drive belt shot on my craftsman 351.217150

Best option is obviously to get out a gun and put one of us out of our misery! Unfortunately my budget doesn't include a lathe that I am likely to be happier with than this sorry thing.

The call out is five inches by six inches by one inch one place I see it which leaves me totally confused. It is eight inches long close as I can measure and what is left is considerably narrower than the inch wide call out.

Rumor has it that the 18042.00 drive belt is a Gates belt and there is a lower quality and higher quality belt. Anybody have a Gates number for the belt or know how to read the dimensions on it? Could it have been 6"x.05"x 1"?

Worked on the lathe two days, didn't turn long enough to finish a goblet, back working on the lathe. Not a happy camper!

Edit: Those dimensions are from Amazon. Looks like probably the size of the box the belt is in.

Hu
 
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Take your old belt with you and get it measured. I don't know much about belts and got confused last time I bought one. I got a belt from Olshielns for my table saw. The one I bought was a tiny bit shorter than my old one but good with the adjustments on the ts. However, after just a couple minutes use the belt had stretched to where it is now almost too long. I tossed the wrapper and don't know the brand but I sure don't want a repeat of this experience when I replace it. Do some research before making your purchase.
 
Hu,
Do you have a number on the belt? If so, call The Belt Store in Lafayette, LA... 337 235 9736 ... I buy all of my belts from them at about 1/2-1/3 of the cost of the manufacturer's "replacement" belts... I have two Jet lathes, a 1442 and a 1014... I got the same belts from the Belt Store that Jet wanted about $20 each for under $7 each... matter of fact, I bought 3 for each lathe for the same price of just one from Jet.... don't get me wrong, I love Jet and the service responses I get from them, but too much money for a simple belt.

If you have the service manual, it should give you an idea of the belt size and numbers.
 
When I owned that model of lathe, I ended up buying my replacement belts from directly Sears. They were pricey, but they fit. And I don't recall the length, but they were indeed about 1 inch wide.

Also, somewhere here on the forum, I've posted a few tips and tricks for replacing the belts on that lathe. (Someone else went through this process not too long ago, but I've slept since then and erased the memory banks.) :rolleyes: :D
 
OK, here's one that deals with the drive belt (as opposed to the Reeves drive belt). It does show how I removed the Reeves drive parts without shooting the spring across the street:

http://familywoodworking.org/forums/showthread.php?2537-It-s-Alive!

And here's a handy article by Darrel Feltmate on the subject:

http://aroundthewoods.com/lathemaintenance.html

And a few more I found in another thread here on the forum:

http://familywoodworking.org/forums/showthread.php?1386-Got-The-Reeves-Drive-Fixed

http://familywoodworking.org/forums...1-217150-Lathe-s-Variable-speed-control-broke

http://familywoodworking.org/forums/showthread.php?15986-Lathe-problems/page2
 
Thanks Guys, and Ma'am!

The issue with simply measuring this belt is that it is a cog belt running on cogged sprockets. Gates in their wisdom offers about a half a dozen different cog belt and sprocket sets and they aren't compatible with each other. The belt either won't work at all or will self destruct in short order if it doesn't match the teeth on my sprockets.

Vaughn, many thanks for the links. I am an old hand at working on the Reeves drive at this point, fourth or fifth trip in, but swapping out the drive belt is digging a little deeper. Probably just daydreaming but I don't think I have to disassemble the spring loaded sprocket to get to this belt. I have been able to remove the outer half of the bottom sheave and slip the variable speed drive belt off to work on the bottom in the past.

Sent Phyllis an e-mail. I'll follow up with a call tomorrow if I don't get a response. I like giving numbers and such in writing so there are no mistakes. This could work out well for me. A cousin owns a bed and breakfast just above Lafayette at Grand Coteau and has accepted a short term position about twenty-five miles away from where I live. I might be able to get hand delivery! Was planning to give my cousin a nice bowl or hollow vessel to go in the bed and breakfast anyway.

Hu
 
up and running finally!

My belts for the lathe arrived in two working days. They were in a nice package with a pen, a quality mint in a wrapper that said "thank you" on the outside, a business card, and both the invoice and credit card receipt. Most importantly it was the right belt, I ordered two on the assumption I would never need a spare if I had one on hand. At that two including shipping were just a bit cheaper than what one would have cost me somewhere else.

Thank You Phyllis, beltsforanything.com Nice to be giving an attaboy, um, attagirl! seems more common to be complaining about rotten service or poor quality.

Thanks Carol too, Phyllis was a pleasure to deal with.

Hu
 
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