Noisy Belt

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gregs4163

gregs4163

Member
Joined
Dec 2, 2007
Messages
58
Location
Chicopee, MA USA.
I have a Rikon mini lathe that after a while of turning (15 minutes or so) the belt starts squealing. I've tried every thing I can think of, new belt, more tension, less tension, aligning the pulleys and cleaning the belt & pulley but it still does it? has anyone else dealt with this? It seems to happen at the 1800 RPM speed which I use a lot. Any suggestions because it's driving me nuts.
 
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Don't own the Rikon but may be a bearing going out. Try using a 3/4" dowel and place one end to your ear and isolate where the noise is coming from with the other end, kinda like a stethascope.
 
I'm almost positive it's the belt, the sound comes from the pulley on the motor and goes away at the higher speeds. I was thinking of polishing the pulley with aluminum polish but I'm hesitate because I'm thinking it might start slipping.
 
Greg,
I have a fisch and it has a belt similar to the Rikon. Got the same problem...after a while I geta wicked noise coming form the belt-pulley area. I can't say that the belt is slipping, I have mine cranked up pretty tight. I'm still trying to figure it out as well.
 
Another thought....You said it is at the pulley on the motor.......What type of shaft, is it round with a keyway in it for the pulley to press on or a flat spot for a set screw? Try holding the shaft and see if the pulley slips on the shaft. Unplug mchine first!! Or at a very, very low speed setting try holding the belt with something and swith the motor on and see if you pulley is slipping. Must be very careful doing this, please.
 
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Mike this is one goofy belt. Fisch uses a grooved belt (like teeth)that fits on the grooves of the pully. The Rikon manual calls it a poly v-belt. I had to change it out once and used the belt from my crappy drill press, I didn't get any squeals, but the belt (trapezoidial v-belt) didn't fit in the grooves. It worked but I didn't push it.
 
Rollerbob said:
Another thought....You said it is at the pulley on the motor.......What type of shaft, is it round with a keyway in it for the pulley to press on or a flat spot for a set screw? Try holding the shaft and see if the pulley slips on the shaft. Unplug mchine first!! Or at a very, very low speed setting try holding the belt with something and swith the motor on and see if you pulley is slipping. Must be very careful doing this, please.
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Bob,
I'll give that a try tonight.
 
I have a Rikon. And after a while it will get a sticking noise in it but when I change speeds it goes away for a while. If it does it again I am thinking about putting a little powder on it. It seems when all is warmed up the Polly in the belt is a little sticky. Now mind you I have not tryed this. My Rikon is not VS. Good Luck Rich
 
My pulleys on both the motor and the spindle are solid, that was the first thing I tried so I really cranked down on the set screws to lock them in place. I think Richard might be on to something about the poly getting sticky, I think I'll try the powder idea Thanks for everyone's help you guys are the best.
 
I had what sounds like the same problem on my Jet. Turned out, it wasn't my belt. The set screws in the handwheel (headstock) had worked a little loose. Tightened them, and all of the weird sounds stopped.
 
One quick way to ID belt noise is with a light water spray on the belt. Just fill a squirt bottle with water and shoot a light mist onto the inside of the belt. If it is the belt, the noise will disappear for about 15 seconds, until the water has dissipated.
This is how we isolated belt noise on car accessory drives. Belt squeal can sound the same as bearing squeal.
 
I have a Rikon and had a squeal, but I discovered some grease on the wheel. I took of the belt and cleaned both wheels with a cloth soaked with alcohol. It has now been almost a year with no squeal.
I routinely the wheels and all of the parts of my lathe. I vacuum all of the sawdust from the belt/wheel area, wax the metal areas, tool rest, and clean the sawdust from the inside the head and tail stock.
 
bradh said:
One quick way to ID belt noise is with a light water spray on the belt. Just fill a squirt bottle with water and shoot a light mist onto the inside of the belt. If it is the belt, the noise will disappear for about 15 seconds, until the water has dissipated.
This is how we isolated belt noise on car accessory drives. Belt squeal can sound the same as bearing squeal.
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Greg: Seems like you have done all of the correct things.

I thought I knew where Brad was going; but he never quite got there. I don't think the poly-groove belts should squeal like the V-belts do; but am not sure. At most auto parts stores, you can buy "belt dressing" which comes in an aerosol can and dispenses a belt lubricant/preservative that might help.
 
Try "dressing" the belt with a bar of soap. Just turn the lathe on and hold the soap bar onto all sides of the belt and let it rub along all the surfaces that make contact with the pulley.

My dad and I have used this trick on our South Bend metal lathe leather drive belt with great success. Repeat if and when necessary.

Be sure to use a hard bar of soap (new bar) and not one that is soft from sitting in water.
 
Fred said:
Try "dressing" the belt with a bar of soap. Just turn the lathe on and hold the soap bar onto all sides of the belt and let it rub along all the surfaces that make contact with the pulley.

My dad and I have used this trick on our South Bend metal lathe leather drive belt with great success. Repeat if and when necessary.

Be sure to use a hard bar of soap (new bar) and not one that is soft from sitting in water.
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Ivory soap works best for this . It's an old mechanics trick we used to use on squeeling belts on cars .
 
Hi all, I'll try the soap trick and if that doesn't work I'll try the belt dressing as Randy suggested, I'll get this thing quiet eventually if not I'll just sell it and buy a $4000 Oneway! LOL (I wish)
 
I have a couple of Rikons and I have replaced one belt with a new one because of noise. The machine did have a lot of time on it , but other than that you just need to go in and make sure that all the set screws are tight and in the right place.
 
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