Restoring and Using a Clipper No. 9 Flat Belt Lacing Machine

A while back, I got an old rusty and crusty Clipper No. 9 belt lacer. I took the machine partly apart and gave it a good soak in Evaporust to clean the rust off and then reassembled it for use. This video goes over the restoration and then shows how to use the belt lacer to lace a flat belt.
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[@johngilley3518]

I've lost count how many clipper belts I have made. Most were #25 but have done the bigger sizes like the #9 and #10. They have the lacers that fit in a vise and some stand alone sizes with the handle and Jaws attached. Great restoring and clean up. You've sold me on the Evapo rust.

[@edwardkawecki8101]

If anyone out there needs to clean and restore the inside of rusted motorcycle tanks as I did on a twin tank on a 67 HD FLH with a lot of rust from sitting partially filled with gas for 17 years try Evaporust. 1 gallon $16. and 3000 steel BBs did the trick. One tank took 3 days shaking, draining, rinsing and refilling with same Evaporust twice a day and the other tank only took 1 day. Never hurt the paint and came out super clean. After a good clean water rinse I used 1 quart of ATF swished around, drained and filled with fresh gasoline. Believe me, myself and everyone I showed said WOW! many times over. Keith, great video and restore. Thank you.

[@HandToolRescue]

Evapo-Rust is some of the most addictive stuff currently known.

[@cojones8518]

At this point, it wouldn't surprise me if you put it on your pancakes. :P :D

[@RookieLock]

WOW, that is a testament to how well Evaporust works! Amazing!

[@edwardkawecki8101]

You're right on the price, maybe closer to $500 for 30 gallons as Keith said he has but you can always just use 1 or 2 gallons in a container and rotate the part. Did the same cleaning motorcycle tanks using just 1 gallon and rotating every so often.

[@borumfishing]

Ben, I agree. He mentioned evap NINE times in 6 min. Jesus. I too like his vids, but this is just a tacky commercial for his sponsor.

[@zzach6146]

I found one of these machines sitting beside the road and picked it up because I like old stuff your video sir help me to understand what it is

[@roylucas1027]

Great video. It always amazes me how clever the folks who came before us were. Thank you.

[@dougankrum3328]

yes, I worked at 2 companies here in Sacramento, Calif...they both ran belts up to 36" and had the 36" crimpers...one place had 2 crimpers, one manual, one pneumatic. They had that same color belt too....Seemed the best way to cut the belts was a new blade in the knife, and a framing square.

[@davidpuls9767]

Keith, this brings back a few memories. My dad worked in a saw mill and he taught me to lace belts with leather lacing. A much slower process but it worked well. The metal clips and mechanical lacers really sped things up but you had to make sure everything was lined up. Really enjoyed the video.

[@tutekohe1361]

Many of the older sheep-shearing sheds on farms in Australia and New Zealand have flat-belt driven overhead shaft drives for the machine shears. Usually a 7hp Lister or similar engine drives the belt. Some still retain the original leather belts, but they are mainly the newer style belts such as that off-cut you demonstrated here. Some of the older, bigger sheds had portable steam engines driving them. Dunlop Station had 96 stands, driven by steam.

[@rhazuul]

Guinness world record for fastest tool restoration. That was impressive!

[@MrHowieZ1973]

Wow, that Evapo Rust stuff works great. Best results I have seen with it.

[@carlwhite8225]

I was the belt splicer as a kid in my Grandpas line shaft shop and loved it.Thanks

[@kenzpenz]

Great video as always. I used Evaporust when I restored my SB 9 inch lathe a few years ago. It works as advertised and happy with the results.

[@davidmotoman4956]

Thats cool, amazed by Mans Engineerity. Thanks For showing us Keith

[@skiphill9]

You deserve an easy project once in a while!

[@MrRogsmart]

So impressed with how well the Evaporust works. I've got a can of that ready to go to work on a project. Nice to know I got the right stuff.

[@Rovinman]

But you need, ..... 30 gallons ! ........

[@aserta]

If you have a section of fence (the kind that's made from bent rod and spot welded together) you can keep it by the bin, so that every time you pull something like that out, you can let it stay over the bath to drip. I have that setup on mine and it works a treat. Your tub seems sturdy enough to hold it too, mine, i had to build a small lip reinforcement.

[@tced2858]

Keith, that stuff (Evaporust) impresses the heck out of me...nice job !

