[AT] Flat Belt Implements 101
Greg Hass
ghass at m3isp.com
Wed Oct 2 19:44:17 PDT 2013
No. 1) Never saw a difference, however a longer belt with slack sure
looks neat flopping around as the load changes. Also, a longer belt does
not need to be as tight as the weight of it keeps it from slipping.
No.2) True, but once you're used to it , not as hard as you might think.
No.3 Not necessarily, several factors kick in, biggest being type and
length of belt. A rubber belt is by far the best, when we had belt drive
equipment all my dad got was an old leather belt. When it got dry or got
rained on and got stiff you had to use belt dressing by the gallon. We
once borrowed a rubber belt from an uncle; I thought I'd died and went
to heaven. Also longer belts require less dressing as they stay tighter
because of their weight. Also, fiber pulleys gripe better than steel;
the super A's and super C'S had steel pulleys; but at a show and with
the limited power of a super A that wouldn't be a problem.
No.4) A truer statement could not be made.
As for the length for a show I think someone else probably has a better
idea as on the farm the rule was always the longer the better. One very
important thing, unless you buy an endless belt, make sure the belt has
wire lacing for the splice. For many years we had a belt driven silage
blower. Our belt had alligator lacing; sort of large lacing you pounded
in with a hammer. The blower had a rather large pulley thus we had
little problem. However, as soon as we got the hammermill (all that I
have seen have very small pulleys of about 4 inches.) That big lacing
going around that little pulley would rip out every couple of weeks.My
dad knew some people at the local grain elevator and they would install
lacing like they used in their cup elevators. That lasted 6 or 8
months. Just a few of my opinions, your mileage may vary.
Greg Hass
More information about the AT
mailing list