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Belts used in a Shopsmith headstock

Posted: Wed Mar 01, 2017 6:15 pm
by JPG
There are three types of belts used in a Mark5/V headstock.

The motor belt(connects the motor pulley[floating sheave and fan sheave pair] on the motor shaft to the idler pulley[idler sheave and control sheave]) is a special length(25.5") belt that is slightly wider than a 1/2"(4L) 38° "V" belt.

The idler shaft and main drive shaft have either a Gilmer pulley or a Poly-v pulley.

The Gilmer belt is a cogged belt similar to an automotive timing belt.

The Poly-v belt is as the name implies and is essentially multiple mini v-belts side by side. An automotive 'serpentine' belt is an example.

All three are 'drive belts'.

The Mark7 / Power pro headstock drive belts consist of a poly-v belt connecting a pulley on the motor shaft to the idler shaft and a second poly-v belt that connects the idler shaft to the drive sleeve.

Re: Quick question of link belts and the shopsmith

Posted: Thu Mar 02, 2017 10:41 am
by db5
[/quote] Wait, db5, you replaced the drive belt with the link belt or did you actually replace the poly V belt with the link belt?[/quote]

Mia culpa. Thanks for the correction. I replaced the drive belt.