VEE BELTS

These are fairly easy to reconise because they look as they are described. The top surface of a vee belt is wider than the bottom drive surface. Some Vee belts will have an inside that looks like they are toothed. These are known as cogged but will still only be found running on a smooth pair of pulleys and not on a toothed or grooved pulley.

Solent Tools Ltd offer a full range of Vee Belts which come in a wide range of widths and lengths. Some Vee belts will also have coatings added such as Kevlar to help give heat resistance. To help you identity your V belt we have listed the most common sizes of V belts for you. As you can see certain types of vee belts are very similar. If you are lucky you will have numbers on your old belt. If not then you will need to measure it.

Vee belts are generally quite straight forward to measure but you need to check the width at the top quite carefully. Due to wear a vee belt will lose some of its width so it’s always worth looking at how high up the pulley the belt sits. Ideally the top surface of the belt should be just above your pulley lip, if it is below then the top edge of the belt has worn. If you can at this point just measure across the pulley where the belt sits. This will give you a fairly accurate idea of the width of belt that you require. The next thing is to measure the depth of your belt and remember it’s the height of the belt and not the length of the side of the belt. Next comes working out how to get the length. Work out the length of a V belt Now even if you have numbers on your belt that can still mean 3 different lengths. A Vee belt can be measured by it’s inside length, it’s overall length and also it’s cord length (working length). If your belt has snapped then just measure it end to end. This will give you the La measurement. If your belt is still in use and you don’t want to cut it in half to measure it then if practical make it as good a circle as possible and measure across from the inside edge to the inside edge. With this diameter measurement multiply it by 3.142 and you will have the Li measurement of the belt. If your belt is too large for this then you may have to run a soft tape around the outside of the belt to give you the La measurement. Whatever method you use as long as you let us know we should be able to work out the belt you require. Take a look at our vee belt page and you may be able to tell us the style of vee belt you require.

A SECTION  W = 13MM  h = 8MM 

A section vee belts are probably the most common vee belt you will come across. From a car fan belt to a lawn mower they are used. However depending on the use will depend on the type you require. Solent Tools offer a full range of Kevlar coated A section vee belts for use where a belt is released from driving but may still be in contact with a pulley. The Kevlar protects the belt from heat due to friction. Commonly you would use these belts on self propelled lawn mowers or ride on lawn mowers. You may need what some call a muscle belt which is heavily strengthened to allow a jockey wheel to push against the back of the belt without causing damage. If you have a small drive pulley to go around such as under  4″ then it’s worth asking about our cogged A section belts. The inside of the belt looks like a toothed belt in many ways and allows the drive belt to go around small pulleys without getting squeezed which can cause cracking after a period of time. If your machine runs with more than one belt sharing the same pulleys then don’t forget to let us know so we can make sure we supply same batch numbered drive belts. In fact never only change one belt on a multi belt pulley machine as you will soon find that one of your belts will be slipping and getting damaged from the moment you only fitted one belt. There is also what are known as banded drive belts which are probably the best way to go on a multi belt pulley system if possible. Banded drive belts offer immense drive power while almost guaranteeing that your drive belt cannot slip or roll over during heavy use.  What ever A section vee belt is best for your use Solent Tools can supply.   

B SECTION  W = 17MM  h = 11MM 

C SECTION  W = 22MM  h = 14MM

K SECTION  W = 8MM  h = 6MM   

Z SECTION  W = 10MM  h = 6MM

SPA SECTION  W = 13MM  h = 10MM 

SPB SECTION  W = 16MM  h = 13MM 

SPC SECTION  W = 22MM  h = 18MM

SPZ SECTION  W = 10MM  h = 8MM

This list of drive belt types in by no means conclusive and of course each type of drive belt has a wide range of variants. This could be not only material but in strength and quality depending on your requirements. At Solent Tools we offer one of the widest range Drive Belts so no matter what your requirement why not give us a call.

Depending on what you need the drive belt for may effect your choice of Vee belt. If you need a belt for a lawn mower you will may decide that a Kevlar coated belt would be a good choice. Alternatively if you need a belt for your lathe and it’s the first time in living memory that you can remember changing the drive belt then a standard belt will probably do. Many manufacturers of drive belts add confusion by giving their range of belts complicated trade names and will bore you with a list of their wonderful properties. At Solent Tools we will look at each customers requirement and advise on a suitable drive belt from there. Of course there are times when the belt that you require has been specified by the machines manufacturer. Once we know the brand specified we will research the belt and look for other options that will match your requirements.