Griff
(Well crap, my hypometric precursor device is blown…)
18
FWIW.
I’ve about depleted my supply of steel belts. Been using them for about a year and a half. Will be switching to kevlar reinforced.
My experience has been the steel belts seem to become work hardened in the sections that are most used I.e. if you tend to work your projects in the same general area of your wasteboard. At first they appear to twist up a bit even though still quite tight. I’ve learned this is the time to replace them.
So, it’s nice to not have to deal with belt stretch and recalibration every few months. But, for me, I don’t get as much use out of steel belts. We’ll see how the kevlar belts work out.
One final note, I suspect there may be a range of quality from the various suppliers. I only sampled one.
There is a much smaller window for proper tension on the steel cores. Ive had very good luck running a little on the "loose"end of the scale.
Any twisting indicates partial core failure and they require a daily inspection. My belt life is at least 8 months per set and have been able to hold sub 0.005 tolerance without step adjustments.
Big crashes might have a part in belt life. This might be where the kevlar shines. Interested to hear your thoughts on them @griff and I’ll probably order some soon too.
Gates claims “The entire PowerGrip® GT®3 belt range is suited both for new drive designs as for performance upgrades on existing drives. It has two times the rating of competitive RPP® belts and its predecessors PowerGrip® GT® and HTD®, with the largest selection of belts and sprockets in the industry.” Has anyone tried/evaluated them (or even Gates brand GT2 belts)?
Last time [how] I read it, GT3 is not compatible with GT2 pulleys, and trying to source GT3 2mm pitch 9-10mm width pulleys was proving difficult (year or more ago)
I bought Gates-branded GT2 belts from SDP/SI along w/ pulleys back when I upgraded my SO3 to 9mm belting, and bought extra for the XL upgrade — still holding up well (when Carbide 3D sent me steel core belts I put them on my SO3).
From that, I was probably mistaken. Sounds like GT3 generation belts work with GT2 generation sprockets/pulleys, and gen 3 pulleys don’t exist
It however didn’t seem like Gates offers other reinforcement outside of fiberglass, so don’t see much gain outside of quality and lifespan. Still would have the same/similar elongation characteristics; For me it be more worth it with steel or kevlar options.
Griff
(Well crap, my hypometric precursor device is blown…)
26
I hadn’t realized that. Good to know as I def tighten mine to the max. May have been the problem.
Just wanted to let @Griff know that the cost has tripled for gt2 kevlar belts from the supplier in the Netherlands, at least regarding the price @DanStory paid for his in January compared to just last week when I ordered some…
I’ve noticed the same…
To avoid the $10 upcharge on orders under $30 with SDP/SI you need to buy 5 belts and the closest they offer are 516mm and 524mm. This puts the grand total, after shipping, at $43 for 5 belts and most of them aren’t even in stock. If I knew which (516mm or 524mm) to get I could order 2 or 3 along with several meters of 9mm to avoid the $10 upcharge…
Very frustrating trying to source a quality Z belt from a domestic supplier.
The machine originally used 524 (or maybe it was 528?) belts, so the 524 should be okay. 516 will work as well, just won’t afford as much adjustment — they were out of both when I ordered, so still on the second set of belts I was sent.
IMO buying them from Texas Belting rather than SDP/SI would be wise. Unlike SDP/SI, they don’t obfuscate Gates’ part numbers and apparently have more stock.
Assuming you’re talking about Gates’ belts, rather than Kevlar.
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Griff
(Well crap, my hypometric precursor device is blown…)
32
As soon as I decipher the part numbers I’ll be ordering some GT3 from Texas Belting. Thanks @gmack.
The first group of three numbers is the total length of material in millimeters and the last group of two is the width. The 528-2MGT-06 belt shown in the posted cart should be right for the Z-Azis - right @WillAdams? The length of the 9mm belts (which will need to be cut) will be dependent on the Shapeoko size. I don’t know what’s right for them.
Are the gates belts currently available at sdp/si higher quality belts than the fiberglass reinforced belts that were being shipped with shapeokos back in Dec 2018/Jan 2019? I switched to steel cores and have had problems with them like @Griff.
