Jkson 6/1 rebuild

[Gippslander]

When I built my sets I looked in the Reliance/Dodge catalog to find a 2-3 groove V-belt pulley that had the right hub and enough iron in the right places on the O.D.  I then punched my requirements into our USA ebay which has tons of such for cheap if you watch.  Mounted the pulley on a short shaft and placed it between centers and tuned away everything that dint look like a serpentine pulley of the correct size. I think I have around $40 in both of mine. If you shop for new \be prepared for sticker shock.

Thanks for the advice    My local scrap metal yard may have a suitable pulley - I bought my car there for $300 , ten years ago, it is still running LOL . A Ford of course 

[38ac]

Re scrapyard shopping

Why would anyone go elsewhere??  Good prices and much better class of people than found at Wallmart,  Do you have Wallmarts? if not then good for you!!! LOL

[M61hops]

Normal people think I'm weird, but who cares.  That being said, the outside of a brake drum looks a lot like a flat belt pulley to me.  Some micro v grooves could be cut into the surface pretty easy in my mind  !

[Gippslander]

Normal people think I'm weird, but who cares.  That being said, the outside of a brake drum looks a lot like a flat belt pulley to me.  Some micro v grooves could be cut into the surface pretty easy in my mind  !

That is not weird. I bet in many 3rd world countries, that type of improvised engineering  is pretty normal . 

[Gippslander]

I managed to buy a 10"cast iron pulley today, with a taper lock centre . I paid more than I wanted to, but these pullies are hard to find around here .

It is a double A section , I will machine it down to accept a automotive serpentine belt

[Gippslander]

Hi

I am wondering if this radiator is suitable for my roid

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/56mm-3-Core-Brand-New-Aluminum-Radiator-For-Honda-Civic-EK-EG-92-00-/311173311886?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_15&hash=item48735fed8e

[Combustor]

           Nothing wrong with a 10"  AA pulley if it will give you the speed you require. At 10" diameter your belt will last forever, and should grip the flywheel OK. The polyvee pulleys for Serp belts are quite critical to machine unless you have a profiled carbide tip and holder, and a lathe with the hp to run it. You will also find the A belts much less critical to align for correct tracking. Saw several threads here in the past about the problems with them.
         Lister ran a 2B pulley on the old 6/1 and 8/1 Start-O-Matics and the belts lived nearly as long as the machines. Good luck with the project.
         Combustor.

[Combustor]

  Radiator should be plenty big enough but will need a thermostat in the top line to avoid over cooling. A low power electric fan with thermo switch is an option, but is another item that can fail unless monitored, Believe some have tilted the radiator 45 degrees toward the engine and let air convection do the job. Lots of cooling wisdom here on site if you have reading time to spare.
Combustor.

[Gippslander]

          Nothing wrong with a 10"  AA pulley if it will give you the speed you require. At 10" diameter your belt will last forever, and should grip the flywheel OK. The polyvee pulleys for Serp belts are quite critical to machine unless you have a profiled carbide tip and holder, and a lathe with the hp to run it. You will also find the A belts much less critical to align for correct tracking. Saw several threads here in the past about the problems with them.
         Lister ran a 2B pulley on the old 6/1 and 8/1 Start-O-Matics and the belts lived nearly as long as the machines. Good luck with the project.
         Combustor.

ok that is good advice . Yes I guess I can leave the 10" pulley as a double A . If I have any trouble with the A belts tracking on the roid flywheel ,  I can consider modifying the pulley later on .

I have a lathe that runs a B section pulley on the motor V pulley and the belt drives a countershaft pulley which has  a  flat pulley on it , the V belt tracks perfectly on the flat pulley

[Gippslander]

Interesting pics of a start o matic , the grooves in the flywheel for the v belts

http://bbs.homeshopmachinist.net/threads/37208-For-stationary-engine-fans

[38ac]

Regular V-belts are certainly a viable option. Tracking problems that some have experienced on the flat face flywheel frankly mystify me.  Over the years I have seen many applications where V-belts were run on flat faced pulleys on either the driver and driven ones and as long as things were aligned within a half mile they run just fine. You of course need a grooved pulley on one end or the other.  My first serpentine drive generator set was assembled on a wood cart and while I did not purposely build it crooked I am not a furniture builder either. It  is within a 1/4" or so of being square. Belt racks perfectly. As a matter of fact when I read on here about a fellow having tracking problems that he could not figure out my curiosity caused me to start up my 6/1 5KW set and I purposely moved the head sideways,angled it and discovered that it has to be out of kelter a very big amount to cause the belt to run off the face of the flywheel. Still dont know what is causing some to have problems but I suspect Indian putty or bad machining on the flywheel face.
 Point here being if it were me I would not jump through hoops to avoid running a belt, v or serpentine, on the rim of the flywheels until it proves to be a problem.

[Tom]

I worked on the rig you speak of. A square was used to true everything up and an improved gen head mount was made to keep it true while tightening and still that belt will walk off the pulley. The only thing I can think of is perhaps the issue is with the belt? I don't know if a different one was tried. My serp belt tracks perfectly. In fact it tracks so well there are now grooves worn the paint from the ribs.

That said, unless you're planning to run a zillion hours and want every last bit of efficiency standard V belts will work just fine. My serp belt now has over 2K hours on it and shows no wear what so ever. Even the bio-diesel dripping on it has not harmed it.

[Gippslander]

I have been thinking about the belts and I have decided to use a automotive serpentine belt .  I have the pulley set up on a faceplate and I am about to machine it to suit the poly V belt .

I am first going to try using the flat side of the poly v belt , eg, no ribs , I will machine the pulley flat .     If the flat side of the  belt does slip, then I will remove the pulley and machine the grooves and use the ribbed side of the belt .  


One good reason for the poly v belts :   poly V or serpentine belts are dirt cheap on ebay .

And, after some thought  I am not convinced that the A section belts will track on the flywheel . B section would track Ok , as they are a lot wider  in section

[BruceM]

My 6/1 - ST-3 automotive serpentine belt requires a lot of tension to avoid chirping and slipping starting my 1/2hp well pump at the ST-3 end.  No troubles except the high belt tension needed, solid tracking.  The pulley from Utterpower was very well made.

I'm using a single B belt and pulley for the ST-3 on the 810 rpm DES 8/1 propane conversion, running flat on the flywheel.  No problems.

[Thob]

Don't forget that a flat belt likes to run on a pulley with a crown in the center.  It sounds exactly the opposite of what my intuition tells me, but if the belt is running on a pulley that is concave it will run on one edge or run itself completely off the pulley.  I sometimes wonder if that's why some people have success running a belt on a pulley without grooves and some people don't.