Flowering Elbow

I found that I could bolt the part of the motor housing that previously held the electrical connector directly to the back panel. This didn’t look quite strong enough, so I also used one of the ‘proper’ motor mounts, bolted to some aluminium channelling, which in turn bolted to the back panel.

Using a tailors tape measure or a piece of string the belt length can be calculated. For this application a poly-v belt is best. This is because only the relatively flat poly-v belts can handle the sharp radius of the small motor drive shaft. Standard v-belts would need bigger pulleys. The chances of scavenging a correctly sized belt seemed minimal so I ordered mine over the phone, it was £8.

Apparently the belt tension is about right when you can just twist the belt by 90degrees but not much further without using force. Super subjective I know, so it is a good idea to design some adjustment into the motor mount.

I am measuring how long the drive belt will need to be, and checking clearance of a cardboard centre panel mock up (which I will later cut from more scrap steel).

Using the cardboard template I cut the other center support. This section needs to be removed to make room for the drive belt. The metal is thick and is tough work even for the jigsaw and a good metal blade.. Slow and steady…

Weeeho, the belt I ordered has arrived – and fits nice. The second centre support is bolted in and things are looking good :)

Here you can just about see one of the motor mounts – made with a scrap from the steel sheet. Now when the motor goes round so does the lathe’s main drive shaft :D

I wanted to beef up the motor mount a bit with this extra support.

This unused bit of motor mount stuck out quite a bit so it had to go.. I love chopping aluminum, it is so soft.