[endo47]

Congratulations on your new toy. I'm looking forward to your build. I have one like it and always looking for new ideas. Have fun and I sure admire your RC work.
Ron E.

[skray775]

Thinking about the belt drive tonight and I have read a lot of threads on the subject. Some are placing belts inside the head, others above the head.

Most threads I have been reading the builders are attaching the pulley to the final gear shaft that the spindle shaft rides in.

To me it seems simpler to eliminate all of that and mount a double pulley directly to the spindle shaft. I could secure it with 4 set screws that would key into the splines, 2 on each side. I would make a new top plate from 6061 aluminum.

I would think that since the spindle shaft bearings are placed far enough apart they could support the side load of the belt without much problem? I would use V belts to start and maybe change over to a toothed belt later to reduce the side load on the bearings

I would think the pulley could also be used as a flange for a the power draw bar mechanism to pull up against when in compression mode.

The first picture shows the pulley I made for my other machine. The second picture shows an aluminum blank on the spindle shaft of the new mill.