[@grendalnewgod]

I've been subscribed to the channel for a little more than two years now.

[@albertjagt5713]

Thank you Keith! I grew up on a dairy farm and we did use a threshing machine for a bit. It had all kinds of flat belts on them! We go to a mennonite shop to get replacement or to repair them. Now I know how they do it! Oh by the way, hi from Canada!!!

[@silverbullet7434]

Couldn't believe it came out so good ,, WoW ,,, You lucky hard working dog . Super gift to get. I've the vise and the 6" bench model. Couple boxes lacings and have used them for my belting . Logan lathe , federal planer and hopefully someday a nice 13-16 " south bend lathe. Even a Brainerd mill I'm negotiating for but no money makes it hard. Trades work sometimes.

[@aforman1951]

Evaporust is great. Used to do conveyors and every so often a bay haler.....

[@BruceBoschek]

That machine really looks to be in excellent condition after derusting. Thanks very much for the demonstration. I had no idea how a belt lacer worked. Cheers from Germany.

[@beccabeth2]

That brings back memories I used to haul coal out of West Virginia and the mines added belt pretty often when they moved the belt line the seam of coal was low so they moved a lot and I helped the guy lace the belts his was about 2 feet wide but worked the same way it had 2 handles on it and you worked the handles back and forth and it squeezed the metal lacing

[@Hoaxer51]

Nice video. I use a piece of expanded metal (looks like screen with one inch holes on a diagonal) cut to fit a five gallon bucket that I use to drain old oil filters and anything that needs to drip dry. A couple pieces of angle iron and a piece of expanded metal would make a nice shelf for your evaporust tank.

[@charlescompton4495]

Thanks, good to see I'm not the only one who gets his twung tisted, Greg

[@RambozoClown]

Restoration in a bucket. Amazing job.

[@kerrygleeson4409]

Thanks for sharing Keith always interesting 👍🇦🇺

[@chrischambers330]

I work maint for a major food manufacturer. we've got 2 of these one about 2 foot and one about 12 inches use then all the time on conveyor belts ours have 3 sizes of dies and I think we get the laces from Grainger. They work great as long as the jaws are adj square. the chains tend to stretch and slip.

[@secretsix6]

takes me back to my mining days 30 years ago stitching 42 inch belts then

[@rgmoore]

Makes me remember my days working in a shoe factory. We had a few belts that we laced like this for some systems. I recall being taught to lace them and thinking it would fail in two seconds.

[@benhancock1408]

WOW!!!! What a difference! That looks great!!

[@johnbrock1602]

I use a belt lace er in a frozen food warehouse put the laces together then a steel wire thought the two belts to hold them together. This back memories.

[@dananelson479]

You must be living right when people dump machines like this on your doorstep. Worked in a carpet mill that used these belts made with this material. They also used them for the conveyor belts as well. Neat seeing how it's done. They should sponsor you for the commercial for their product. Amazing difference one night made. Thanks for sharing.

[@bcbloc02]

That is getting serious when you have a tote of evaporust!! It sure would be handy to have!

[@AlwaysSunnyintheShop]

Nice easy job, Keith. Evaporust does some wonders for sure! ----Aaron

[@thepotterer3726]

I hear Evaporust mentioned a lot, but that demonstration was impressive.

[@TheducksOrg]

"zoom 3" I think is the first time in watching your videos for 3-4 years that I've heard one of your cueing remarks :)

[@atbglenn]

Great video. Evaporust is amazing stuff. I'm going to get some.

[@duobob]

I have one of the smaller Clipper lacing tools that is used with a bench vise. It is not as convenient as the one Keith was using here, but it gets the job done and the finished result is just as nice. It was cheap, in well used condition. It will probably still be in use another hundred years from now unless someone foolishly throws it away.

[@emjay1952]

I used to use something similar but much smaller for Linotype drive belts with the rawhide pin. In cold weather the cast iron pulleys on the Linotype would shrink and the pulley would fall off. The good old days!

[@ActiveAtom]

Great to see you Keith, nice work being done.We have seen these belt tools. Fancier then the last one you shared for sure, this one is larger. Lance & Patrick.

[@JWimpy]

Thanks for that. I had a general idea how belting was laced but never saw it done. I am retired from a plant maintenance position and I repaired a lot of conveyors. But I just ordered the belts custom made with the connectors already crimped on. Some of our belts were so large and heavy I had to move the belt into position with a fork lift.

