Drive Belt for Warco WM250

[Tom BickfordParticipant @tombickford70098]

Hi all,

So I am finally getting around to converting my Warco WM250 to 3ph. However, I am stuck as to which belt to select.

I wish to use a taper lock pulley for ease, but most appear to be for Z or SPZ belts, whereas the lathe takes 5mm wide polyflex type belts (as far as I can tell).

Can anyone recommend a taper lock pulley and/or belt that would be suitable, please?

Many thanks in advance,

Tom

[Tom BickfordParticipant @tombickford70098]

[Bo’sunParticipant @bosun58570]

Hi Tom,

Try contacting someone like "Fenner" direct, or maybe a local power transmission component supplier.

[Niels AbildgaardParticipant @nielsabildgaard33719]

The way I did it some time ago

WM250 Three phase

The way I will do it in future

Lathe with sewing machine motor

[Tom BickfordParticipant @tombickford70098]

Thank you, chaps. I had rather hoped for an off the shelf solution, which I suppose Fenner may have.

Neils, I like what you did with your 250. Shame the Warco version doesn't have the holes in the back of the bed for the motor.

[Niels AbildgaardParticipant @nielsabildgaard33719]

To drill and tap 4 M8 holes more or less as shown in the cheap and lousy chineese cast iron bed is not a sin like schratching a Myford or Boxford will be.

The intermidiate aluminium disk was some leftover from windmill manufacture and is more usefull on my lathe.

The beauty of Fenner Powertwist belts are that they can be rolled on the two disc sheaves without harm.

When loosing grip with wear or time it is easy to remove one link.

If You roll over the slim Gates 5M belt it is hurt.The beauty of the Gates 5M is that it will go round 28mm where the powertwist Z is not really well below 60mm diameter.

[Niels AbildgaardParticipant @nielsabildgaard33719]

Another picture of WM250 homemade belting

[Tom BickfordParticipant @tombickford70098]

I can't believe it has been almost a year since I started this… the decision to build a new workshop and the subsequent work to build it has flown by.

I now have a motor and a VFD ready, but I am still stuck on belts and pulleys. I have called a number of suppliers of polyflex belts, but none can supply pulleys.

Thank you Neils for your photographs, I have spoken to suppliers of power twist who tell me that the belt simply wont work with a pulley designed for 7M polyflex. I am intrigued as to whether you got the 10mm power twist and managed to get it to work with a 7M sized pulley or if your lathe was setup for use with a slightly larger belt from the start?

Aside from setting up an intermediate shaft where the wm250 motor used to reside and mounting the motor elsewhere I am out of ideas. Can anyone else share their 3ph motor setup on the Warco machine so I can get some ideas, please?

Many thanks,

Tom

[mark61Participant @mark61]

Have a look at lathes.co.uk, they supply a wide variety of belts. I used a solid round one and it has served me well for the last seven or eight years.

Mark.

[Tom BickfordParticipant @tombickford70098]

Hi Mark,

I called them today. Very helpful and nice people.

To clarify, are you using a round belt on the standard warco pulley and what pulley did you put on your motor?

Thanks,

Tom

[Tom BickfordParticipant @tombickford70098]

Double post

Edited By Tom Bickford on 16/08/2021 19:01:19

[mark61Participant @mark61]

Evening Tom;

Sorry for the delay in replying. I have the Chester DB10VS, the Chester version of the Warco 250, which has a stepped pulley on the main shaft. I am using the larger 130mm diameter pulley. I have slung the 3ph motor underneath and fitted a home made 60mm o/d pulley.

I had my doubts about the simple round belt, but it has performed perfectly for many years. As a bonus it will slip when I do something stupid and that has happened more than once.

Cheers,

Mark.

[Tom BickfordParticipant @tombickford70098]

Hi Mark,

 

No problem at all and likewise!

 

That is really good to know, thank you. Do you mind if I ask how many poles your motor is and if you find that you lack either high or low speed with a 60mm pulley? Have you mounted the motor to the ways like Neils?

 

I have a 2hp 4 pole motor ready to go, but it wont really fit behind the lathe like Neils shows in his photos. The current plan is to mount the motor to some hinged plywood fixed to a bench next to the lathe and use some threaded bar to tension the belt – a bit like the article in Model Engineers Workshop published a few years ago but more heath robinson.

 

Best,

 

Tom

Edited By Tom Bickford on 22/08/2021 01:57:16

[Niels AbildgaardParticipant @nielsabildgaard33719]

As I see it You have to make some desiccion .

The shaft of motor is 24mm I asume and that is Optibelt 1108 bushes country.

If Your lathe has a 130mm disc for 7M belts You can easily modify a Suitable optibelt spz pulley for 7M belting ca 60mm active diameter.An fourpole can easily run 3000 rpm.

3000 divided by 130 multiplied by 60 makes lathe run 1400 rpm and that is enough for my taste and I have used three 250 type lathes.

If low speed ,high torque is Your love it is possible to put a say 200 mm ring on the 130mm lathe pulley modified to have a SPZ profie on rim and use a standard SPZ Optibelt 56mm pulley on motor

The simplest is to modify the smallest (ca 60mm) motor pulley for 7M belts.

[Ady1Participant @ady1]

If its a full size hobby lathe use 13mm link belts, they are unbeatable

one currenty on my milling setup and lathe headstock and about 30 feet standing by for the rear underdrive and all the shaper belting when they fail

Link belting has all the advantages and no real disadvantages, the milling one has been hammered for 10 years so far, I'm almost wanting it to fail

[mark61Participant @mark61]

Hi Tom,

My motor is a 4 pole 1.5Kw which at 230v 50Hz spins at 1400rpm. More by luck than judgement the chuck rpm is 10x the inverter output frequency. The maximum speed is 900 and I've never come close to using the max. The inverter is a Jaguar Cub.

The motor is mounted on a hinged frame under the bench with a slot cut in the worktop for the belt to pass through.

The weight of the motor provides most of the belt tension, I increase the tension by pressing down on the frame and slipping a couple of pins into the bench legs.

Hope that all makes sense,

Mark.

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