Thread: Gates gt 2 powergrip cog pulley tooth form

Does anyone know where I can find the Gates gt 2 power grip pulley tooth profile specs? I looked on thier website but they are not published. They have the O.D. and the pitch diameter but thats it.

This will help, but you will need to do some work. And it will only get you close.
Low backlash-high-torque power transmission system and toothed belt used therein
The GT2 profile is a proprietary design, so the profile is not readily available. HTD is very close to the GT2. If you are going to make a few sprockets, why not use something close unless it is a critical part or you are matching an existing belt? HTD hobs and shapers are available. You probably are aware of all this, but without knowing more details, thats about as close as you are going to get.

Did you try calling them up ?

I had to make a custom pulley for a replacement job, using one of
their belt profiles, and rang them up in Colorado.

The engineer was very helpfull, and sent me the profile, to which
I drew in cad, sent to mastercam, and had it wire e.d.m. ed out.

Originally Posted by surfit

Does anyone know where I can find the Gates gt 2 power grip pulley tooth profile specs? I looked on thier website but they are not published. They have the O.D. and the pitch diameter but thats it.

Hoo boy... I have been HERE. You want the long or the short story?

Here's the short story -
You can BUY it. Period. Go to the Gates web store and you can purchase the profile and formulas for hundreds of dollars. It's been more than a year since I went through this, so don't recall the specific amounts and I'm too lazy to go look it up myself. Basically, they will sell you the formulas, or an optical comparator overlay, or both, for differing amounts. (all of which were stupid dollars if one is only making onesie/twosies) I spent A LOT of time talking to their engineers on the phone and in email. There were two that went out of their way and were very helpful. The bottom line? You can figure it out for yourself by using the OD's and the pitch, as well as the details of the belt profile within the white papers offered on the Gates website, and then compare your calculations to the CAD models they so nicely allow you to download... That's what I did when I made my own pulleys. I made mine on my Bridgeport using my slotting head. Good luck!

EDIT -
During my conversations, it was relayed by more than a few people that the HTD and GT2 are the same. I'll have to try and dig up my notes for any more info.

I'm told by Gates people that GT2 came about because the HTD patents ran out and they needed a new tooth profile that was not public domain. They say the GT2 belts will run OK on HTD pulleys but not the other way around. GT2 belts are stronger than HTD belts, but they need the GT2 tooth profile on the pulleys to achieve their ultimate strength advantage over HTD.


A friend building a dyno received a spreadsheet with XY coordinates to wire EDM a pulley from an engineer. The engineer later told him that was confidential info and that he should not have sent it to him. Find the right guy and you can learn a lot.


We run GT2 belts on HTD pulley profiles w/no problems.

Really stretching the detritus here, but I seem to recall that the tooth profile was created by overlapping the radius of each side of the tooth, by .003" each side, past centerline. I'll dig out my notes tomorrow if you don't already have an answer by then.

If you guys want the details, just click on the link in my 1st reply- it's all in the patent.
By the way, the patent for the GT2 belt was issued in 1985-last I checked a patent is good for 7 years.