Tooth belt suppliers

[Trev67Participant @trev67]

Hi

I'm trying to fix a lawnmower for the wife's Uncle and I need a drive belt.

It's an old Mounfield, but it seems that the toothed belt that drives the rear roller is no longer available. I've scoured the internet for a supplier but the only one I've found is in America, postage being about three times the cost of the belt.

The belt is a 384 – 8M – 12, this translates to 384 mm long, 8mm pitch and 12mm wide. It has half round profile teeth and there are 48 of them.

My questions are:

Does anybody know of a possible supplier ?

It does seem that a 20mm wide belt is more likely to be available in the UK, has anybody tried cutting a tooth belt down and if so how did you do it?

Many Thanks

Trevor

[Trev67Participant @trev67]

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

couple on e-bay for about a fiver and another tenner for postage from the US, hardly worth the risk of trying to cut down a thicker one.

[Ex contributorParticipant @mgnbuk]

As you say, 20mm wide seem to be available.

My previous employer conveted a number of Binns & Berry lathes to CNC operation for a drive belt manufacturer – some were "belt builders" that had a carousel of rolls of the ditterent materials that make up the belt behind the lathe & a closed loop tensioner that wound on the cord, effectively using a screwcutting cycle to set the cord pitch. The "belt" was a tube about 2 metres long, built up on a mandrel inside out – the first bits to go on were the tapes that carried the makers name, part number etc, then the backing layer , a layer of raw rubber, then the cord & another raw rubber layer to enpsulate the cord. I can't recall if this rubber composite tube was then slide off the mandrel to go into a mould to produce the tooth form & cure the rubber, or if the whole mandrel with rubber sleeve on went away. These particular belt forms were for stretchable poly vee belts for tumble dryers & plain raw edge vee belts.

After these "raw" belts had been vulcanised, they were mounted on another converted machine on a mandrel. On the cross slide was a short stroke pneumaticaly operated top slide that had Stanley knife blade in a holder (sharp side uppermost). The cross slide was incremented to get the belt width & the knife blade cycled in & out to cut the desired width of belt from the tube. To get vee belts there were two slides set at the vee angle that cycled together.

If your lathe will swing a mandrel sized to have the 20mm wide belt a firm push fit (wood or MDF would do – though be wary of MDF dust when turning the mandrel), you could mount a Stanley knife blade in the tool post & trim the belt to width. As I recall, there was no lubricant used on the machines I worked on.

HTH

Nigel B

[fishy-steveParticipant @fishy-steve]

Hi Trevor,

Brammer have a large stock of belts. Download their belt catalogue **LINK**

They list 384-8M

Steve.

[MuzzerParticipant @muzzer]

I've used these boys beltingonline. UK based and have a reasonable stock. Worth trying?

[Trev67Participant @trev67]

Thanks for the replies.

Brammer are getting me one and their Guildford branch is not far away, thanks for the link Steve.

Thanks for the description of the belt cutting machine Nigel, I knew the belts were made as very wide belts and sliced, just wasn't quite sure how.

Just for information, it seems that some suppliers have the belt cutting machine and can cut custom widths, or they can be ordered to almost any width.

Thanks again

Trevor

[Frances IoMParticipant @francesiom58905]

please tell how you went on – I called in Brammers once but found the minimum order value that they would deal with over the counter was ?25 – since I only wanted some ball bearings went elsewhere

[Trev67Participant @trev67]

I'd all but given up getting the belt in the uk, but decided to try Steve's link to Brammers catalogue. Checked it and found the right size.

The phone number was for a place in Manchester, when I rang they asked where I was and put me through to the nearest branch which is Guildford. Very helpful chap called Steve answered, I told what I wanted and left my phone number. About an hour later Steve phoned me back, he could get the belt, so I ordered it, paid by card and it should be in Monday. All very straightforward and painless.

The cost of the belt, carriage and VAT was £16, which is only a little cheaper than getting from the U.S. but a lot quicker.

So happy to recommend Brammers

[Frances IoMParticipant @francesiom58905]

thanks – maybe I’ll try them again as easy reach for me when I’m in UK
ETA possibly they didn’t have them in stock and I’d hit some restocking cost – I was somewhat surprised as they had been recommended to me.

Edited By Frances IoM on 10/06/2016 16:58:48

[steamdaveParticipant @steamdave]

A bit late now, but R. F. Clarke Ltd will make any belt you can think of.

http://www.rfclarke.com/
0289 751 2920

Dave
The Emerald Isle

[Clive HaynesParticipant @clivehaynes74488]

Hi Trevor,

I have a stiga with a front deck and I ran over a small log and broke the two toothed drive belts in the cutting deck. I looked on line and the replacement belts were £18 ish but I found a web site called belts-on-line and they supplied me the two belts for £5.17 + vat + p&p, fitted like a dream.

Regards

Clive

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