Fenner PowerTwist Plus Link V-Belt Review
A V-belt made of links you can pull apart by hand. Fit it without dismantling the machine, and the vibration your old belt caused disappears with it.
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A conventional V-belt is a continuous loop, which means fitting one requires an opening big enough to pass the loop through. On a drill press that usually means lifting the spindle assembly or dropping the motor; on an older lathe it can mean pulling a headstock apart. This is the reason so many machines run on a belt that should have been replaced years ago.
PowerTwist Plus is a belt made from individual polyurethane links, reinforced with polyester cord, that interlock by hand. You thread it around the pulleys, join the ends, and the belt is fitted. Nothing comes apart.
The listing here is the A/4L profile at 1/2 in (13 mm) top width in a 5 ft length, which is the size that suits most home-shop drill presses and lathes. Minimum pulley diameter for the profile is 3 in. You shorten it by removing links, so the length you buy is a starting point rather than a specification — one coil will do several machines.
The vibration argument
The second reason people fit these is less obvious. A rubber V-belt that has sat on the same pulleys for years takes a set: it keeps the curve it was stored in, and that memory shows up as a rhythmic thump at the pulley frequency. On a drill press you feel it in the quill; on a lathe you see it in the finish.
A link belt has no moulded shape to remember. Fit one to an old drill press and the machine usually gets noticeably smoother straight away, which is why this modification has been shop-lore for decades.
Fit it the right way round
Each link is directional and the belt is printed with arrows. They must point in the direction of travel. Fitted backwards, the links are being pulled apart rather than pushed together every revolution, and one will eventually let go — usually mid-cut, usually loudly. It takes ten seconds to check and it is the only real failure mode this belt has.
When not to bother
If the machine takes a standard belt in two minutes without removing anything, buy the rubber belt. It costs a fraction as much and, on a drive that is easy to service, the whole advantage here disappears.
Likewise on high-speed drives running near the 3 in minimum pulley diameter, where the links flex more per revolution than a moulded belt does. The link belt’s home ground is slow to moderate speeds on machinery that is a nuisance to take apart — which describes most of what sits in a home workshop.
What works
- It fits without dismantling the drive — links come apart by hand, so a belt goes onto a drill press or lathe without pulling the motor or the spindle
- It has no moulded set, so the drumming and vibration a rubber belt develops from sitting in one shape for years simply does not happen
- One length covers many machines: you shorten it link by link, so a 5 ft coil is a spares drawer rather than a single belt
What doesn't
- Cost per foot is several times a standard rubber V-belt, and on a machine that is easy to get a belt onto the convenience is worth nothing
- Links can work apart if you assemble them the wrong way round — the arrows have to run in the direction of travel, and a mis-fitted belt will eventually shed a link mid-cut
- It is not the right answer on high-speed drives near the profile's minimum pulley diameter, where the link construction flexes more than a moulded belt