Cut and Paste V-belts to the Right Size

check out

www.mcmaster.com

They have what you call a link belt

I liked the urethane welding kit. But as others aid, I have to check if the strength of the belt suffers too much.

Yes,you can buy a vulcanizing tool for just that purpose.It consists of a precision cutting tool and an electrical iron it heat the ends. Sorry but I'm not sure of the manufacturer.

Thats more of a rubber cording used for transfer conveyors. Check conveyor belt vendors. the have the v-belt type material, as well as cording

I don't think it would be possible.

The last time I had a close look I think v-belts had strengthening cords running round on the wide part of the belt. parallel to the wide face.

Splicing and vulcanizing would join them but leave a weaker part at the joint. which will dramatically reduce the transmitted power.

Google belt splicing kits

I believe belt splicing is a form of cutting-knitting-vulcanizing that applies only to conveyor belts and not to power drive belts.

Please someone correct me if I am wrong.

I have worked with belts that had a built in splice that was a metal pivot point. This was because it was impossible to put a belt on the two pulleys without cutting a support brace and rewelding it.

This was on a brunswick pinsetter(bowling machine).

It transmitted quite a bit of power thru the spliced belt.

I have seen the hollow tube belts sold as emergency belts. I have also seen the segmented belts that are red in Mc Masters book. The ones that I had seen were used to drive old bowling machines.

These designs will not transmit as much power as the reinforced designs used on automobiles. With proper selections, we have 0, or almost 0 slippage, even with high shock loads like air conditioning compressors. I do not think you can get the designs shown to transmit that much torque. Good luck.

Thank you for the experienced insight.

to male the loop that gives the belt strength many turns of the correct fiber are wound to create a belt with a v peak in the middle (inside). This is then place in a cavity that shapes it and provides an internal frame work of heat vulcanized rubber. It is then place in a larger cavity and more added to make the final shape. This avoids any internal fibers getting too close to the surface. If you get an old brittle belt that has broken you will be able to see this.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belt_(mechanical)

Years ago, they even repaired v-belts, using what looked like a big staple. Just don't load it heavy or run it fast. In farming you did what you could to squeeze every last ounce of life out of stuff. There was only leather cement glue, the belts were cloth-backed rubber. There was also belt dressing to try to keep them from slipping and squealing.

That was flat belts not v-belts

Even V-Belts believe it or not. I've also seen tiny little plates screwed and pinned to the top of a normal size V.Belt.

Necessity, in the middle of no where with nothing to loose by trying brings strainge results at times...

I heard of one hot rodder using cut up a woman's panty hose as a temperory fan belt.

Form follows function.

Gussossa, Cut and Paste V-belts to the Right Size Is It possible to join the belt? Yes. I currently maintain a piece of machinery ca.1900 that uses just such a belt. It runs off of a 1250 RPM motor with a 6 inch pulley, the belt is around 12 feet long and is 3/8 inch wide. We purchase kits that have the belting and two small fish plates with 3 mm screws & nuts. The assembly process is simple, cut the belting to length, match up the two ends, lay a fish plate on either the top or bottom of the belting and use the hole in each end of the plate as a guide to drill the two holes thru the belting. Insert screws and install nuts, these should be poly-lock or use removable Locktite on threads if not. One plate has threads cut, place this one on top of the belt and bring the screws in from the bottom. This type of end joining is only good for low speed, low load applications and will last many years in production if things are done correctly. You will have to be the judge as to the suitability of this method of joining the ends, it can be used to make a belt for marine and automotive applications in an emergency but you should run at a reduced load to the closest place of safety. I hope you find this of some benefit if only to show that this has been done for many years. J.conway

Gussosa, Be vary wary of most of these replies for as much as I hate to be the one say it, apparently we have a lot of people that have no hands on experience and absolutely no idea what they are telling you, I think they only cut & paste answers and not belts. Granted one or two are right on. Any belt modified or made this way can only be for light load, low speed applications and well guarded for the sake of safety. As you know a v-belt depends on the bulge created on each side when wrapped around a pulley to create its grip and once the cords in the belt are cut you would never be able to apply sufficient tension to perform anything but the lightest load. As for belt dressing this product should be eliminated for it creates slippage, if you think you need it what you really need is a new belt. This is a good example of those who can do and those who can't teach. Put safety above all else. J.Conway

Some of us are old enough to have used segmented vee belting. A vee belt built up using flat segments about 2 inches in length held together with rivets, length totally adjustable, and, up to a common sense point, as long as one might need. Only used to be available in "A" and "B" section. Worked fine if not overloaded or overtensioned. What's your load? Can't think of the name brand just now but you could try Googling 'segmented vee belting',or sim.

Stu.

Because of the reinforcing cords which carry the tension in the belt which transmits the power needed, it needs to be joined in a similar way to a conveyore belt.

