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Squeaking in Powermatic 3520C belt/pulleys?

Jon Rista

Jon Rista

Joined
Jul 30, 2021
Messages
849
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Location
Aurora, CO
I purchased a Powermatic 3520C in February 2022. It arrived a few weeks later, but I wasn't able to set it up for a few months due to space limitations, and I eventually sold my Laguna to make space. Since setting it up, the only noise the lathe has ever made is the sound of the motor, mostly at higher speeds where it gets a bit noisy (I guess the motor is designed to suck in air to cool things down.)

I haven't turned since spring, and started turning again over the last few days, and I've noticed that there seems to be a squeak in the pulleys or belt now. I've never heard it before. I had loosed the tension on the pulley back in, mid may I think it was, since I figured I wouldn't be able to turn for a while. I've been adjusting the tension to see if that would help, to no avail. Too tight and I start to hear a click from the bearings, so I've backed it off a bit.

The pulley does not look damaged in any way...it still looks quite new, in fact, and its only been used on and off over the last three years or so here. The pulleys seem tight, no play.

Wondering if anyone has any ideas here as to what might be causing the squeaking, and how to resolve it. Everything seems to work fine, I don't believe there is any power loss for any reason. Its more of an audible annoyance than anything else, but, I also want to make sure this isn't the beginning of something that will lead to other problems in the future as well.

FWIW, the weather is colder now. We get down into the 30s or low 40s at night, and during the day it may only reach 60. However I've never heard this squeaking before as far as I can recall, and I guess I turn more during the colder months than warmer.

Thanks!
 
Hi Jon. Try popping the belt off the pulleys and run the motor. Still squeaking, it's a motor issue.

If it only squeaks when the belt is on and tensioned, maybe the pulleys are slightly out of alignment. A straight edge touching pulley faces can help determine that.

If all else fails, hardware and auto parts stores sell spray or stick belt dressing material that may knock down the squeaks.
 
Steve Tiedman said:
Hi Jon. Try popping the belt off the pulleys and run the motor. Still squeaking, it's a motor issue.

If it only squeaks when the belt is on and tensioned, maybe the pulleys are slightly out of alignment. A straight edge touching pulley faces can help determine that.

If all else fails, hardware and auto parts stores sell spray or stick belt dressing material that may knock down the squeaks.
Click to expand...

Thanks Steve. Tested with the belt off, definitely the belt. As far as I can tell, the pulleys are as aligned as well I can see with my eyesight. I hadn't thought of automotive belt dressing, I'll give that a try.

It actually only seems to occur with the RPM is below about 1000rpm. Higher than that, and the squeaking stops. The slower the speed, the more pronounced, until the RPM is just a couple hundred RPM when it reaches its max. Hopefully the belt dressing will do the trick!
 
Good to hear (pardon the pun) that the motor can be ruled out. Hopefully it's just a cantankerous belt in need of a little love. I can't really think of it being spindle bearings, not if the noise is limited to a particular rpm zone. Well, good luck!
 
Steve Tiedman said:
Good to hear (pardon the pun) that the motor can be ruled out. Hopefully it's just a cantankerous belt in need of a little love. I can't really think of it being spindle bearings, not if the noise is limited to a particular rpm zone. Well, good luck!
Click to expand...
I don't think its bearings. With the belt off spinning the spindle makes zero noise, and the motor and lower pulley and all just have motor noise. Going to pick up something today to try and help with the belt.
 
That happened to me also. In my case it turned out that the belt wasn't centered on the pully. It was off by one groove. Once I moved it, the squeak stopped.
 
Scott Hoefs said:
That happened to me also. In my case it turned out that the belt wasn't centered on the pully. It was off by one groove. Once I moved it, the squeak stopped.
Click to expand...

Checked that... I think its centered, but it is kind of hard to tell... I wonder if it is just slightly off, that the side of the belt ridges are rubbing the sides of the grooves...

BTW, that fish in your avatar photo is huge. Flounder?
 
I had the same squeak in m 3520c. Tried aligning the pulleys and belt dressing. Didn’t help. I ordered a new belt. I haven’t installed the new belt, because the squeak went away on its own before I got around to it.
 
Mike Novak said:
I had the same squeak in m 3520c. Tried aligning the pulleys and belt dressing. Didn’t help. I ordered a new belt. I haven’t installed the new belt, because the squeak went away on its own before I got around to it.
Click to expand...

I've been trying to avoid getting a new belt. As far as I know, it would require pulling the spindle assembly apart to install, right?
 
