New guy with questions. Craftman 6" lathe

[chiefpeyotecoyote]

Hey folks,

Picked up this little craftman 6" model 101.21400 from my grandpa.

Had a question.

The motor belt rubs on the rocker shaft in the #4 position (high gear). I set it all up exactly the way the manual tells you to. Dont think it should be rubbing. And dont know what im missing.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks all

[Harold_V]

A picture would certainly be helpful. Hard to determine the problem without seeing how it's set up.

Welcome to the board.

Harold

[choprboy]

I had the same Craftsman lathe before upgrading. It rubbed belts as well. I don't have it in the workshop anymore so I don't remember exactly, but I believe the belt rubbed on the back lip of the headstock when in low speed, on the crossmember of the countershaft frame when in high speed. I put the motor and countershaft frame up on a block about 3/4-1" above the surface the lathe bed was mounted to.

[John Hasler]

Hey folks,

Picked up this little craftman 6" model 101.21400 from my grandpa.

Had a question.

The motor belt rubs on the rocker shaft in the #4 position (high gear). I set it all up exactly the way the manual tells you to. Dont think it should be rubbing. And dont know what im missing.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks all

Are you using the correct width belt?

[chiefpeyotecoyote]

Howdy,

Heres some pictures of the belt rubbing as requested Harold,as well as the whole lathe so you can see the set up. I was thinking about putting it up on a block like choprboy was saying thinking it would change the angle and keep it from rubbing but i really wanted to avoid that if there is another way to fix the problem. It seems to me that if it was designed this way it should work. But thats not always the case haha.

Thanks folks,

Kyle

[chiefpeyotecoyote]

John,

Im not sure if i am using the correct width belt. These are the belts that were on it, in surprisingly good shape i might add, and im having a hard time finding information on what belts to put on it so idk.

Thanks,

Kyle

[John Evans]

Belts riding above pulley = too wide. What do the belts measure across the the width? Motor also looks to big 1/4-1/3 HP was what was normally used.Temp expedient block the counter shaft up as mentioned .

[Harold_V]

Are you using the correct width belt?

That's a good observation, and is most likely the problem. It would be my opinion that the required belt would be a 3L (3/8" width) of proper length.

Pictures often speak a huge volume of words.

Harold

[chiefpeyotecoyote]

The belt measures .400 wide. that makes sense now that you say it shouldnt be sittiing above the pulley. How would i go about finding the proper length&width belt for this? does it go off the measure of the diameter of the belt?

I had this 1/2 HP 1725 RPM motor on my wood lathe. The metal lathe was designed for 1/3 HP 1740 RPM. I was thinking that would be close enough but i very well could be wrong. Still learning about putting a machine together right.

[John Evans]

3L series belts have nominal top width of .375,automotive belts are aprox. 7/16 as a rule. Quite common for someone to fit a automotive belt. A dressmakers tape wrapped around the top of the pulley flange with the adjustment in the mid point should get you close.A link belt like this saves taking apart the spindle etc.
https://www.mcmaster.com/#v-belts/=17xe1w2

[choprboy]

Yeah... that looks familiar and must have been how my lathe belt was rubbing as well. I had a bunch of pictures of the lathe, bench, and control/reversing switch I setup for it... but I think that was on my old camera that kept corrupting/losing files on the flash card. This was the closest I could find that sort of shows the mounting in the background.

[John Hasler]

3L series belts have nominal top width of .375,automotive belts are aprox. 7/16 as a rule. Quite common for someone to fit a automotive belt. A dressmakers tape wrapped around the top of the pulley flange with the adjustment in the mid point should get you close.A link belt like this saves taking apart the spindle etc.
https://www.mcmaster.com/#v-belts/=17xe1w2

Link belts are higher than the v-belts they replace, though, so it might still rub.