I got all the nuts out of the lathe and new belt in place, but

now I seem to have another problem...

In an earlier thread I shows the squirrel's or chipmonk's nuts in my lathe that had been sitting idle for about 4 days with the cover open... I've cleaned out all the nuts, put all of the grub screws (set screws --- one of the English turners called them Grub Nuts and it stuck in my head ) back in place (I think), got the belt changed and all put back together... now it seems that I'm getting a slow down or a lug down of the motor when I'm turning a larger piece and put very much pressure on the wood. I can back off and give it a second or two and it goes back to speed. I don't remember having a slow down before I started all this. I could stop the spindle if I got a big catch, but the motor kept spinning and just slipped the belt...

It sounds like the belt is slipping again, but not the same sound as I got with the old belt...

Im with ya chuck,shoot the squirrels.

What did you expect Chuck? You no longer have the squirrel assist feature.

Hi Chuck,

I recently replaced the belt on my 1442 and had the same problem. I ran the lathe without a load at each speed for a minute or so increasing the speed until the whole range had been covered up and back down again and it solved the problem for me. An engineer friend, who replaced the belt, told me it would take a while for the belt to seat properly and attain maximum friction on the pulleys. Maybe this could sort your lathe out, hope so. Incidentally, I replaced the belt with a solid belt that had no teeth, like the original, and I think I am getting better drive than before.

Brendan

Brendan beat me to it. When I had a Reeves drive lathe, I noticed the same thing when I'd install a new belt. I think if you work it a bit, thinks will settle into place.

back awhile when i used to do some mechanicing they had stuff called belt dressing that you would spray on belt to help it get grip...just an idea

larry merlau said:

back awhile when i used to do some mechanicing they had stuff called belt dressing that you would spray on belt to help it get grip...just an idea

Click to expand...

Larry,
I have a can of that in the garage for when the Ford belt gets to squealing... might give that a try...

Brendan,
I'll run through the speeds to morrow and see if that helps too... that's a trick I didn't know about.. Thanks.

It takes about three seconds running time for a belt to 'seat' properly.