[@kejay74]

I remember well having to re-lace the flat belts on the old Allis-Chalmer small round baler, as well as the "long" belts we used on the hammer mill and the silage blower. We used a 1950 'M' Farmall to power all of the above. This is when that tractor was less than 14 years old and I was 8! I remember the driver on the side of the 'M' was about 12" in diameter and the pulley on the silage blower was only about 8" in diameter. So, that was a 1.5 : 1 step up in r.p.m. for the blower over what the tractor was doing. That blower really howled when you set the tractor to full throttle, before you began feeding in the cut silage. I do not recall what the r.p.m. output to the belt driver was. Someone might be able to look that up somewhere, I am certain. When we were 'filling silo', that old 'M' ran at full throttle about 1/2 an hour at a time (one wagon load) with only about 3 or 5 minutes between loads. Mostly from dawn to dark each day in mid-August. The silos we filled were only about 45 to 50 feet tall, but 20 to 25 feet in diameter. Something just North of 15,000 cubic feet. Enjoyed the reminiscing. Ken

[@combatmedic1980]

Keith, a number of years ago, I worked as a millwright installing hundreds of belts for conveyors in a Dress for Less warehouse new installation, having no experience with belting, the General Forman had us cut all the belting on a diagonal, because he said it made the belt quieter and tracked better over the pulleys, there would be no thumping when the lacing ran over the pulleys. Did you ever heard of that technique being used? BTW he was from the south, not sure if that was something used down south. and the belting was 12 - 24 " wide and rubber.

[@reddog69c39]

Wow that shit works. I can't believe it.😲🤯😳. I still can't believe it. What a great job it has done. I'am sold on the evapo-rust.That was so cool night and day there. That would a made a great commercial evapo - rust . Cheers. Oh ya just to think that stuff it's not harmful to you. I find it hard to believe. You would it be. Just the way it worked on that piece. Wow blown away.

[@stanervin6108]

Man!!!! What a freaking lucky find! Used one @ Channel Master for YEARS! A freaking great tool! I used one for conveyor belts and transfer belts at least twice a week! The one that I used had , if I remember correctly, 3 or 4 different guages, with guides , etc to match belt thicknesses!

[@timothybarney7257]

Was that when they had the factory in Ellenville that later became the Schrade plant?

[@stanervin6108]

@@timothybarney7257 No. I was @ the plant in Smithfield, NC. The division sold to Andrew corporation.

[@timothybarney7257]

@@stanervin6108 Gotcha. Unfortunately, neither survived in Ellenville and the site is now a giant concrete slab (the building was torn down in the last 6-8 months). Schrade knives had the plant when I first moved to the area about 20 years ago so long after Channel Master made the move to NC.

[@MelanieFan1679]

I've lace a few belts in my day the biggest one so far was 32" wide and 156' foot long conveyor belt oh what fun it is lol great video sir

[@emerybooker6335]

Way cool I had no ideal you could still lace a belt or buy anything like that anymore.

[@donfoster1832]

Thanks for another good show! Take that belt cutter and stick it in the Evaporust then you'll have a matched set!

[@CrimFerret]

Cool. Something similar is probably used for the rubber belts at grocery checkouts. I've seen those metal lacing clips a lot of times. Now I know how they work. I'm assuming the companies that make those use a power version though.

[@BenButler1]

Cool process.

[@RRINTHESHOP]

Nice restore made easy.

[@mrc1539]

Kieth , I have the same problem with my belts, they usually shrink around Thanksgiving and Christmas. Don’t seem to have much problem with them stretching. 😉😂😂 !

[@isbcornbinder]

I have been using Evaporust in an ultrasonic parts cleaner tank. Evaporust is my favorite go to derust product.

[@isbcornbinder]

I have two Clipper Lacers. They are the twin lever style. I have hand laced several 2 inch belts. There is a good KZbin video.

[@waynephillips2777]

It's been a long time since I've seen one of those. We used to use them in textiles for conveyor belts.

[@morrisgallo2361]

My dad was a shoe repairman whose machinery (Landis finisher and sole stitchers) used flat belts. I remember the belts stretching and subsequently slipping. Instead of trimming and restitching we would simply apply rubber cement to the inside of the belt. Would immediately tighten the tension.

[@Hoaxer51]

Keith, are you going to use anything to protect the metal on your lacer? It sure came out nice using the Evaporust!

[@piperjohn_3]

Great video.

