# Odd headstock pulley?



## Water-Mark (2 Jul 2015)

Not long after buying one lathe another came up local and cheap, too cheap to pass up as it happens and the restoration is soon to begin.

One thing that puzzles me is the headstock pulley, It has one very large v belt groove and two flat belt steps below.













I had thought of machining v grooves in the other pulleys but the smaller one carries the locking screw for the back gear and I'd be left with one gear much larger than the others.

I now think I'm likely to machine a flat the v groove for a flat belt.

Any suggestions as to how or why the pulley is like it is?


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## CHJ (2 Jul 2015)

Maybe someone in the past decided to machine the pulley for a Vee belt and stick with single speed.
More in keeping with Electric motor drive.

If you machine it Flat it is not going to match the other two in speed step ratio unless you make your own none standard Flat belt stepped pulley with ratios to match.


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## Water-Mark (2 Jul 2015)

Thing is its so much bigger than the other two i've yet to see a pulley block that would match it as it is.

Another option i suppose would be to mount two matching blocks on the motor and countershaft and leave this one as is.


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## dickm (2 Jul 2015)

Strange indeed, but looking at the surface finish, the suggestion that the Vee is a later modification makes sense. That's obviously had a belt on it, but the two flat sections still have (aftermarket) paint finish, which would have been long gone if they'd carried a belt. If it were mine, I think I'd be tempted to fill the groove with some sort of metal loaded epoxy, and stick to a flat belt. 

OR, if you want the luxury route, get a 3-phase motor and VFD, then you can probably just stick with the one vee pulley.

Any makers marks or anything that might lead to pictures on lathes.uk?


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## Water-Mark (2 Jul 2015)

The lathe is a RandA long bed.
All the pictures I've seen have a much smaller pulley. 

I've no idea where to even start looking for a matching ratio one for the layshaft.


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## dickm (4 Jul 2015)

Do you actually need exactly matching ratios? Provided you can have enough free play on the countershaft, then that should take up the (limited) variation in between-centres length on the different pulleys?


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## twothumbs (7 Jul 2015)

If you look at the excellent site...........www.lathes.co.uk/......you will see several examples or models of your lathe. Also a very good restoration. Hope this helps you.

Best wishes.


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## Water-Mark (8 Jul 2015)

I've not seen another like it on any lathe.

It's weird.


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## Water-Mark (1 Feb 2016)

Update, after dismantling the lathe and stripping the paint it turns out it's a home made job.
Odd in the sense the two flat pulleys were crowned, i can only assume the intention had been to machine the largest one down eventually.
The lathe came with no counter shaft so the large pulley must have been an attempt to lower the drive speed.
I found a flat belt three step lay shaft on ebay so decided to finish it off to match











It toom hours to do as it was pretty near the machine capacity but as it's only the second thing i've ever machined ( the first being the chuck back plate that allowed me to turn this ) so I'm pretty happy

Thanks to all who responded, mystery solved (one of them at least).


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## dickm (1 Feb 2016)

Nice work, mate. That'll give you a lot of entertainment.


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## CHJ (1 Feb 2016)

Some superb work there on the refurbish, hope it brings many hours of enjoyment and satisfaction with a job well done.


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## Water-Mark (1 Feb 2016)

Thanks.
I'm nearly there now, just waiting on a motor pulley and i'm good to go.


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## AES (1 Feb 2016)

Lovely bit of work there mate - you have every reason to feel proud of yourself.

=D> 

AES


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## blackrodd (1 Feb 2016)

A really excellent restoration and detail you've done there, I hope you have hours of fun.
Regards Rodders


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