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Belt Length Variability

MatthewL

Plastic
Joined
Jun 27, 2018
Location
Houston
Hi,

I am moving my South Bend 9c from my old workbench to a new, sturdy butcher block bench. I made my old bench 33" wide, and I regrettably made my new bench 30" wide. The bench is up against a wall, and now it seems I can't mount my horizontal drive countershaft without hitting the wall. The belt I have been using is 53" long, and that is about 6" longer than what it needs to be so the countershaft pulley won't hit the wall. I have been trying to figure out how best to solve the issue, and it seems the only way is to cut the belt tensioner rod a couple inches shorter. Will this interfere with the locking of the tensioner? Is there another way to shorten the distance between the countershaft and the lathe? I would like to avoid modifying any original part.

Thanks,
-Matthew
 
So pull the bench out from the wall---no shame in that.

I don't see why you couldn't shorten the links in the tensioner though. But you may want to remove equal amounts from each to keep the toggle mechanism centered in the linkage so the lever doesn't hit something.
 
Make new legs for the turnbuckle if you need to, it's just a left and right hand thread and a couple bends.
While you are at it perhaps investigate the possibility of putting the countershaft on a riser block...that would even make it easier to change belt position too.
 








 
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