Shopsmith Forums

Culprit wrote:It has been said, but I don't know firsthand, that the Harbor Freight ones are harder than the Fenner brand Power Twist Link Belts, and will cause more wear on the aluminum sheaves (see Bill Mayo's previous posts).

The Fenner brand is available through Amazon, Rockler, and Woodcraft to name a few.

Thanks! That's what I needed to know.

Fred

I think you can get them at Grainger as well.

I checked Grainger in town & their price for the Fenner Link-belts is about $10.00/foot with a minimum of 5 foot section.
I also stopped at my local Harbor Freight Store & foung a 5' section of Accu-link by Jason Industrial for $24.00 less a 20% coupon discount, so about $19.00. I figure at that price, I'll give it a try. Not having actually seen the Fenner belts, I wondered how they compare in design & I found a page with some useful comments on the Harbor Freight link belt.http://www.paragoncode.com/shop/link_belts/

I have only used the red/orange (I'm somewhat color-blind) PowerTwist link belt (35 links) on the Shopsmith and all my other belt driven equipment. Never tried any green link belts. I found a little spray of belt conditioner helps reduce most noises you may get from using link or V belts. Never tried any solid stick belt dressing on the Shopsmith belts but used it many years ago on car and machinery belts.

I just finished installing the HF link style belt, which is actually an Accu-Link belt which appears to made in the US. The $19.00 price gets enough for 2 MK5 belts & about a dozen links left over.

It runs very smooth & quiet (an improvement over the regular belt I replaced which really wasn't worn out) & doesn't scuff the shieves that I can see. It was easy to size, so my initial reaction after my test run is that it's a good alternative to consider.