Timing Belt Clamp

[sanddrag]

Okay, so if the joint is always in the air, you can do what we did for our 2004 robot (which happened to be 3/8 wide XL belt btw). Take each end of the belt and fold it over itself such that the teeth interlock and you now have a loop on the end. Keep it in this configuration either with a few zip ties or an aluminum cable ferrule (which you need to smash/crimp into place). Then you can join the ends with something like a nice aluminum turnbuckle to allow for tension adjustment.

[shorton]

Thanks, good idea, but I dont' have enought space for that. Only have 4" to do my join, and attach to the slider plate

[Ben Piecuch]

Could you just overlap the two open ends of the belt, and then pop rivet it together? The teeth in the belt will take most of the side load, and the rivets will just hold the two together. Plus, it'll look a lot more "professional" than a few zip ties.

BEN

[shorton]

Thanks very much for the ideas an input guys. Sincerely appreciated.

I finally tracked down where to get some (reasonably) today. One of my timing pulley contacts pointed me to one of them, I found the other. FYI< here they are:

Still high but I ordered some:
www.polytech.com $31.82 45x42mm
then of course I found the best place:
www.brecoflex.com
50x120mm $22.80
They have larger sizes but those weren't in stock. I can cut out the widths I need from these and probably get 4 or more out of each one.

Phew.