Gallery, Projects and General > How do I??

Making pulleys (sheaves)

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AdeV:
Many thanks everyone!

 :nrocks:

Matt - Yes, I know aluminium (like all materials except H2O) shrinks when it freezes... I didn't know the percentage though, thanks! Not as bad as Machinable Wax then, that's about 5% IIRC. Maybe more. SERIOUS shrinkage...

wgw - interesting idea; isn't it a bit tricky getting the two halves properly concentric though? Mind you, I like your idea because it would allow you to make a variable pitch pulley with ease... that is where the groove width can be adjusted (usually by screwing one half into or away from the other half), thus fine-tuning the ratios... definitely one to consider! Thanks!

Phil, as soon as I'm off the slow boat from China, I'll drop you a line! Don't know when that will be yet, probably another month or two. Not sure where I'm going to put any of this stuff... the workshop looks like it's been hit by 1/2 dozen cyclones, a hurricane and a fairly severe earthquake at the moment... it's going to take a solid week of work just to get to some of the machines!

John - I've heard about dumbell weights (well, strictily speaking, weightlifting weights), wasn't the consensus these days that the metal was so poor it was positively dangerous to machine? I'm thinking of cast iron weights, I don't suppose there'd be any point making aluminium ones...

Pete - someone's selling one on Amazon. £14.50!! Now that's inflation for you.... I'll keep a lookout for a more reasonably priced example I think.

MC - I'm going to give that a go right now, thanks for the link!

AdeV:

--- Quote from: mc on April 10, 2017, 06:23:36 PM ---The easy option to calculate pulleys/belts which will eliminate any guesswork, is to download Gates Design Flex software, put in the figures, select the belt type(s) you'd like to use, and it will come up with various combinations.

Download page is http://www.gates.com/catalogs-and-resources/resources/repository/engineering-business-applications/design-flex
There is a mobile version, but I've never used it, so I have no idea if it's as in depth as the download version.

--- End quote ---

Heh, many thanks for that link, it made the process almost boring! It found a perfect match anyway, 180mm and 132mm pulleys are a dead nuts fit for my requirements. They're not even particularly stupidly expensive... although I reckon I'll still have a go at casting them myself.

Thanks again for the link!

mc:
Gates DF Pro is a revelation the first time you use it. You used to have to jump through various hoops to be able to download it, but now it's a straight download.

It's brilliant for seeing what belt/pulley combinations will/won't work for my latest daft ideas. Stick in the power required, ratio or speeds, shaft sizes, centre distance, and you get a list of possible solutions. Then for each solution you get the full design details, with part numbers, safety margins, and any other notes. Gone are the days of guessing what belt size is needed, and I particularly like the fact it tells you how much adjustment you need to be able to get belts on/off.

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