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Super easy way to make a small drive belt (or O-ring)

5K views 8 replies 9 participants last post by  ajmexico 
#1 ·
In a recent post about making pulleys I mentioned that I was going to make a drive belt for them and said I would show you how I do that. This technique could also be used to make an emergency O-ring of any size.

For my drive belt I used 2mm O-ring cord that I stretched between my pulleys and marked the spot to cut. Cutting was done with an exacto knife but a razor blade or utility knife would work as well.

Now, here’s the easy but surprising part: a tiny drop of superglue is applied to one end of the cord and then the other end is pressed against it for about a minute. When the glue has set you have a drive belt and/or O-ring.

I made a small test ring first and when it worked I moved on to my longer belt. The small belt is about 1 3/4” when measured between the two legs of a caliper. I was able to stretch it to over 2 3/8” without the join giving way.

[Sorry the close-up photo is the join is so blurry, I couldn’t get my phone to focus on it.]

There is enough stretch in the belt to give me the tension I need to drive the pulleys and it’s easy to make another if needed. Maybe you’ll find this technique helpful someday. The O-ring cord came from … (where else?) … Amazon.
 

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