The join is made as a "v", exposing the cords of 1 ply to the bottom of the cord.

a similar cut is done for each ply.

Plies are then overlapped and cords of each level brought alonside each other.

The entire thing is then enclosed between halves of a die and a special rubber "glue" inserted and vulcanized in place.

The resultant join is as strong as the original belt.

Doing it is tedious, time consuming and requires special equipment, although you could readily make the gear needed.

Of course if you don't require a full strength belt, a good rubber cement may do the job without having to expose and overlap cords.

Depends on how arduous your application as to how much trouble you have to go to.

It is not possible to cut and join v belt. Once the cords get cut.whatever kind of joint we do it is not possible to get even a fraction of the original strength. In coveyor belts it is possible to remove one layer of fabric in each end and splice them together to get resonably good strength. Similarly,in flat transmission belts, we can skive the ends and and the oriented polyamide inside can be glued and joined in a heating press. But in v belts the cords cannot be seperated in layers. Once the cords are cut , the strength at that point becomes zero .Hope people who make v belts will be able to provide you better answer.

Forget it unless you can figure out how to connect the reinforcing strands on the belt OD. You cannot possibly bond the strands.

I agree with the guest (and contrary to Mr Conway) can confirm by
regular hands-on (many years ago) of using staples in machine belts.

Both in 2-6 inch wide belts, used over flat wheels, and single staples
of approx. 1/8 inch steel, as "clips" in 1/2 inch+ round leather belts, to
maintain sewing machines. These staples were made and folded over
by hand after making a small round hole either end of the belt material.

As would be expected the "life" of the belt was consistent with the
quality of the join, their fit to, and the power of, the machines.
This was standard procedure (hands-on) although new and other
commercial ways of joining belts now likely exist.

jt.

You can also try "Brammer" V belts available on this site http://www.linkbeltindia.com. These belts are availble in rolls and you can easliy join them as per your required size.

Yeah!! That's the one.

Stu.

Sure it is possible as noted above, but doing it with any real success will be time consuming. these days, down time is usually the most expensive part of any repair. If you were to study all factors, you would probably decide to purchase high quality belts, be sure tension is correct and equipment is aligned properly to ensure good service until your scheduled maintenance period.

If you do decide to do this it would help to be sure the sheaves are as large of a diameter as is practical to reduce over flexing the vulcanized joint.

By now you are aware that you will not have as much power transfer ability with the joined belt method. With that on the table, allow me to add this; "O" ring splicing is a common procedure. It is done with nothing more than crazy glue. If your requirements are limited, you might be able to splice with an instant glue.

Bobc, I have done this many times but think about what an o-ring typically does, when they are used as a band the amount of work they do is very limited. J.Conway

I have never had to do the splicing trick (yet) with an O ring. But I see them sold very commonly. I have some rotating lights that transmit power by an O ring. The small size of the motor pulley would make me think a spliced O ring would fail soon. But in a compression state, I would not be afraid to try it if the need arises.

Hi gussosa,

It is certainly possible to cut & stick both ends. There are many types chemical adhesives available in the market like cynoacrylates. You may have to select the right type. Make sure that the shear strength is well within your requirement.

Any such joint is always a weak one. I suggest that you may try one or two samples before buying big rolls.

Good Luck

Rangasamy

Thanks. Just sent them an email. I am located in South America, so I am reluctant to make phone calls just in case.

hi i am a fisher man at sea .there are no passing places if you break down there is a .belt called link belting it comes in 4 diffrent widths as far as i know 3 are orange . in calor one in blue . its the best stuff ever made what ever lenth you want how to use it . put it round crank water pump altanater two ends 2 inchs apart loop it off joine .it turn over the engine by hand and spring it over the altanator its tight run it .for a week then tighten it up useing . the space on the altanator its a get me home life saver. on a boat ok its not great to keep on the altanator because it may slip .a bit but for deack hose and other drives it will out last eny rubber belt its exspencif but well worth it . we think its fantastic ok by by

There used to be a thick walled tubular polyurethane belt made which you cut to length and joined with a piece of solid metal jammed into the tube center.

I think it was capable of only A section power.

I have never used it and would tend to think of it as being an emergency spare to be able to be used on any of numerous drives until a proper replacement could be obtained.

I last read of it years ago and can't remember the name.

I called a local belts supplier and asked about an urethane welding kit, and he told me he doesn't offer them, but he has one in the workshop.

That leads me to think welded belts are quite common around, but we don't really know they are. I can imagine the guy making a B14 out a B26 to satisfy an urgent order from a customer.

Maybe as long as it is a pure urethane belt and not one reinforced with wire or other fibers, it works just fine.

Is any of you a belts manufacturer or retailer?