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Where to buy round rubber belting online? So far, I have one or two possibilities, McMaster-Carr and Cadence Supply Company.
Also. How can you tell the minimum pulley outer diameter of a rubber belt? McMaster-Carr says that their 3/16 inch rubber belts have a minimum pulley diameter of 1 1/2 inches. Is there some rule, like a belt that is twice as thick requires a pulley that is twice as wide?
Any other information about rubber belting is appreciated. Like resources for gluing the ends together. I will check YouTube.
I might need round rubber belting that is non-reinforced. So that the ends can be connected together to make the correct size belt. Then again, the belt breaking could be very unpleasant since I am planning to use it as an inline skate tank style tread. But I would love to find out what it's like, so it can be tested carefully at first.
The rubber that's used for skate wheels might do. I think it's typical polyurethane. I think flexibility will affect rolling resistance, like where the rubber goes around the end pulleys. Flexibility varies with belt diameter. Apparently the polyurethane belt diameter versus minimum pulley diameter looks something like this.
Also, whether UHMW plastic pulleys will be good enough for the wheels, or whether a bearing(s) is necessary. Apparently idler pulleys include bearings. Or maybe something can be grooved and pushed onto an ordinary skate bearing for the inner pulleys. Gluing an o-ring or something similar onto each side of the bearing might work for tracking the belt. The front wheel diameter might be 5 or 6 inches. The rear wheel might need to be large just so the belting has a larger pulley to wrap around.
Also possible is to use a tank style tread only for the trailing wheels. That might require a more flexible rubber band/belt. That would be less cumbersome than routing the belt from the rear wheel forward to the front wheel. It might allow doing away with large rear wheel too. And not using a tank tread for the front wheel might be less dangerous (at some point). But... Using the front and rear wheels as part of the tank tread provides a larger pulley diameter on the ends.
Probably a large heavy duty O-ring would fit the bill. There would be no joints to worry about and O-rings are produced in a wide variety of materials. Possibly use a poly rope run around your pulleys to get a measurement.
If McMaster has it-- then quit shopping and order them. I love those guys. Their nearest warehouse [NJ] is about a 4 hour drive from me. I just ordered some stuff thursday evening about 6pm--- arrived in my driveway at 11AM Fri- $5 shipping. Cheaper than the gas to drive to HD.
They also have great customer service with folks who perish the thought] know more about their stuff than most of us out here on Usenet.
Probably even know the answer to that one.
I *hate* the phone. But I'd make an exception in this case if I was in your shoes.
Look for power twist v-belt on Amazon. Makes up to any length you want, reinforced urethane or something similar, ought to wear long time on an an inline skate. Using one on my table saw, pulling 1 1/2 HP on a single pulley. $35 or so, should give you maybe four usable pieces.
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