1221 Headstock Spindle Pulley Clicking Sound

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TonyL

TonyL

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H Folks:

About 4 months ago, I changed my belt which was 3 years old. While I had everything apart, I also changed the bearings, and life was good :-).

About 2 months ago, I start hearing and can "feel" a clicking and vibration every time the HS spindle rotates once. It doesn't affect the performance of the lathe, but I am sure it will. It occurs in forward and reverse and at all speeds. The motor and lower spindle run quietly. I am going to call Jet on Monday., but here's is what I have done..remember, the belt and bearing are new and worked great.

  • Removed the HS hand wheel
  • Removed and retighten the two spindle set screws
  • Replace the above with new set screws for my other (new) 1221.
  • Removed and retightened the spindle screws cover (the metal ring held in by 3 button screws.
  • Inspected the belt (still looks brand new) for wear, chips, debris..
Any ideas?

Thanks!
 
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Tony,

Does the headstock spindle still have this click in it with the belt loose....turning the headstock spindle by hand?.... or is it only when the belt is in place? This should help isolate whether this is a belt/pulley or bearing issue.

Without the belt in place, I would think the issue is the bearings.
If there is no click unless the belt is on and tensioned, I would look at the belt/splice and if the pulley even with set screws tight has any movement. With the pulley set screws loose, is the pulley loose on the shaft or is it a good fit?

Hope this helps.
 
Interesting. The other day on my 1221vs was rotating the head stock while doing some hand sanding. I told my son I hear and feel s slight tick everytime it rotates. I have not thought about it since.

Mine definitely makes a clicking when hand rotating in reverse.
 
I think you might be hearing the RPM magnetic pickup. Mine does that sometimes and I finally figured it to be the magnetic pickup.
 
Check to see that the pulley is in the correct orientation on the shaft, and tight. Since you have had it apart, it could have moved.
On the Jet that I had, the pulley worked loose and was contacting the housing inside, which made a clicking sound.
I slide the pulley over to the correct spot and tightened it down. It didn't make the clicking sound after that.
 
Thanks folks. All is where it is supposed to be. I have a brand new 1221 sitting right next to it to compare. All is snug. If I slightly loosen the belt tension the clicking stops. I never had to do that before. I may take apart are reseat everything and buy some new set screws - although I swapped those out and it still clicked. Thanks for all of the leads!
 
Tony, before pulling it apart, mark the belt orientation/direction of travel. When putting everything back together, reverse the orientation of the belt and see if that makes a difference. Maybe the belt splice is part of the issue.
 
Will do. I am actually going to resume working on it now.Thank you. But remember, it was as quiet as a mouse for months and the bearing were replaced.
 
Well got it all back together. Really didn't see or feel anything unusual. I did, however, forget to put the belt back on. LOL. Here's Jet's video. At least in my case, they should be arrested for making it look this easy. https://youtu.be/vnxUYH3cCQ0
 
And......drum roll.....did the clicking stop?
Click to expand...

After all that I forgot to put the belt back on LOL. I don't have it in my wrists and forearms to bang the spindle and bearings out again. I am going to pick up one of these in about an hour from Rockler: https://www.amazon.com/Grizzly-T219...=power+twist+plus&refinements=p_72:1248909011

This happens to be Grizzly branding another manufactures belt, but the ides is the same. This way I don't have to removed the spindle to remove the belt.
 
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TonyL said:
And......drum roll.....did the clicking stop?
Click to expand...

After all that I forgot to put the belt back on LOL. I don't have it in my wrists and forearms to bang the spindle and bearings out again. I am going to pick up one of these in about an hour from Rockler: https://www.amazon.com/Grizzly-T219...=power+twist+plus&refinements=p_72:1248909011

This happens to be Grizzly branding another manufactures belt, but the ides is the same. This way I don't have to removed the spindle to remove the belt.
Click to expand...

Tony, If your Jet lathe has a multigroove belt, this most likely will not work. This belt is to replace a single 1/2" v belt like you may have on a table saw, an old 4step pulley lathe, etc.
 
