Restoring wooden lineshaft pulleys (Advice needed)

Hi all,

With much help from several members here, I have been working towards my goal of setting up a lineshaft to power my collection of antique machinery.

I have the shaft up and am sorting out the pulleys. My original intent was to use some of the metal pulleys I have collected but I now realize they are all off counter shafts and the bores are too small for the lineshaft. The hubs are not big enough to bore out to the 1-15/16 diameter of the lineshaft. I have a dozen or so wooden pulleys of the correct sizes that were on the lineshafts when I took them down. And here is where I need advice:

The pulleys I have are fairly rough. I would love to restore these and use them but I have limited woodworking skills. Looking at the pictures some appear to be in good shape just needing a good clean (how?) and some light machining? Others need some re-gluing? Is there some kind of thin glue you can brush on that will soak in and adhere everything together? Or do I have to completely disassemble them and rebuild like a jigsaw puzzle?

Thanks as always for all the help,

Nathan

Looks like they may have been wet.
From a functional and not historical perspective, I would saturate them with fiberglass resin. It soaks in decent, fills voids and will give a nice surface finish.

once they are installed on the line shaft, you can fix the out of roundness.. with a belt sander, and a steady rest to support said belt sander. don't make it more complicated than it needs to be.

if they are really that bad you could turn them on a wood lathe, or set up a steady rest to turn them with a wood turning tool after installed on lineshaft., a 1" steel pipe clamped as close to the pulley as possible should be enough support to hold a wood turning tool.

agree regarding fiberglass resin.

I hadn’t thought about the resin. That’s a great idea. An thoughts on how to degrease them?

You can see light through the seams, so those need more than a soak in resin to be safe. They need vacuum infusion and then a proper clamp up. I'd even consider a wrap of fiberglass cloth around the outside.

allan

There are epoxy resins made especially for penetrating wood. I think one of them is called "Git-rot". You could also check out companies that supply boatbuilders - e.g. Jamestown Distributors.

Great, thanks!

I was wondering about the one with the open seams. It make just need to be cleaned up and put on the wall for looks. Luckily I have a bunch of these.

As for degreasing and refinishing these? Any recommendations?

Thanks!

You can soak them in a solvent or brush lots of solvent on them so they are wet with it, then rub them with dry corn meal. Solvent dissolves the gunk/grease, corn meal absorbs the solvent and what is dissolved into it - literally sucks it out of the wood, then the solvent evaporates leaving the gunk/grease in the corn meal. Do it outside with lots of ventilation and no ignition sources near by.

I've had okay luck removing the loose sections around the rims, cleaning them, gluing them back together with Tightbond 2 and screwing them back in place with long screws well into the rim. Use countersunk flat heads--not lags. If you have heads sticking up and the belt comes off, it's more likely to wrap and tangle and wreck the belt on the heads. Then I like to brush them with linseed oil until they quit soaking it in. I'm no woodworker though. The one you show is really aged and dry, so don't expect it to pull much--maybe half it's rated power, and no sudden stops or starts. (H.P. of a horizontal flat belt = fpm ÷ 600 X belt width in inches. Divide that by 2 for a vertical belt.)

If you need to change its crown (flat to crown or visa versa) you can turn it right on the line shaft with a hand held lathe tool. Just make a rest out of whatever works, with the rest close to the pulley like you'd do in a lathe. I've had some that were really abrasive--probably from grit embedded in the wood--and wore the tool down right away. If that happens, just weld a handle on a brazed carbide lathe tool, and it'll work fine. That's what I've done anyway.

For the hub, the originals were wood for wooden pulleys, but I've found that PVC works well. One of the problems with wooden pulleys here in Michigan is that they change diameter with the seasons and slip. PVC hubs are a little better. A wooden pulley won't carry as much load as a metal pulley anyway, because it can't grip the shaft as tightly. The wood crushes. It limits the shaft's HP transmission though, not the belt's. You probably know that, since you wanted metal ones in the first place.

Hope this helps.

Joel

I have an old Audel's Millwrights Handbook that says you can wrap pulley rims in leather for added strength and traction (fuzz side out). Leathers not cheap, but you can lace it up tight and make it "correct." Otherwise, I like the resin idea. I have a couple wooden pulleys at home that will help with my tool & cutter grinder set-up and I was planning on saturating them in varnish, but they are in better shape.

A few great suggestions. I have a couple that look solid and a little sandpaper cleaned them up. The ones that are coming apart a little I think I’ll see if I can take them apart and re-glue them.

Where would one get leather for this if I wanted to try that?

Thanks,

Nathan

DeSelle said:

Where would one get leather for this if I wanted to try that?

Thanks,

Nathan

Click to expand...

This is one place that specializes in all sorts of leather flat belts:
Any size flat drive belts by Al Bino Industrial Belting | Machine belts supplier

Weaver Leather Supply - Leathercrafting and Leatherworking Supplies
Leather and Leather Hides | Tandy Leather
The leather belting used in old school power transmission is technically a specific kind made just for the application, but I've had good results with thick chrome or veg tan leather such as would be used for saddle and harness work. You might be able to find a maker near you that could cut you some solid strips of the right circumference. I'd use a heavy linen thread to stitch it together. I mentioned you want the "fuzz" or flesh side out, because that side is stretchier than the top side so the covering will last longer. Same principal is true when you're making your flat belts.

One other option would be to find a company that builds saddle tree's (the wooden frame a saddle is made around). They were made for years by lacing raw-hide around the wood and letting it dry. It gets stronger as it drys and it shrinks drawing everything together. More modern ones are made with resin and fiberglass over wood cores, but we're after the same principle here: pulling the wood tight together and giving it a solid but natural coating. The pulleys are of course a different shape, but most saddle tree companies routinely process saddle trees that are being re-built for an old saddle.
PrecisionSaddleTree-Design This one used to be local to us before we moved. Not sure if they'd take on such an odd-job or what it would cost.

I've seen wounded pulleys wrapped in rubber belting too (flat belt stuff). A lot of cracked cast pulleys had that treatment--belt riveted on.

I wonder if a body could wrap each half of the pulley, around the edges into the split on each half. Screw it and glue it? That way it would be clamped at the seams, and you'd be able to take it apart to move it some day. You'd have to trim each half of the pulley at the split of course, so it would still come together round. Just a thought. Never done it.

I get leather on Ebay. Wait for a deal though, and don't be in a hurry.