Love of lathes.

[Yorkie]

I wouldn't have thought that adhesives such as CA ('Super Glue'), Gorilla Glue, Titebond, CA, and the like would be any use at all for joining a leather belt which has to flex in both directions hundreds of times a minute for hours on end. They may all be find for bonding leather onto materials such as wood, plastic, metal and leather to leather, but only in situations where once bonded, the joint isn't then continuously flexed but stays put. They're all rigid when set, and if flexed, I think that such adhesives will fracture into a series of cracks and destroy the integrity of the joint. It seems to me that whatever adhesive is used it would need to be flexible and the only ones that immediately come to mind are Copydex, Evostik, UHU and the like. I'm not saying that any of those would be well suited and I'd also imagine that adhesive on its own without stitching wouldn't last for long. Even 'barge cement' used by saddlers would I think, in most situations be stitched - not simply glued.

In more austere times when people used to walk rather than use cars, and couldn't afford to pay a cobbler to re-sole their shoes, 'Stik-a-soles' were commonplace, which came with a flexible adhesive to bond the plastic soles to the original leather soles of the shoes, and had to flex. If you have a friendly cobbler nearby, it might be worth asking his advice. They all seem to have gone by the wayside except those Timpson shops that repair shoes, cut keys, make name badges and so forth.

As to 'Poly V' belts - which are used on my bandsaw, they're just a flat belt with a series of small V shaped ribs, but can't be used on a flat smooth pulley - they must be used with pulleys that have mating 'Vs'. To quote Goodyear - who own the registered trade mark of Poly V: "The Poly-V® Belt is a thin, multi-v belt with longitudinal V-shaped ribs that mate perfectly with the corresponding sheave grooves".

http://www.goodyearep.com/productsdetail.aspx?id=3880

They come in fixed lengths and can't be joined so are only of use where they can be fitted and removed from the pulleys - not joined in situ.

Ideally, 'link belting' which can be adjusted to length and joined without any special tools and has a continuous length would be the best solution, but I've no doubt that it's prohibitively expensive.

Typical Product Description:

Link Belting can be easily adjusted to a required length by hand without the need for additional tools.
Construction and Features
• High-tech polyurethane links are reinforced with several plies of polyester fabric producing a tough but flexible belt.
• The polyurethane compound has good resistance to chemicals, oil, grease, water and industrial solvents.

Applications:

Ideal product for breakdown situations in industrial and agricultural applications, as machinery can be repaired quickly after a traditional belt failure.
Can also be used in hard to reach areas and threaded into place with out the need for complete machine strip down.

I'm sure you'll have seen the thread on the Practical Machinist Forum Colin, where this topic was discussed: "What leather glue was used to splice belts" ?

http://www.practicalmachinist.com/vb/ant...ts-252652/

On my little Lorch lathe I used circular section plastic belt which is cut to the desired length then joined by heating both ends on say a heated flat trowel or whatever - CA glue is useless for joining it - but of course such belting would be no use on a larger lathe such as yours Colin.

Just my own observations - I doubt that any of this adds much towards a permanent solution, but I know that with your usual tenacity (stronger than any glue known to man!), you'll have it sorted, come what may!