Unimat drive belts.

jimphillips
Posts: 41
Joined: Mon Aug 05, 2013 6:52 pm

Unimat drive belts.

Postby jimphillips » Sun Mar 14, 2021 8:17 am

Can anyone point me in the right direction to obtain drive belts for my Unimat lathe please, bearing in mind this is an old machine purchased c1975 which I intend to start using again soon, TIA.

Terry Bendall
Forum Team
Posts: 2420
Joined: Sun Jul 27, 2008 7:46 am

Re: Unimat drive belts.

Postby Terry Bendall » Sun Mar 14, 2021 8:54 am

A search of the internet shows that there do not appear to any retail outlets selling drive belts for the Unimat lathes but a search for "unimat driving belts" brought up quite a lot of results via EBay.

Terry Bendall

nigelcliffe
Posts: 747
Joined: Mon Jul 21, 2008 8:31 am

Re: Unimat drive belts.

Postby nigelcliffe » Sun Mar 14, 2021 9:43 am

Decades ago, I recall Peter Clark(*) showing me how to make new Unimat belts from flexible polymer of the appropriate cross-section. The material came on large reels. Cut the length required, heat the ends until they soften, and push the two ends together, hold until they set. The first one or two will be wonky and probably break quite quickly. Do two or three, or arrange some holder to keep the ends in line, and they'll be decent belts. If you get a little "lumpy fat bit", that can be pared back with a knife.

(* Model Railway Club member, maker of numerous bits of rather nice machinery, and regular winner of awards at the Model Engineer Show. Peter died a few years ago).

John Palmer
Posts: 825
Joined: Fri Jul 15, 2011 11:09 pm

Re: Unimat drive belts.

Postby John Palmer » Sun Mar 14, 2021 10:04 am

https://www.pjtoolmakers.com/how-to-make-your-own-unimat-belts may be of assistance to you if you follow the DIY belt route, and covers both the SL and 3 models.

Enigma
Posts: 533
Joined: Tue Aug 13, 2013 2:49 pm

Re: Unimat drive belts.

Postby Enigma » Sun Mar 14, 2021 1:10 pm

These people sell lengths of neoprene (??) round drive belt that is cut and melt bonded (like Terry says). I used an old flat kitchen knife heated in the gas ring to bond mine which I use on my Cowells lathe without any problems.

http://www.lathes.co.uk/

They also supply a large range of lathe associated tools and accessories etc. Worth a look at their products.

jimphillips
Posts: 41
Joined: Mon Aug 05, 2013 6:52 pm

Re: Unimat drive belts.

Postby jimphillips » Sun Mar 14, 2021 4:46 pm

Thanks gentlemen, never bought anything from ebay, looks like I'll be going down the home made route then.

User avatar
Tim V
Posts: 2868
Joined: Tue Jul 29, 2008 4:40 pm

Re: Unimat drive belts.

Postby Tim V » Sun Mar 14, 2021 5:22 pm

Used to be a Hoover belt could be 'pressed' into use. Still got a couple kicking around in the drawer. Do you remember those Hoover spares places - I got belts and a selection of motor brushes I was able to file to the right size to refurbish the original motor. Brushes were no longer available for it.

Most important thing is to remove the belt once you have finished using the lathe, the belts last for ages if you do that.
Tim V
(Not all railways in Somerset went to Dorset)

decauville1126
Posts: 47
Joined: Tue Mar 12, 2013 8:50 am

Re: Unimat drive belts.

Postby decauville1126 » Sun Mar 14, 2021 5:30 pm

If you're looking for belts for a Unimat 3 then I bought some in bulk from a firm in Bordon, Hampshire. I've got the codes somewhere. I think this is what some of the resellers on ebay do.

Sorry but can't help if you've an SL.

nigelcliffe
Posts: 747
Joined: Mon Jul 21, 2008 8:31 am

Re: Unimat drive belts.

Postby nigelcliffe » Sun Mar 14, 2021 9:31 pm

Enigma wrote:These people sell lengths of neoprene (??) round drive belt that is cut and melt bonded (like Terry says). I used an old flat kitchen knife heated in the gas ring to bond mine which I use on my Cowells lathe without any problems.


The torque on a Cowell is likely to be more than on a Unimat, so if the round cut/bonded belts are fine on that, they'll be fine on the Unimat.

Cowells will supply you with the correct V-belts if asked. They're still around.
http://www.cowells.com/


- Nigel

User avatar
Weskie
Posts: 56
Joined: Sat Jul 26, 2008 1:12 pm

Re: Unimat drive belts.

Postby Weskie » Sun Mar 14, 2021 10:21 pm

I just use a standard Nitrile O-ring on my Unimat 4
If I remember correctly a BS336-N70 for the short one and a BS343-N70 for the longer one.
I'm sure Google will help you find a supplier. Mine came through work so was fairly easy to get.
Hope that helps.
Andy Westcott

Terry Bendall
Forum Team
Posts: 2420
Joined: Sun Jul 27, 2008 7:46 am

Re: Unimat drive belts.

