Drive belt stitching advice

[Gragson]

Background is that had a flat belt stitched with an overlap by a guy on a HD sewing machine for pillar drill, works fine but don't like the small but noticeable step which over time guessing will not be good bearing etc wise. He will not butt stitch them.

I want to have a go at hand stitch them myself.
Material is about 2mm thick, close weave webbing, ends are about 25mm, buying a sewing machine is out.
Sewing forums and google have not helped.

Anyone have any idea what best sort of needle and thread type I need to get?

Clearly I will burn seal / square the cuts

 

[Beanwood]

I'd imagine that's going to be tricky.
He probably can't butt join unless he has a zigzag heavy duty machine - and they're fairly uncommon (And expensive)
I'd have thought you'd be better off trying to skive the ends, to reduce the step rather than butt join? (I doubt it'd work well though - the webbing is thin - perhaps you could use heat to flatten it?)

 

[MattF]

Melt & join, & press between two sheets of something to flatten the joint before it cools?

 

[Erie Fred]

Maybe just heat weld them together ?

 

[Agroshield]

When it comes to flat leather drive belts, the joining technique is known as 'lacing' as a rawhide lace was used. Googling 'leather belt lacing' might give you some ideas.

Just a taster:

Lacing Leather Belts - VintageMachinery.org Knowledge Base (Wiki)

wiki.vintagemachinery.org

All that said, your belt is not leather and I do not know how lacing would work in a woven item.

 

[EEEK]

back in the day the used metal things to join flat belts....dont know what they would be called

https://www.forestry-memories.org.uk/pictures/large/1077.jpg?r=1182386

 

[Agroshield]

back in the day the used metal things to join flat belts....dont know what they would be called

Alligator belt joiners. 'Alligator' is akin to Hoover - a brand name that has become a type description. The difficulty with that type is there is an audible 'click' every time the joint goes over a pulley. A sewn joint is much quieter.

 

[slim_boy_fat]

Calling @mrsbruce for her knowledge.

 

[Gragson]

The original was butt stitched, but had to be reduced due to new motor etc.
Pic below, I "might" have a pic of the OE stitching pattern but unlikely..
This makes the clunk, it's not viscous but audible - so clearly not good overtime, and tad annoying.

I'm not sure melt joining will work, brittleness, stress and curvature travel will give the joint a hard time.

the webbing is thin - perhaps you could use heat to flatten it?)

I'd have to go careful but that could well improve the step - good tip thanks

I've got 5 belts worth of material so really up for trying to butt stitch with needle and thread if I knew what to get (and a big thimble)
I've never sewn anything in my life, didn't stop me making a mess welding either.

 

[tom2207]

try a chandlers look for a sews awl , or sews all ,,, do a couple of longer runs of stitches and a few shorter ones , why not try a multiv belt on backwards and rig up a tension er or a camshaft drive belt on backwards

or cut both ends at an angle and spread the stitches over a longer distance so the clunk is gentlly fed in

 

[outofthefire]

Just get a leather needle and thread I use this stuff

https://www.artisanleather.co.uk/08mm-waxed-polyester-threads.html

You shouldn't need a thimble, pliers sometimes. A lot will depend on how strong the melted ends are.

 

[timgunn1962]

Butt the ends together and sew another bit onto the outside? It won't be ideal because it'll be thicker/stiffer where there's a double thickness, but it should be better without the step and it's easy to try if you've got the material.

 

[mrsbruce]

Is that standard HD webbing you are using. You can hand stitch it with a reasonable heavy needle, but I’m not sure what kind of strength melted together ends alone will have. You could do a loop stitch, something like the stapes on the big leather drive belts, but in a heavy thread. That might hold well, but webbing does love to unravel at a drop of a hat, though.

Sewing webbing for strength usually needs some kind of overlap, usually a stitched box then cross to give strength. Just a thought, if thickness isn’t critical, could using two straps stitched together, like a continuous circle smooth out the join. Or would that just produce two clicks. Just thinking out loud.

 

[mrsbruce]

Butt the ends together and sew another bit onto the outside? It won't be ideal because it'll be thicker/stiffer where there's a double thickness, but it should be better without the step and it's easy to try if you've got the material.

Sort of what he said.

 

[Stupoty]

There is guidance in the "machinery's handbook" type books , you need the pre 1960's ones , if you stitch the belts wrong they pull to one side and do funny things (yeah totally does ) There are example pasterns that work well.


Stu

 

[Beanwood]

Sewing webbing for strength usually needs some kind of overlap, usually a stitched box then cross to give strength. Just a thought, if thickness isn’t critical, could using two straps stitched together, like a continuous circle smooth out the join. Or would that just produce two clicks. Just thinking out loud.

I'm with @mrsbruce here - two thicknesses may be the option. Your pal can then sew the entire thing length to appear like a double thickness belt - but there will still be a minor bump when the start and end overlap the middle belt.

The other thing I was thinking - there's two ways you can have the belt driving. 'Loose' edge leading, or 'Loose' edge trailing. I presume the latter would be smoother.

 

[Spark plug]

What about a more modern flat belt that can be bonded with an almost invisible join, or do you want to keep the originality?

 

[500e]

Got an endless flat belt made by Fenner for the Colchester was some synthetic material.

 

[frank horton]

the slaping joint on overlap wont hurt the bearing but may drive u nuts.......
the join would hit the pulley in different place due to gearing......
dont know how u expect grip from that kinda belt anyway.......
as said above get a modern multi ribbed belt and run it inside out...

 

[Ton-up]

If its for a pillar drill (cant really see by your photo) do you actually need a joined belt?? A made to measure endless belt is not that much and will be quieter.
If so, I have several spares here, what length do you need?