt. I know I don't.
 

pcooper

Phillip Cooper
Corporate Member
At work we don't use Link belts pretty much at all. We use mostly cogged V-belts they tend to be better over all. The linked belts can reduce the vibration on some machines, but my experience is they can get a whine to them. They tend not to last as long as conventional belts. With HVAC, that will go through the ducts and cause complaints. Just something to consider.

I think the application difference would be what determines the best belt, for an HVAC system that is quiet, a regular cogged v belt would be better, but in a woodworking shop, no one is going to hear any whine from a belt, at least not in my shop. I've run my machines with no load and with load and can't tell a difference in noise from one belt style to another. I also have had link belts on for many years, my table saw has had one for 30+ years and still looks new, and I use my saw a lot (every day). My v belts on the table saw didn't go that long, 5 years on the last one I put on before the link belt. Bottom line is there isn't a one size fits all answer.
 

Keye

Keye
Corporate Member
Does anyone know if all power twist link 4L belts are created equal? There seems to be a wide range in pricing.
 

tvrgeek

Scott
Corporate Member
I believe the "improvements" on link belts are just from an old belt to new, just replacing some of the horrible imported belts, and frequently just putting on the correct tension. They are a LOT of money, do not work on any tighter radius ( a lot of woodworking tools exceed the belt specs) and are no smoother. Just get a good Gates notched belt or similar and adjust it correctly. " About this" is not correct. The difference between vibration and excessive bearing load is small. Cheap tools often make it too small. To make it harder, belt resonance is related to length and is related to any natural harmonics in the machine, so one tool may prefer a notched belt, another a solid. So the scientifically only correct answer is "it depends"

In many cases, we should not be using a v-belt in the first place. Replacing the sheaves with multi-groove is a better solution.

The variable length is a good and bad depending on your machine. Just the small difference in how belts are measured is enough to make a problem on my old Delta drill press. One link is too big of a step. Bad design, not the belt at fault. I actually have to keep two different front belts.
 

bob vaughan

Bob Vaughan
Senior User
What few times I've tried the link belts, there was no difference in smoothness. The belts did add a level of annoying noise so I removed the link belt. These were machines I had restored.

I do know from the experience of others that a link belt will make a badly tuned machine run a little smoother.

The hard components of the link belts are hard on aluminum pulleys but don't seem to wear iron or steel pulleys.
 

Oka

Casey
Corporate Member
a 2 HP motor @ 1725 will have the same torque of a 2 HP motor @ 3450. But, if you use a 1725 motor with a VFD and ramp up the speed of the 1725 motor to 3450, it still will have 2 HP Whereas, a 3450 motor run @ 1725 would only have 1hp.


Never tried this on a link belt, but in the case of a regular V belt, an application of Lava hand soap to the belt contact faces usually gives the pulleys enough grit to take the sheen off of them and get a better grip. It might be worth a try.
Also, if I understand motor dynamics, a 2 HP 3450 RPM motor will have half the torque of a 1725 RPM 2 HP motor, thereby decreasing the chances of this unless the pulley sizes are adjusted.
 

Volksdad

New User
Glen
Need to replace the belt on my 14" BS. I have seen a lot about the link belts. Also interested in anything which reduces vibration. Thoughts and recommendations appreciated.
I have an inexpensive Ridgid brand 14” bandsaw. It used to dance like drunk when I turned it on. I added a link belt, balanced the wheels with wheel weights and added inexpensive urethane tires.
You can balance a coin on the table now and it doesn’t fall when I turn on the bandsaw.
I believe the link belt helped. Mine doesn’t make noise. Hope this helps.
 

tvrgeek

Scott
Corporate Member
Bandsaw vibration is 99% in the wheels anyway. For example, I cg my tabletop delta smooth as silk with new tires, trued, clean. Just a foot of wood and the tiniest dust it shook so hard you could not see the cut.

Solution: Big Harvey with cast iron wheels.
 

Volksdad

New User
Glen
I should add that I added mass to the stand with 2x4x6 material. Each step helped considerably.
I think part of the reason the linked belt helped me was that my old v groove belt had developed a memory. I didn’t use the bandsaw as much as my other tools -probably because it seemed unsafe because of the vibration. Kind of a catch 22.
My ridgid bandsaw is basically a copy of every other homeowner grade saw. You do get what you pay for... all the upgrades helped because the bar was set pretty low.
 

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