On 12/9/2016 8:26 AM, Jack wrote:
On 12/8/2016 11:16 AM, Leon wrote:
On 12/8/2016 9:53 AM, Jack wrote:

Hmmm, didn't know link belts were less expensive. Seems stupid that
tool manufacturers would use more expensive, inferior v belts on their
expensive tools when they could be using cheap, but superior link belts.
Makes the mind boggle...

No, no, no, Automotive v-belts are not what you get with typical
machinery. Typically industrial v-belts are cheap, automotive v-belts
are typically 2~3 times more expensive but the quality is immediately
visable. Industrial are designed to work on less than desirable
applications. I was going to step up to either an automotive style or
link belt.

This is news to me. Generally "industrial" means high quality,
expensive, long lasting.

Yeah I can see that. I retired from the automotive world and sold
thousands of belts. With dealerships we only carried top quality
automotive style belts. When I was very young I worked for an auto
supply store that carried automotive and industrial belts. A customer
brought a belt in that he wanted to match in size. It just so happened
the only fit was an industrial belt and I later learned that he put it
on a vehicle, the belt lasted about 3 weeks. Had he told me what it was
going on I would not have sold him a belt at all, we did not have an
automotive quality belt in stock.





I actually thought automotive fan belts were
cheap. I don't have a lot of experience buying belts for my tools, so
I'm certainly no expert. I bought a fan belt for my jointer once,
because I replaced the cabinet it sat on and needed a different length
belt. Had I known link belts were cheaper or even the same price, I
would have gone with that mainly because the length is adjustable. It's
a bit of a pain determining the correct length of a belt, and I'd assume
link belts would be the ticket.

Pricing is relative. With the dealerships back in the 80's Dayco belts
cost the dealer $14~$20. I suspect if you buy an industrial belt at a
industrial supply or like company the belt will also be expensive.
Industrial at the auto supply were about half the price of the
automotive. One of my vendors sold automotive lamps for cars and he
owned an airplane. When he bought air plane lamps from an aviation
supply the cost was 3~4 times the cost of what he sold the same lamp to
automobile dealerships.





Stick with what works. ;~) My old 1983 Craftsman contractors saw had
an industrial v-belt on it when I sold it about 16 years later and it
ran relatively smoothly.

Perhaps old belts run smoother than new belts? If my belts are anything,
they are old. On the other hand, I don't get how a belt weighing a few
ounces would make a 300-1000lb machine vibrate severely?

Think about how a 1 oz. wheel weight in the wrong place on a wheel makes
the whole car shake. Industrial belts are not as precision made and or
come in a variety of qualities, as automotive, they often have high
spots and wide spots. Automotive belts are pretty uniform in shape




Or take your old belt to an auto supply and ask for an automotive
quality belt. Some automotive belts have notches cut out of the inner
surface, perpendicular to the rotation of the belt, this allows the belt
to bend around tighter radius pulleys.

I've seen those type of belts, but don't have any. Belt wise, I've been
happy with what has been working forever. If I ever need to replace one,
I just might go with a link belt. I see Harbor Freight has a 5' one for
$26. I guess I could get two 2 1/2' belts out of that. I'm still
thinking an automotive fan belt would be cheaper, but not sure.


That is where I got my link belt and at the time it was a name brand
belt. That was surprising, you could buy the same brand at a number of
other places which is not the norm for Harbor Freight. Any way the
single belt was long enough to replace the two belts on my DP.

Keep in mind that link belts do stretch quite a bit after a bit of use,
I ended up having to remove a link after some use.