POWER TWIST V BELTS ?

[Searcher]

ANyone here use FENNER DRIVES Power twist V belt plus?

I understand that it is made for woodworking machines and is designed to elimnate vibration

Searcher

[tom]

Yep. Got one on the lathe, and the bandsaw awaits. Tom

[Ba r r y]

Yup.

I've used them on band saws, jointers, contractors saws. If it vibrates, they might solve problems.

[Searcher]

My idea is to put it on my table saw. sound good?

Thanks Searcher

[chuck]

Sure. But "eliminate" kind of exaggerates. "Noticeably reduce" is a more realistic expectation.

Chuck

Searcher wrote:

[Steve DeMars]

Got one on my Delta X5 Contractor - smoothes it out . . . . definite difference . . .

[Darrell Dorsey]

What kind of table saw. I used them on my old Jet CS saw. But not on my Delta Unisaw? The consensus seems to be not on Cabinet saws with multiple belts. Although I have some on a Grizzly 8" jointer with two belts. And have no problems. The did reduce a lot of vibration but the stock belts were crap.

Darrell

[Joe Brophy]

In just about every "table saw tune up" write up one of the first things suggested is changing to link belts, and if you have a unisaw to replace the cast pulleys with steel lathe turned ones at the same time. I suspect that there may be other brand saws with less than optimal cast pulleys as well.

I use the fenner belts on just about all the belt drive tools I have, not only for the benefit of the quieter smoother operation but also because it allows mew to standardize the belting systems and use the bulk packed 25' rolls. Since you can determine the length of the belt via the number of loops even if I run out of spare loop belting I can always "steal" a belt or two from another machine in a pinch and make it work. This may be unnecessary since the loop belts are supposed to last much longer too. I have not had any fail, or even show noticeable wear in three years thus far. They can transform a drill press into a different machine that is quiet, true running and vibration free. I built a "portable" air compressor with a 18 cfm pump and a five hp induction motor mounted the motor and the pump in

1/4" rubber mat and used power twist belt, when I first started it up it was so quiet that I thought the air intake was plugged or it was running backwards or something, nope, it was running correctly and didn't even have the air intake muffler/filters on yet either. Some high end wood lathe manufacturers use the fenner belts as stock items on their products for the same reasons.

I know this would likely draw scorn from fenner, but I once took a 'B' size power twist belt and using my disc sander and a little jig I made, "ground" the belt into a 'A' size belt because I wanted to use the machine immediately and not have to wait for a mail order package or go to town and buy a few feet of the 'A' size. Seems to be running fine thus far (the air compressor mentioned above, built a little over a year ago.). That is the only machine I have with 'A' size belt so I won't be tempted to do that again hopefully. I like to think that I am a reasonably safety conscience person, in that situation I slipped a bit however.

I purchased a box of 25' 'B' size power twist off of ebay and I am just now down to the last 4-5' in the box, the bulk pricing was less costly, the 25' cost me about 35-40$ as I recall, whereas from most places a 5' chunk is usually in the 18-25$ range, for me it was far better than having a bunch of individual length v-belts that I could never find the right one when I needed it usually anyway. (I had put it where I wouldn't forget where it was, in case I needed it...Yeah, Right!.) I don't have any affiliation with fenner, other than being a happy customer, impressed with the technology. regards, Joe.

[Joe Brophy]

I think I have read of machined steel pulleys and fenner belts offered for the unisaw aftermarket items, this link:

to the fenner belts as "a recommended accessory from the experts at popular woodworking to reduce vibration" and the link: recommends replacing the "inexpensive cast pulleys on the unisaw with machined steel pulleys" to improve operation. I also use a (Dewalt) blade stabilizer whenever I can since I use a lot of 10" blades that are thin kerf, 80-120 teeth, carbide tipped and it seems to help make even smoother cuts than without one.

The l>What kind of table saw. I used them on my old Jet CS saw. But not on my

[Ba r r y]

What style of saw?

If it's a contractor's saw, the belt will probably improve performance. Don't forget to align the pulleys the best that you can while you're there.

Other hop-ups for contractor's saws (not applicable or necessary on every example): - Tube sand on the legs

- 220v rewire

- cast iron wings

- outfeed support

- machined pulleys

- PALS alignment kit (align miter slot to blade)

[Jim Wilson]

They sometimes help. I became enamored of the link belts when they solved a problem I had on a lathe many years ago, and started putting them on everything. But then I found that sometimes the regular belts or cogged ones worked better in certain applications. Now, I go with whichever belt works best on the particular machine, or whichever is less expensive, all else equivalent.

Here's an article I wrote about it.

[Frank Boettcher]

??? Fully machined (all surfaces) and balanced cast iron pulleys vs. fully machined and balanced steel pulleys, what is the benefit of that? Delta considers them interchangeable and equal.

If you take a contractor saw with a properly specified belt vs. a link belt measuring vibration the stock belt will produce less. That is a belt that had not taken a set from sitting around, not being used particularly in the cold. But most people let their saws sit for long periods of time and the belt takes a set that causes an initial vibration. It diminishes as the saw runs.