Anyone know a wooden cog belt supplier?

[tylersteez]

Hey guys. We have a few machines that still use the old style Reeves transmissions. We are slowly phasing them out by retrofitting the machines with more modern tech but it takes time and planning. For now I still need to keep these ones running. They typically fail from the wood cogs breaking down (easy fix) or the belt snaps or shreds.

These transmissions use belts that are made of some sort of resin belt material with wooden cogs. We were using a company that would repair and make new belts for us but they closed down. Knowing I would be screwed, I tried getting info about the material used but I guess they still wanted to keep that a secret despite closing down. If I wasn't so busy I would try my hand at playing with materials and making them but I just don't have the time.

I did a few google searches and cant find any suppliers or companies that make them. I've put the word out to a few of my suppliers and it doesn't look good. Hoping someone on here might know somebody.

 

[Joe Gwinn]

The classic old-time friction pair was oak (any kind) running against cast iron. The oak could be faced with vegetable-tanned leather, attached with hide glue. The cords could well be wire rope of some kind, and no other material of that day would do the job.

 

[tylersteez]

The classic old-time friction pair was oak (any kind) running against cast iron. The oak could be faced with vegetable-tanned leather, attached with hide glue. The cords could well be wire rope of some kind, and no other material of that day would do the job.

Very interesting, that sounds like the style from the early 1900's. the reeves transmissions I'm working with are 1960s-1970s so they're a little bit younger of a dinosaur

 

[Garwood]

Why can't you just get any old belt material to suit the power requirements and bolt the wood blocks to it?

 

[tylersteez]

Why can't you just get any old belt material to suit the power requirements and bolt the wood blocks to it?

Time. I have so much on my plate these days that I would rather see if there's still a distributor for them before I have to start completely making them on my own.

Searching "belt material" opens up a can of worms, mostly only see conveyor belts or pant belts. seems like trial and error until I find the right material. these machines run around the clock so I don't really have the available downtime to do research and development.

the couplers would have to be sourced as well.

the wood disintegrates so I'd have to make a bunch of new blocks and drill them out, cut and staple another mystery material to the ends of each block. not hard by any means but still time consuming when each belt has 120+ wooden cogs.

 

[stephen thomas]

Unfortunately all the old time full line industrial suppliers in Baltimore that used to serve the shipyards and industry when i was a kid & survived into the 21st century have been, or are being, shut down since the real estate is now worth a lot more than the business. I searched Baltimore Belting, as they have been a good source for me as recently as a few years ago, but it looks like they are closing too.
Not clear if there is/was an actual expiry date, but if you can still get someone on the phone, they might know if your product still exists in the industry.

Baltimore Belting Co.

Baltimore Belting Co., Baltimore, Maryland. 111 likes. Founded in 1902 Baltimore Belting is an industrial rubber distributor in Baltimore Maryland. Products sold by the company include conveyor...

www.facebook.com

smt

 

[stephen thomas]

I'm dumb enough to consider making them, or parts for them if the specs can be understood.
Best if bolt holes are on 32mm centers. (Looks like they might be)

smt

 

[gbent]

Ag equipment such as combines, as well as other industrial equipment use modern belts like that. You could try an Ag parts supplier such as Shoup, or a belt manufacturer to see if there is an off the shelf modern rubber belt such as you need.

 

[Joe Gwinn]

Very interesting, that sounds like the style from the early 1900's. the reeves transmissions I'm working with are 1960s-1970s so they're a little bit younger of a dinosaur

Yes. Actually, I'd consult the Gates catalog and see if a standard reeves-drive belt will fit well enough.

 

[stephen thomas]

Snowmobile supplies used to be a source as well for some odd sizes.
Though OEM did not always tend to be as price effective as an industrial supply.

 

[surplusjohn]

Conveyor belting is available in many different weights and flexibility. I have seen these belts on 100 year old machines that had really heavy canvas belting. I dont know if they still supply items like this but midway supply in utica NY supplied alot of old plants in the area. We bought leather belting from them way back.

 

[animal12]

Don't know where yer at but a phone call to these folks is pretty cheap .
https://www.cir.net/
California Industrial Rubber
animal

 

[ratbldr427]

We had a rather large PIV that used wooden block chain that we converted to metal chain.If Iremember correctly we made the shafts and ordered the chain and pulleys. It lasted a few years before we scrapped the machine it was on.

