Tony wrote:
I dunno, if serp belts were so great why didn't the factory put them
there in the first place.

Because state of the art back in the 1920' or '30's, when these were
coming off the line for the first time, was flat leather. Cheap,
effectice enough, and available at every hardware store.

Sorta like the Blacksmith said. If they had had electric welders in
grandfather's day, you can bloody well bet that he'd have used one!

During their later years of production, SB put vee belts on their
lathes. You would get one more set of ratios that way.


Now, if I read this right, you "prefer" stretch in your belts, yet
the problem is stretch in your belt. WTF???


The problem the OP had was his belt was loose. Nylon/Rubber flat belting
has stretch meaning the belt provides continous tension as the
tensioning handle cams over, as opposes to a belt with very little
stretch (or give), and the tensioning handle cams over with a clunk.

Sorry Tony, mistook you for the original poster!

I've never had to re-clip nylon/rubber belt for stretching beyond the
point where it didn't provide sufficient tension, as opposed to leather
belts that keep lengthening.

Ayup! Leather. Good for a museum display, or a test of patience and
resolve, not to mention financial means.

Automotive belts belong on car engines, their too narrow anyway for cone
pulleys. And V-grooving a cone pulley? thats a bloody abortion.

Suit yourself.

I figure that a poy-v belt conversion will only have to be done once.
Don't want to cut grooves in the original parts? Make a new pulley. If
you leave a spare belt under the lathe bench, your inheritors can figure
out what to do with it. If you leave the original pulley under the
bench, they will wonder why you bothered.

Better, IMO, a tool that can be used, than one that cannot.

A friend has a SB9 with a automotive timing belt running on the flat
belt pulleys. No problems with the noise, and he can stall out the 1/2
horse before it slips

Cheers
Trevor Jones