What am I doing wrong with the a link belt?

[JasonMichael]

Hi everyone, thanks for the amazing resource. I just bought an old ShopSmith that I've restored and I'm stumped.

Following Bill Mayo's (R.I.P.) advice, I decided to replace the belt with a link belt. Got mine from Harbor Freight. 35 links made it way bigger than the OEM belt, so I settled on 32, which was a near-perfect match for the diameter.

But the noise and vibrations with the link belt are far worse than the OEM belt (which was in amazing condition). Shouldn't it be better? I'd try it with the recommended 35 links but I'm worried about what a loose belt might do.

Thanks for your help!

Warmly,
Jason

[JasonMichael]

I'll add that when I used the link belt and turned the machine up to 90% speed, I tripped a breaker. No issues with the OEM belt.

[jsburger]

I'll add that when I used the link belt and turned the machine up to 90% speed, I tripped a breaker. No issues with the OEM belt.

What SS model? Link belts are not all they are cracked up to be in some applications.

[JasonMichael]

Model V 500. A.O. Smith motor.

Also note that the belt was installed in the correct orientation per the instructions.

[jsburger]

Model V 500.

Link belts will not work in any SS head stock. The Reeves drive in the SS requires a proper V belt.

Where did you get the info from Bill Mayo for a link belt in a SS head stock?

[JasonMichael]

He mentions it here: viewtopic.php?t=11321
And here: viewtopic.php?t=6840

Rereading it, I also see that there's some breaking in up to 20 hours (!) of use. Makes me wonder about the value of a link belt vs. using more OEM belts and replacing as needed.

[db5]

Very interesting! I picked up a 510 about the time Bill Mayo posted this. The first thing I did was do a complete alignment and maintenance. I replaced the belt with a HF link belt. It was much better than the original. Could it be that HF link belts now are not the same as then?

[JasonMichael]

Update for posterity: after a few experiments, I removed another link (bringing the total to 31) and now she purrs. Apparently YMMV when it comes to the number of links.