I've never shared this mod before, never thought about it, but it may help someone..
My lathe has a V belt pulley drive and uses two belts: one for the lower three speeds the other for the top three speeds. I know there are a number of Asian bench top lathes that use a similar system,
The system for changing belts was a PITA, one had to undo an allen head bolt in the idler pulley, to drop the ider out of the way, remove one belt and replace with another, then retension the ider and tighten the allen head bolt. It all took time and the wife could hear hear me swearing inside. So I put the noggin to work to find a better idea: The first mod was simple, I just replaced the allen head bolt with a bicycle seat post lever, so no tool needed. But, forever the tinkler, I eventually came up with a better system. I attached an anchor arm at the back of the lathe, Made up another idler arm and bush and welded an arm to to it, then strung a long spring between the anchor arm and the lever.
To change gears, simpy pull the lever forward, attach the little hook you see in the picture, change belts then releae the lever. Any able bodied peron could get away without using the hook to hold the lever in position, but my fingers are fused and my elbow joint is long gone, so, I need all the help I can get. This is probably one of the best mods I've made to my lathe, changing belts now takes all of two seconds - and, no swearing and cursing required, you can save that for other, more deserving, jobs!
It does mean you have to either modify the cover on the left side of the lathe, or remove it, but, who the hell uses that cover anyway, I don't even know if I still have that cover, haven't seen it for years!
Sorry about the pic, you can't see the tensioning arm, but it looks similar to the first one, just has a long arm welded on it.
My lathe has a V belt pulley drive and uses two belts: one for the lower three speeds the other for the top three speeds. I know there are a number of Asian bench top lathes that use a similar system,
The system for changing belts was a PITA, one had to undo an allen head bolt in the idler pulley, to drop the ider out of the way, remove one belt and replace with another, then retension the ider and tighten the allen head bolt. It all took time and the wife could hear hear me swearing inside. So I put the noggin to work to find a better idea: The first mod was simple, I just replaced the allen head bolt with a bicycle seat post lever, so no tool needed. But, forever the tinkler, I eventually came up with a better system. I attached an anchor arm at the back of the lathe, Made up another idler arm and bush and welded an arm to to it, then strung a long spring between the anchor arm and the lever.
To change gears, simpy pull the lever forward, attach the little hook you see in the picture, change belts then releae the lever. Any able bodied peron could get away without using the hook to hold the lever in position, but my fingers are fused and my elbow joint is long gone, so, I need all the help I can get. This is probably one of the best mods I've made to my lathe, changing belts now takes all of two seconds - and, no swearing and cursing required, you can save that for other, more deserving, jobs!
It does mean you have to either modify the cover on the left side of the lathe, or remove it, but, who the hell uses that cover anyway, I don't even know if I still have that cover, haven't seen it for years!
Sorry about the pic, you can't see the tensioning arm, but it looks similar to the first one, just has a long arm welded on it.
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