 

[tylersteez]

We had a rather large PIV that used wooden block chain that we converted to metal chain.If Iremember correctly we made the shafts and ordered the chain and pulleys. It lasted a few years before we scrapped the machine it was on.

I have seen some of these transmissions "hollowed out" and replaced with chain and sprocket. I actually have one from a smaller machine. The only issue is you are then stuck with a fixed ratio and lose the adjustable speed perk. This is ultimately my last resort but would prefer to maintain the vari-disc design if possible until I can replace it all with motors, gearboxes, and VFD's

 

[tylersteez]

Conveyor belting is available in many different weights and flexibility. I have seen these belts on 100 year old machines that had really heavy canvas belting. I dont know if they still supply items like this but midway supply in utica NY supplied alot of old plants in the area. We bought leather belting from them way back.

They are relatively close, I shot them an email. Thank you

 

[tylersteez]

Snowmobile supplies used to be a source as well for some odd sizes.
Though OEM did not always tend to be as price effective as an industrial supply.

Did a google search, feel like snowmobile track is way too specialized of a belt for any of the companies producing it to deviate from

 

[gbent]

G-Force Recreation Belts

Gates continues to lead the way in Powersport belt innovation, technology and development for today’s recreational and utility all-terrain equipment.

www.gates.com

 

[MCritchley]

Hey guys. We have a few machines that still use the old style Reeves transmissions. We are slowly phasing them out by retrofitting the machines with more modern tech but it takes time and planning. For now I still need to keep these ones running. They typically fail from the wood cogs breaking down (easy fix) or the belt snaps or shreds.

These transmissions use belts that are made of some sort of resin belt material with wooden cogs. We were using a company that would repair and make new belts for us but they closed down. Knowing I would be screwed, I tried getting info about the material used but I guess they still wanted to keep that a secret despite closing down. If I wasn't so busy I would try my hand at playing with materials and making them but I just don't have the time.

I did a few google searches and cant find any suppliers or companies that make them. I've put the word out to a few of my suppliers and it doesn't look good. Hoping someone on here might know somebody.

Milwaukee belt tech makes these belts, give them a call. I think they are still there, their website is down. I did business with them last year, I’m hoping they are still there.

I visited their shop a while back and stopped to look at these weird belts they were making. They had an old horizontal mill with a sanding drum to cut the taper for the belt splice.

 

[stephen thomas]

feel like snowmobile track is way too specialized

Was not suggesting track.
Maybe i'm out of date, not sure about trannies in modern sleds, but the old ones used big reeves drive.
My thought was one more option for sizes.
When the OEM could not provide it anymore, i found a pretty rare size for one of my machines (Diehl Lumber jointer) on an industrial site, though. Rubber options are out there, it just seems to take some searching and luck to find a match since many were produced for one or 2 types of machine and don't have a wider app. Sometimes a big inventory of oddballs end up in one surplus dealers back shelves.

 

[ratbldr427]

I have seen some of these transmissions "hollowed out" and replaced with chain and sprocket. I actually have one from a smaller machine. The only issue is you are then stuck with a fixed ratio and lose the adjustable speed perk. This is ultimately my last resort but would prefer to maintain the vari-disc design if possible until I can replace it all with motors, gearboxes, and VFD's

We converted it to a metal chain and splined pullies as used in the later PIV's,still had the vary speed. The casing may have been when they started to go to metal as I don't remember what we did about the seals as it had an oil filled crank case. It was controlled by a dancer that maintained web tennsion on a Flexo printing press. That was 30 years ago. We changed because the wood block wasn't lasting and availability of the chain. We used to have about 30 PIV's to maintain , however I don't think there are any left as I haven't worked on one in 10 years. Every thing is now electronic drives. As I write this I think I remember we had to make seal retainers. It was a large unit about 3-4 ft tall. Weather it was economical or not , don't know. At that time computers and servos and SS Drives were just coming into our industry. We were converting all our MG sets to Spectrum and Quantum drives as they failed. Now an electronic drive would probably be cheaper that a new PIV if you could even buy one?