Postby Terry Bendall » Mon Mar 15, 2021 8:58 am

Having had a further look on the web I have found this site https://unimat.homestead.com/belts.html. It is based in the USA and has lots of useful information.

Terry Bendall

jimphillips
Posts: 41
Joined: Mon Aug 05, 2013 6:52 pm

Re: Unimat drive belts.

Postby jimphillips » Tue Mar 16, 2021 5:37 pm

Thanks for all of your help and advice everyone.

Edward45
Posts: 46
Joined: Mon Jun 06, 2016 2:53 pm

Re: Unimat drive belts.

Postby Edward45 » Wed Mar 17, 2021 4:59 pm

I measured my Unimat belts and concluded that they were 5mm cross section with 65mm and 75mm internal diameters. As the larger sizes appears to fail more frequently I have ordered 10 of these off ebay. I have made my own belts, but feel that the Nitrile belts are more flexible with a better grip.

Edward45
Posts: 46
Joined: Mon Jun 06, 2016 2:53 pm

Re: Unimat drive belts.

Postby Edward45 » Thu Mar 18, 2021 2:31 pm

Belts arrived today, when measured they were about 4.9mm cross section. Very tight when first installed so ran the lathe whilst running the belt between my thumb and index finger to warm the belt up. Its now fine with no sign of slipping when turning items. We will see in the longer term but, it looks as if my days of hot joining lengths of drive band material is over.

User avatar
Jol Wilkinson
Posts: 1113
Joined: Mon Jul 21, 2008 7:39 pm

Re: Unimat drive belts.

Postby Jol Wilkinson » Thu Mar 18, 2021 5:11 pm

Could you share a link to the Ebay supplier you purchased from, please. I have had a look but gave up after about 15 minutes.


User avatar
Jol Wilkinson
Posts: 1113
Joined: Mon Jul 21, 2008 7:39 pm

Re: Unimat drive belts.

Postby Jol Wilkinson » Fri Mar 19, 2021 9:01 am

Thanks John,

I notice that the stores.lathes.co.uk site also lists hollow plastic tubing with metal "mushroom" connectors. I have used this in the past and found it fairly good and it gives the advantage that you can make up belts without resorting to welding the ends together.

Quite a few of the ebay products come from Austria and incur the now common ex-EU deluvery charges, as opposed to the free P&P offered in the UK.

Jol

Edward45
Posts: 46
Joined: Mon Jun 06, 2016 2:53 pm

Re: Unimat drive belts.

Postby Edward45 » Fri Mar 19, 2021 11:05 am

Sorry, not very good at this. I just logged in for 80mm dia Nitrile "O" Rings. It came up with a fairly comprehensive choice.

Alan Turner
Posts: 643
Joined: Sun Jul 20, 2008 4:24 pm

Re: Unimat drive belts.

Postby Alan Turner » Sun Mar 21, 2021 1:20 pm

You can buy round Polyurethane Belting from RS Components and others.

Simply cut to required length and join together with a hot knife.

Plenty of You-Tube videos showing how to do it. Here's a couple: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJuQdiyFSB8 and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iD8bLfTwVA

and one actualy for the Unimat SL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=za0taS7rIWY

regards

Alan
Last edited by Alan Turner on Sun Mar 21, 2021 9:57 pm, edited 2 times in total.

User avatar
grovenor-2685
Forum Team
Posts: 3918
Joined: Sun Jun 29, 2008 8:02 pm

Re: Unimat drive belts.

Postby grovenor-2685 » Sun Mar 21, 2021 1:51 pm

As covered above, I did not find the simply join with a hot knife was all that successful. It did work but the joints did not hold well. So when I subsequently found proper belts on sale, as in John's post, I was relieved.
Its taken me all week to find the box that my spare belts are hidden in, I was hoping there would be a receipt or something to indicate where they came from but no joy, just the nameless Jiffy bags!
Regards
Keith
Grovenor Sidings

Edward45
Posts: 46
Joined: Mon Jun 06, 2016 2:53 pm

Re: Unimat drive belts.

Postby Edward45 » Sun Mar 21, 2021 5:14 pm

I have purchased the orange belts, but I'm inclined to think they are to rigid for the small distances between the pulley wheels. On my quite old Unimat 3 I've had to replace the spindle and bearing of the idler pulley, a weakness not helped by using rigid belts. As I don't like fiddling/modifying standard parts, when the weather improves I intend to turn up a replacement idler pulley and incorporate a suitable ball race from Arc Euro. I should add that many will be aware that the older Unimat SL did incorporated a ball race on the idler pulley.

User avatar
grovenor-2685
Forum Team
Posts: 3918
Joined: Sun Jun 29, 2008 8:02 pm

Re: Unimat drive belts.

Postby grovenor-2685 » Sun Mar 21, 2021 7:48 pm

Indeed, the spare belts I got also came with spare ball races.
Regards
Keith
Grovenor Sidings


Return to “Lathe Work”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: ClaudeBot and 0 guests