Motor mounting

You might be able to improve your hinged plate by adding a spring, or a section of threaded rod, to apply some tension to the plate in excess of the motor weight. Or a better hinge (less slop) might do it. Or better setup (being on a hinge does not cure being off to one side, etc). However...

Look at the motor mounts on most any belt driven tool. The motor is mounted to a plate with holes in it, and that plate sits on a plate with slots in it. Bolts go through the holes, and into the slots. The relase mechanism is a wrench.

For a quick release with more-or-less fixed motor, you might put a small wheel, such as a skatboard wheel, where it can be levered to push in on the outside of the belt.

Got some of that red segmented belt? Less spring, no memory in it. Good way to control those two factors. Carefully align the pulleys, and make sure you have a pretty good length of belt so the motor rides just below horizontal. If you like, you can bungee the mount, but if my lathe is any indication, it's not necessary if the other factors are handled.

Hi Jura

Very typical for a standard V belt, it likes to climb the pulley's side walls and so start flabbering and vibrating, the Link belt being made out of links is less vibration prone and though more costly, they are long lasting and can be installed without taking the machinery apart.

As for the hinged motor mount a simple and quick release setup would be an elbo/arm hinge, (just like your arm it will bent in the middle) with a hinging point on the lathe and also on the motor mounting plate, the hinge point bracket on the motor mount plate should be moveable for adjustment when the belt length changes, ( make a 1" slot in the plate ) the arm/elbow hinge itself could be made out of flat metal stock (like 1

1/2" X 1/4") the length depending on the length from your lathe to the end of your motor mount plate at lets say 45 degrees, and the 2 hinge point brackets on both ends, out of short pieces of angle iron, one bolted to the lathe and the other one to your motor mound plate, if you weld a stop on one piece of the flat stock so that the elbow arm can only go just past straight, and having the hinge point 2 or 3" from the end on one arm at the elbow hinge point, you now can tighten your belt by pushing the hinge down and it will stay there

Now if you weld an other piece of flat stock at 90 degrees on the top part of the arm/elbow hinge, just above the hinge stop, you can pull on that as a handle and lift your motor up to change the belt position.

All this is clear to me, I don't know if I made it clear to you ??? If you want more help ask away.

Have fun and take care Leo Van Der Loo

Jura wrote:

Thanks for everybody giving ideas. I think I will go for a small wheel pushing the belt. That way I can mount the motor very solidly.

Jura

I used a c clamp from the motor mount to a board that the motor was mounted upon with a hinge. i just loosen the c clamp to change pulleys and re-tighten it when done. works pretty good although sometimes vibration knocks off the c clamp; the weight of the motor also holds down the tension, so nothing happens and i don't even notice when the c clamp pops off. It just provides a little extra tension when i want it. On the other hand; if I ever have to change the belt...that means pulling bearings and pulleys off the headstock. i'm not looking forward to that. rich

For initial testing I also used clamps. I soon noticed that the vibration indeed loosens them. That's why I'm looking for a more permanent solution.

I have no problems changing the belt as the pulleys are on the end of the spindle. Then again, I just replaced the bearings. Very tedious task as the construction of the spindle/headstock is somewhat odd and every single piece was stuck. On top of that the spindle had been beaten with a hammer on the other end causing it to spread. Fortunately, there is a very large metal lathe in the place where I used to work, so I was able to get it back to correct diameter again. Jura