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Knowledge You Can Build On — Est. 1998

General 160 spindle problem

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General 160 spindle problem

#1

Darrell in Oakville

General 160 spindle problem

Darrell in Oakville

>Rats. I *thought* I had posted this to the Turning forum, and it went into Messages instead. So here is a repeat. Sorry about that...

Howdy folks,

I'm an occasional poster on the handtools forum, but now I have a problem with my lathe, so I'm looking here for some help...

I have a General 160 with the variable speed on it. The belt needs changing. And I cannot get the spindle out of the headstock. I have the manual, and I've done what I was supposed to do, remove the bearing covers, remove the outboard nut, remove the pulley set screw, and try to tap the spindle out. but those sleeves on the spindle are stuck. I've tapped and tapped, applied penetrating oil and tapped and tapped, many times a day over the last 4 days. Nothing moves. I guess the propane torch is next, along with more tapping (but without spraying more highly flammable penetrating oil around ;^)

If this fails and I cannot get the spindle out, can I try a link belt? Or will that weird variable speed pully arrangement eat the link belt? Has anyone tried a link belt on one of these pulley systems?

As far as I can tell the headstock bearings are OK, no play or noise from them.

Darrell

Wood Hoarder, Blade Sharpener, and Occasional Tool User

Re: General 160 spindle problem

#2

Re: General 160 spindle problem

JamieDonaldson

>Forget all the tinkering and install the link belt! I've had them top& bottom on my Lil'Gen for many years with better than new performance. They make a little red dust at first but really smoooooth out the vibrations better than the original belts.

Re: General 160 spindle problem

#3

Re: General 160 spindle problem

Big Mike

>Horrible problem!... Un-fixable... I will be glad to drop by to haul that thing off for you.... Free! Even be willing to leave my HF lath so you have something to use...

I am willing to do Such a nice gesture to usher in the New Year... You know... Random acts of kindness.

Big Mike

Re: General 160 spindle problem

#4

Re: General 160 spindle problem

Bruce in N.B. Canada

>Darrell do as Jamie suggested, get a segmented belt and forget about pulling the head stock apart. I have that very same lathe here and replaced the stock "V" belt a couple of years ago with a segmented belt as its doing a fine job. Watch out when you install it as they are designed to run in one direction only, there are little arrows marked on the links indicating the preferred direction. I have installed a reversing switch for sanding on my 160 and so far it hasen't caused any problems with wear or vibration while running in reverse.

Good luck

Bruce in Saint John, N.B.

Re: General 160 spindle problem

#5

Re: General 160 spindle problem

oubaasjohn

>Aijay jay. Yes I had to pull one of the school general lathes apart to install a belt and ended up stripping something that was left threaded (I thought it was right threaded) It ended up costing quite a bit to fix all the mess I had made getting the spindle out. (Not something I have ever admitted was my fault)

So go with the link belt - I used one on another lathe and it worked fine, though it did not have an expaning pulley speed changer.

Good luck

Re: General 160 spindle problem

#6

Leo Van Der Loo

Re: General 160 spindle problem

Leo Van Der Loo

>Darrell, put that lathe back together and install the link belt as Jamie and Bruce suggest, I have 2 belts on my lathe one is a standard V belt and the other one is a link belt (belts are on motor to jack shaft and jack shaft to head stock) and even so I turn both directions outboard, the link belt only squeals a bit when I take a large cut in the wrong direction, the V belt has been replaced once in the meantime and the link belt is still looking good and going strong, when the V belt wears out again I will replace that one with a link belt also, even so that I can just slip an other V belt on, the link belts do cut down the vibration and last a long time.

have fun and take care

Leo V

Re: General 160 spindle problem

#7

Darrell in Oakville

Thanks, link belt installed

Darrell in Oakville

>Well, it seems the link belt was a popular idea, so after dinner I popped in to my local Lee Valley store and bought some link belt.

The lathe runs smooth and quiet now. My wife was complaining about the noise and vibration last week when she was turning some Xmas ornaments. She asked me to fix it before she starts her next batch of pens. Hmmm... I better turn a few pens myself, seeing as my brothers and my Dad's birthdays are coming up in the next month! But first, I gotta finish that windsor chair.

Thanks loads for the advice and wisdom, you guys are great.

Darrell

Wood Hoarder, Blade Sharpener, and Occasional Tool User