Fig. 74.

It is well to keep on hand about six of these scrapers, and as they get too dull to cut leather use them on glue. With one good scraper that is not too sharp all the glue can be cleaned off of both points of a 36-inch belt in from five to ten minutes. When the edge gets a trifle dull, use the small steel on both sides of the edge; first wet the steel with the lips, it makes a much better edge. For the benefit of beginners who may attempt to splice a belt for the first time, do not use a glue that will not allow you to remove the clamps and put on the full load in forty-five minutes after the glue has been applied and well rubbed down. The time given here applies only to clean belts that are absolutely free from all oils, and does not include old oil-soaked leather that no glue will ever dry on.

Fig. 75 shows the equipment necessary to do a good, quick job on a belt, and most of them are required to be done quickly and well. With such an outfit and half-dozen sharp scrapers a joint in a 36-inch belt can be made and run again in four hours after the engine is stopped. This includes all the time consumed in putting on and taking off the clamps, etc.

Fig. 75.

The top of the platform, 76d, is level with the bottom of the belt and is held in position by the hooks, 76b, which are shown in Figs. 75 and 76. These hooks slip over the 2×4-inch pieces that project outside the platform to which they are attached, and should be made of three-quarter iron and not too long, or some difficulty may be experienced in getting them on the two-by-fours.

Fig. 76.

The rods should be long enough to take care of the longest possible splice and still give plenty of room to work. There should be about 2½ feet between the inside ends of the threads and the threaded end should be 3 feet long. This will make the rod 8 feet 6 inches long, and it will be none too long at that. For instance, in removing the glue from the splice, if the last end point is very close to the clamp, there will be great difficulty in cleaning it and also in fitting the leather after the belt has been shortened. What is meant by the head end splice is the one that is on the pulley first—the arrows in Figs. 77 and 78 will make this clear: they indicate the direction in which the belt should run; therefore that end of the piece of leather that is on the pulley first is the head end (or first end) and the end that leaves the pulley last is the last end. If the two belts shown in the sketch were reversed, the points would be turned up by everything that touched them; whereas, running in the direction that they do, everything that touches them has a tendency to rub them down.