I believe I just discovered this. The pulleys and belts are grooved on the Jet. No matter how many times I aligned the spindles when installing the replacement belt, the adjustable belt walks, but eventually rest in in one spot and doesn't move after that. We will see. Glad this though. Thank you.
 
If the link belt finds a happy spot, you are good to go. This is not the elegant solution, but a practical one.

Local turner with an older reeves drive lathe needed to replace the belt several years back. Used a link belt to keep turning until he had time to tear down. He does a good job of maintenance on the split sheaves, and has not seen the need to tea down and replace the link belt.

Check on the belt from time to time, but I expect a long run.


I think the current term is a "hack".
 
Last edited:
KenV said:
If the link belt finds a happy spot, you are good to go. This is not the elegant solution, but a practical one.

Local turner with an older reeves drive lathe needed to replace the belt several years back. Used a link belt to keep turning until he had time to tear down. He does a good job of maintenance on the split sheaves, and has not seen the need to tea down and replace the link belt.

Check on the belt from time to time, but I expect a long run.


I think the current term is a "hack".
Click to expand...
I agree. I just turned it around by facing the tabbed side toward the grooves. That seemed to help things. ;thanks



Sent from my SM-G900T3 using Tapatalk
 
I called Fenner who makes (or at least sells) the belts and spoke to Chris of their applications and technical division. According to Chris, Fenner does not make a belt that is compatible with grooved pulleys. He remarked that if they are used with grooved pulleys, your tools with not operate efficiently. I am just passing on what he said. Looks, like I will be knocking out the spindle again. LOL.
 
TonyL said:
I called Fenner who makes (or at least sells) the belts and spoke to Chris of their applications and technical division. According to Chris, Fenner does not make a belt that is compatible with grooved pulleys. He remarked that if they are used with grooved pulleys, your tools with not operate efficiently. I am just passing on what he said. Looks, like I will be knocking out the spindle again. LOL.
Click to expand...

Yup, the link belt is just riding on top of the grooves on the lathe pulley. There is less surface contact plus it does not have the wedging effect of the grooved V belt. I would expect a healthy cut with a spindle roughing Gouge or a bowl gouge would cause the belt to slip on the pulley.

Was your noise still there with the link belt?.....if yes, I would look closely the bearings. If you have a mechanic's stethoscope, you can listed to each end of the headstock to see of the noise is louder. Sometimes a screwdriver against the metal with the handle against your ear will work as a stethoscope and transfer the sound to your ear.

Did you rule out the sensor for the digital speed readout?
 
The clicking noise went away with the link belt. The belt is much louder though. Rockler says that the link belts are used all the time with grooved pulleys on the newer model (post 2000s) lathes. Jet is also sending me new bearings and a spindle just in case.

The sensor collar (chrome) was secure and the solid state reader (black with wires) was free of debris. Is that is what you mean?
 
Good luck Tony,

I love my 1221vs, Perhaps when all is said and done, if you have it in you to do a lessons learned on belt replacement that would be great.

RobS
 
Just to put a bow on this thread. Jet set me a set of new bushings, spindle, and key (fits into a slot on the spindle). I did change the far right bearing (which was already just a few months old and seemed fine), and I replaced the pulley and hand wheel set screws (bought from Ace Hardware, and of course to put the remembered to put the belt on). Someway, somehow the clicking stopped. The root cause of the clicking is inconclusive. If there is ever a contest to see who can remove replace a belt on the 1221 the fastest, I am sure, I will at least "show". :-). I never did use the new spindle, one of the bearings, nor the key. Mystery unsolved, but the lathe is as quiet as a mouse ..more like a mouse riding a skate board. Side bar: I never got the vgroove adjustable belt to work no matter how many links I removed (how tight I made it). I did get it to rest in one place, but it kept riding/slipping on top of the pulley grooves. I have also become quite proficient at removing and adding the links...but not ready to quick my day job :-). Thanks to all that helped me...for someone who could spell "layth" 3 years ago, I did learn my way around one because of what you folks encouraged me to try. Thanks to all!
 
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