Gates Drive belt after 8 months

[a1gutterman]

Whoops! Calendars have always been troublesome for me! And it's worse now-a-days. At my age all time/date things seems to run amuck.

There it's fixed! Thanks Tim!:D

Darn!!! I was so hoping for a way to acquire more time!

[JPG]

. . . My first diameter measurement of that belt was 7/16". Most of the belt's diameter however is 15/16"
. . . .

The Diameter of the Gates belt decreased from 29/64" (0.447") to 15/32" (0.461") in approximately 125 hours of use

Please explain the dimensions in both statements above. They are inconsistant/confusing to me. I assume you are referring to the width at the outer edge(circumference). 29/64 and 15/32 do not equal .447 and .461. 7/16 to 15/32 is a very large deviation.

[charlese]

Please explain the dimensions in both statements above. They are inconsistant/confusing to me. I assume you are referring to the width at the outer edge(circumference). 29/64 and 15/32 do not equal .447 and .461. 7/16 to 15/32 is a very large deviation.

That's the problem with trying to give exact measurements. As soon as I took off the Gates belt, I measured the width with my caliper. It measured 7/16". Then I marked the outside of the belt at 1 inch increments and measured at each mark. My noted show there were 4 consecutive inches where the belt width was 7/16" wide. The rest of the belt showed 29/64".

Above the 1st photo, I inadvertently reversed the before and after measurements. The unused belt measured 15/32" and 0.461" on my caliper. The belt I took off of the machine measured (mostly) 29/64" and 0.447". A decrease of 0.014" or 1/16".

Hope this clears up the confusion. Perhaps the decimal conversions are not exact, but they are what my caliper read.

The inside circumference decreased by the same amount. Because of the scuffs on the inside of that belt, I had suspected more wear on the center edges that the outside edges. However that just didn't happen.

[dusty]

That's the problem with trying to give exact measurements. As soon as I took off the Gates belt, I measured the width with my caliper. It measured 7/16". Then I marked the outside of the belt at 1 inch increments and measured at each mark. My noted show there were 4 consecutive inches where the belt width was 7/16" wide. The rest of the belt showed 29/64".

Above the 1st photo, I inadvertently reversed the before and after measurements. The unused belt measured 15/32" and 0.461" on my caliper. The belt I took off of the machine measured (mostly) 29/64" and 0.447". A decrease of 0.014" or 1/16".

Hope this clears up the confusion. Perhaps the decimal conversions are not exact, but they are what my caliper read.

The inside circumference decreased by the same amount. Because of the scuffs on the inside of that belt, I had suspected more wear on the center edges that the outside edges. However that just didn't happen.

What is the final conclusion? Are the belts performing satisfactorily? Is the wear over eight months excessive?

[JPG]

. . . . The unused belt measured 15/32" and 0.461" on my caliper. The belt I took off of the machine measured (mostly) 29/64" and 0.447". A decrease of 0.014" or 1/16".
. . .
Hope this clears up the confusion. Perhaps the decimal conversions are not exact, but they are what my caliper read. . . .

MOSTLY! However, the last time I checked:p 1/16" was 0.0625".

I have concluded that your calipers give the 'exact' decimal measurement and indicate the "NEAREST" fractional inch dimension. Thus they are NOT an exact conversion.

In any event your corrections have been enlightening and I think I understand the 'situation'. Having Only recently(WITHIN THE PAST COUPLE OF YEARS) replaced my ORIGINAL drive / poly-v belts, I consider 125 hrs life to be poor performance.
BTW the 'new' drive belt was a 'flat top' greater(barely) than 1/2" wide belt resembling the 'goodyear' belts you have shown.

YES my poly v belt HAD been slipping for quite a while!:D

[bucksaw]

Did the Gates belt come from Shopsmith or is that an after market replacement?

[charlese]

Rather than trying to clear up much more confusion over my math and measurements - today, I checked my caliper and found that each 64th of an inch contains .015". For example: 15/64" has a range (expressed in thousandths) of from .024 to .039. While the decimal equivalent chart shows the correct decimal to be 0.234375".

Now to the .014" measurement; - - It should have read 1/64" rather than 1/16". My bad - copying error from my notes.

Now for the assessment of the gates power belt: I was going to leave this up to the group, as I have already said too many bad things about it - however my errors in posting measurements make this tough. So here goes:-

It was a choice made by Shopsmith to replace the Goodyear belt they have been using for years. According to Nick's findings, Goodyear wanted Shopsmith to order a huge quantity of belts when Shopsmith requested re-stocking. Given the financial situation - and being told by engineers that the Gates belt was the equivalent of those they had been buying from Goodyear, Shopsmith opted for the Gates belt. Understandable!

When I first received a Gates belt, I was flabbergasted by the smaller width of the belt and imperfections in it. It had noticeable bulges in the side surfaces, most notedly at the joint. I also noticed the smaller cords, the crowned outside surface and the concave taper of the sides.

The Goodyear belt, stamped with a Shopsmith brand, has larger cords, straight tapered sides and is firmer, (or more solid feeling) The Shopsmith/Goodyear belt when new measures over 1/2". The Gates belt is narrower than 1/2".

My concern was the Gates belt was not especially made for operation in a variable clutch system, and would not last long in that application. However, Nick's reported to us that through his telephone research with engineers, he had found the Gates belt met all requirements for the variable clutches in the Mark V.

So I sliced off the bulges from my first belt and put it on the machine. The rest of the story is that it was getting to only 7/16" wide after an estimated 125 hours. This is a VERY SHORT TIME!!!:( . As said earlier, the Shopsmith/Goodyear belt had about a year on it when I replaced it with the Gates, as a test. I now have 3 good power/drive belts. My plan is to use the current Goodyear/Shopsmith belt until it wears down to 7/16" According to belt history on my machine this should take several years. BTW, the area where the bulges were sliced off are remaining as the widest parts of that belt.

I have been thinking of sending my used Gates belt to Shopsmith for assessment, but as previously reported, maybe Shopsmith has been able to negotiate for more Goodyear belts, containing their Shopsmith name. I do need to give them a telephone call.

[JPG]

I could not help but notice when going to "GOODYEAR.COM" the absence of any reference to belts!

[dusty]

I could not help but notice when going to "GOODYEAR.COM" the absence of any reference to belts!

http://www.goodyearep.com/ProductsSubCa ... lderid=502

from Goodyear.com

http://partfinderhd.veyance.com/

[JPG]

http://partfinderhd.veyance.com/

from Goodyear.com

Let me rephrase that! No reference to NON-AUTOMOTIVE (industrial) belts.