"xray" wrote in message
...

So I was all set to buy some PowerTwist link belt when I remembered
that the motor is reversable. Am I correct that link belts only work
in one direction?

Yes.


Are there any other split belts that run both directions that
are worth considering?

Not that I'm aware of.


Right now I am leaning toward disconnecting the reverse switch
and getting the link belts.

If you don't anticipate doing any reverse turning, then you may be better
off with the link belts for now. But I wouldn't disconnect the reverse
switch. There will be times where you'll want to run the lathe in reverse
under power to reset the carriage position without making a cut (e.g.,
cutting metric threads where you can't disengage the half nuts). For these
situations, running the belts backwards should not hurt them (as far as I
know), since there will be very little power transmitted through them and
they'll only be run for very short periods of time.

If you occasionally need to make a cut in reverse, it might not be difficult
to unlink the belts and reverse them.

If you plan on doing a lot of cutting in forward and reverse, then you
should probably change out the belts.

- Michael