I would also check the belt tension. Sometimes people crank down on the lever whose purpose in life is to lift the motor to loosen and change the belts. Jet/PM said the proper tension is from the weight of the motor alone, no need to apply down force to the lever. To much force can do bad things like reduce bearing life.

Besides the belt dressing, a dusting of baby powder might help. I prefer to use pure powered talc without the scent and other ingredients, available from Amazon.

BTW, talc is also excellent for preserving machined and smoothed cast iron surfaces. When rubbed into the surface the fine talk fills even microscopic pores to prevent corrosion from moisture AND make a nice surface for sliding wood. I learned that from a Danish equpment maker - I have a Robland cast-iron slider on my PM-66.

After using a slider, you simply can't go back.

JKJ
 
John K Jordan said:
I would also check the belt tension. Sometimes people crank down on the lever whose purpose in life is to lift the motor to loosen and change the belts. Jet/PM said the proper tension is from the weight of the motor alone, no need to apply down force to the lever. To much force can do bad things like reduce bearing life.

Besides the belt dressing, a dusting of baby powder might help. I prefer to use pure powered talc without the scent and other ingredients, available from Amazon.

BTW, talc is also excellent for preserving machined and smoothed cast iron surfaces. When rubbed into the surface the fine talk fills even microscopic pores to prevent corrosion from moisture AND make a nice surface for sliding wood. I learned that from a Danish equpment maker - I have a Robland cast-iron slider on my PM-66.

After using a slider, you simply can't go back.

JKJ
Click to expand...
I use motor weight tension, for sure. I don't like cranking down on it as that just puts more load on the motor and bearings. I try to avoid any belt bowing or slippage, but with the size of the powermatic motor, just letting the motor weight settle before locking seems to do the trick plenty well.

I actually also tried loosening it a bit, then even more, and it changes the pitch of the squeaking a little, but it doesn't stop it. As far as I can tell, the belt is aligned on the pulley. I'm going to try and get a light in there, and get a photo of the actual interface of the belt to the pulley with my phone, and see if there is any misalignment.

Thanks for the tip on the talc... I tried a few searches to see if I could buy any locally, and mostly came up with the automotive belt conditioner. However I did come across two other options. First was "tire talc" which sounds like talcum powder. Then of course were all the beauty products. Not sure about beauty products, or baby powder...especially if scented, not sure I want those other compounds on my machinery? Think the tire talc would do?

One question about the talc though. This won't increase the chances of slippage?

On sliders, I have seen them in action aplenty in youtube videos. ;D I would love a proper table saw, let alone one that had a nice slider on it. I simply have no room at the moment though. There is a woodworker, Nick Pedulla, I absolutely LOVE his work. He has some top notch equipment and his table saw has a slider. I just LOVE watching that guy work, and love watching his saw in action. Things of beauty. His work is exceptional...
 
Jon Rista said:
One question about the talc though. This won't increase the chances of slippage?

On sliders, I have seen them in action aplenty in youtube videos. ;D I would love a proper table saw, let alone one that had a nice slider on it. I simply have no room at the moment though. There is a woodworker, Nick Pedulla, I absolutely LOVE his work. He has some top notch equipment and his table saw has a slider. I just LOVE watching that guy work, and love watching his saw in action. Things of beauty. His work is exceptional...
Click to expand...

I don't think those belts with all the grooves will slip easily. I wouldn't hesitate to experiment with dusting a bit of baby powder - it's mostly talc, cornstarch, and scent. A decade ago I bought a shaker bottle with 3-lifetime supply of unscented Silver Cup Billiard/Poll Premium Talc Powder.

If you want a bigger shop with the PM with slider, 8" PM jointer, planer, drum sander, bandsaw, lathes, 5hp 60gal compressor and Clearvue DC in a sound-insulated closet, welding shop, machine shop, maintenance bays with rollup doors, central HVAC, broadband ethernet, a huge wood storage area on a dead-end road with a security gate, barn, and timberframe house - prob throw in the tractor, excavator, skidsteer, and big diesel mowers - just wait a few years until I feel old enough to sell this place. Bring your horses and llamas - plenty of fencing and pastures. Oh, if you like close neighbors who make a lot of noise this might not be for you - when leaves are out I can't see any other houses or the road. And more hardwood trees than one person could count in a week.

The saw comes with an Excalibur overarm cover and dust pickup. Practically new - I made a few cabinets and things but now it holds up my photo cube.
1762897269461.jpeg
JKJ
 
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