1050 belt keeps falling off!

[Dripfree]

So the belt keeps falling off my 1050. I used to have to take it apart about once a month and put it back on, but now that I got an sio2pc its getting a lot more use. Now I got to put it back on about every other day. The belt seems good to me its a tight fit not really any stretch to it. I think the flywheel may have a little lean to it that causes the belt to slowly walk off. The big fly wheel that it turns has no lip to keep it on. I was wondering how common of a problem this is. I'm considering cutting a circle slightly larger then the flywheel (plastic, maybe cardboard) and gluing it to the bottom of the flywheel this would give it a lip to hold the belt on. I thought I'd consult the gurus of atariage before attempting this in case this is a very bad idea. Perhaps it would throw off the balance in some way and kill the drive. My 1050 works great otherwise just getting sick of opening it up every couple days.

[atari8warez]

I owned several 1050s (and currently do have 6) and none of them had belt slipping problem. The belts usually start to crumble and break due to age.The flywheel, unless you previously tried to disassemble it is unlikely to be the reason (is there any accumulation of dirt or corrosion on it?). I would say change the belt with a new one, even if no stretch is visible. How old is the belt by the way. If it's the original belt, I'd say definitely change it before trying to mod the flywheel.

Edited May 6, 2013 by atari8warez

[Dripfree]

I've done a quick search for new belt sources. None on ebay at the moment. Best electronics has them. Anyone ever order from them? Their site seems kinda dated. It looks like sales just get negotiated over email. Do they use Paypal? Anyway I got to say the belt really looks good to me. Its nice soft smooth rubber not even a crack in it. The store I got mt atari from told me that it was "professionally cleaned and restored". I never really believed that because I've cleaned about 50 vintage systems and I do better work then their "professionals". Also the 1050 didn't work when I got it home. I decided to open it up and take a look and guess what! The belt had fallen off! I have read a lot of stories about what happens to these belts over time and judging by how good mine looks I think they may have replaced it..... Anyway the fly wheel may have some corrosion about 50% of the wheel looks like clean smooth aluminum the other 50% look a little darker, but still not very bad. You really can't feel any difference in smoothness when running your finger over the different areas. I was assuming that this drive sat for a long time. The part of the wheel covered by the belt was protected while the rest got slightly oxidized. If this oxidation was my problem what could be done? If I did need to replace the wheel would it hurt for me to see if gluing the lip on worked first?

[russg]

I've done a quick search for new belt sources. None on ebay at the moment. Best electronics has them. Anyone ever order from them? Their site seems kinda dated. It looks like sales just get negotiated over email. Do they use Paypal? Anyway I got to say the belt really looks good to me. Its nice soft smooth rubber not even a crack in it. The store I got mt atari from told me that it was "professionally cleaned and restored". I never really believed that because I've cleaned about 50 vintage systems and I do better work then their "professionals". Also the 1050 didn't work when I got it home. I decided to open it up and take a look and guess what! The belt had fallen off! I have read a lot of stories about what happens to these belts over time and judging by how good mine looks I think they may have replaced it..... Anyway the fly wheel may have some corrosion about 50% of the wheel looks like clean smooth aluminum the other 50% look a little darker, but still not very bad. You really can't feel any difference in smoothness when running your finger over the different areas. I was assuming that this drive sat for a long time. The part of the wheel covered by the belt was protected while the rest got slightly oxidized. If this oxidation was my problem what could be done? If I did need to replace the wheel would it hurt for me to see if gluing the lip on worked first?

I think your belt may not be the proper belt. It should be a thin, flat belt, about 4 mm wide. It is so wide that if it started to come off, it would hit the top or bottom of the housing. If your belt can slip off above or below the

wheel, it is too narrow a belt. I could be wrong.

Edited May 7, 2013 by russg

[Dripfree]

That does sound like an accurate description of my belt, however there is plenty of room top and bottom for this belt to fall off. I have read that there is a difference between Hong Kong and Singapore made 1050's. Mine happens to be Hong Kong. Perhaps you have seen the Singapore version and that one has less room for belt movement? Also not that this makes a difference but I now have noticed that I was wrong on my assumption of how the flywheel got corrosion. I manually turned it with the belt on and I see now that the corroded area is actually the part that was covered by the belt. There is a position where the corrosion is completely covered by the belt and the clean area is perfectly exposed. The corroded area is actually about 70% of the wheel while the clean area is 30%. Still I must point out this corrosion is very minimal seemed to change the color but not bad enough to change the texture.

Edited May 7, 2013 by Dripfree

[Dripfree]

Hmmm. That must be a Singapore because mine don't look like that. I see that housing almost completely covers the flywheel where my flywheel is completely exposed. It's to bad because if mine was built like that I don't think I'd be having this problem!

Edited May 7, 2013 by Dripfree

[russg]

Hmmm. That must be a Singapore because mine don't look like that. I see that housing almost completely covers the flywheel where my flywheel is completely exposed. It's to bad because if mine was built like that I don't think I'd be having this problem!

It is a Tandon. People here know the mech manufacturers. Yes, Tandon is Singapore.

Edited May 7, 2013 by russg

[Bryan]

There aren't a lot of places that still have Tandon belts. I'd order two and keep the 2nd one in its sealed bag.

[1050]

Hmmm. That must be a Singapore because mine don't look like that. I see that housing almost completely covers the flywheel where my flywheel is completely exposed. It's to bad because if mine was built like that I don't think I'd be having this problem!

This will be an old school solution but it will work just the same. By old school I mean from the days of John Deere's driving threshing machines with flat belts and keeping them on. That secret lost to time is that one wants to use a pulley that is NOT perfectly flat but rather domed in the center and then the belt will always be trying to crawl up on top of the dome and thus keep itself centered on the pulley all by itself. Odd behavior but that's exactly how it works all day long.

 

You need to cut some masking tape or painter's tape skinnier than your belt and then place one layer of it dead center of where you want your belt to run and the belt will crawl up on top of it and stay put forever more. You'll need to set your RPM possibly. One third as wide as your belt should be about right for one layer. It might be easier to put the tape on the pulley first and cut away what you don't want with a razor blade or similar using the pulley bearings as a sort of lathe. A file could be used to trim down the diameter of the pulley top and bottom minutely and get similar results, perhaps better. I've never had to do it myself so not much further help here.

[+kheller2]

Hmmm. That must be a Singapore because mine don't look like that. I see that housing almost completely covers the flywheel where my flywheel is completely exposed. It's to bad because if mine was built like that I don't think I'd be having this problem!

 

Sounds like you have Word Storage Technology (ies?) WST drive. I have one as well that the belt would fall off. Only after cleaning off the big wheel of corrosion and putting on a new belt did the problem stop. The belt would typically come off just as you were closing the drive door to apply pressure to the spindle. WST belts are different than Tandon, be warned.

[Dripfree]

This will be an old school solution but it will work just the same. By old school I mean from the days of John Deere's driving threshing machines with flat belts and keeping them on.

This made sense to me. I had a big ole bag of rubber bands. I found a very small and thin rubber band that when streatched around the center of my flywheel it seems to give it this domed effect. So far its working but its too soon to say I'll let you know if my drive blows up.

[Paul Westphal]

I have a guy in lompoc CA that repairs my drives. Paul Alhart 805-588-2013. He fixed my Indus gt and is now working on my Percom at88spd. He is a nice guy and does great work.