[@dankolar6066]

Remember standing off to the side, handing bits and pieces to my Dad, as he spent a morning splicing belts for the grinder. Don't remember enjoying the experience, but it wasn't fatal. Work is always easier when you have a tame 15-year-old to hand you stuff. Thank you for sharing.

[@daveweber1331]

Yup, me too! :-) I still faintly remember the hammer mill setup at home being driven by a flat belt. But, the hassle of getting the tractor lined up perfectly every time we needed feed ground for the cows, the beef cattle or fine "pig chop" for the feeder pigs, that got to be even too much for my old man. So, my oldest brother rigged up a rear end out of an old pickup truck, or car, and a PTO shaft. The old Case threshing machine always needed flat belts, though. And as long as we used that thing, we'd run it off of a very long, wide flat belt, driven by our Allis-Chalmers D-15, which had the belt pulley drive right on the side of the tractor. :-) Gosh... That's going on to 55 years ago, now!

[@websitesthatneedanem]

4:18 - That's a magic trick isn't it! - Come on Keith, admit it!

[@girliedog]

I love Evaporust so much better than sandblasting parts off.

[@63256325N]

Now if that isn't a testament to Evapo-Rust I don't know what is! Wow we said at the same time! 😁 Looks like your belt cutter could use a dunk too. 😁 Thanks for the video. 👍

[@CatNolara]

Was really impressed by the Evaporust as well. Also wondering, why do some parts become grey and others black?

[@davidhoward2237]

type of metal i think high carbon it black, not sure but i remember reading about it.Also after it been use over and over it will change some color what i don't mind.

[@ItZLukeOfficial1508]

Impressive, fun thing about the two signs, switched place, and a hair cut, :-). Keep up the good work.

[@BuickDoc]

Which hair did he cut?

[@ItZLukeOfficial1508]

His own, 😎

[@1flatlander380]

Keith, you grossly understated what a PITA those tines are.

[@merlinmagnus873]

Picked up a smaller one of these at the local flea market a few weeks ago.

[@redpower1086]

New Holland and Case IH uses that brand of lacing for their round balers. Evapo-Rust works great I used on a garden tractors I restored. We’re do you buy it in 5 gal buckets?

[@alejandrobavassonepotedequ1969]

Ese liquido limpiador es excelente !!! Es casi MAGICO !!!! Muchas gracias

[@crockteerden4023]

We used to use the one that was vise mounted. We had an old belt driven lathe. I was surprised McMaster still sold the rawhide pins and staples.

[@morelenmir]

About just on a month short of five years ago I saw something extremely similar to this tool being used in the morning before an agricultural fair. The belts in question were being attached to three steam traction engines that in turn distributed power to run the antique farm machinery that was being shown. At the time it looked like a fiendishly complicated procedure, but having seen this video I would now guess the farmers and demonstrators were trimming up their belts to ensure they 'kept' band in't nick' as the local dialect would have it! Interestingly I am pretty sure the belts were not run straight but twisted into a figure of eight in each case. If the popularity of steam rallies and shows is anything to go by then I would guess they are still very much in demand for heritage applications in England at least.

[@july8xx]

The twist in the belt is to reverse the rotation of the tool being driven as it might not match the rotation of the power source.

[@morelenmir]

@@july8xx Of course--I don't know why that never struck me before! I have seen belts running in that configuration since I was a kiddie and never put 2 and 2 together! I vaguely thought it might have been something to do with ensuring the band didn't throw itself off during use or something. Many thanks july8xx!!!

[@elsdp-4560]

THANK YOU...for sharing. Very enjoyable.

[@johnmorales449]

Catguts... This video reminded me long ago when I had to make a belt for a Bullard VTL. The maintenance guy who gave me the pin to connect the belt told me the pin was made from cat guts.

[@4GSR]

Dad called it "cat gut" too! At a young age, we wondered, dad, did you kill a cat just to get the guts out of a cat to make that rod? Later in life and our minds matured a little, realized it wasn't cat gut, just a piece of raw hide formed into a rod!!!

[@lowcashranch1412]

Either Evaporust is truly liquid magic, or you must have removed the steel labels, because they were reversed after the dunk. Great video as always sir!

[@jakemallory4239]

zoom 3, the inner workings of a youtube star.

[@kevinbyrne4538]

Dear Evaporust -- Here's a perfect opportunity to become a sponsor.

[@WS-ij1fu]

That's how he got it.

[@ron827]

Keith's shop is a "Depository For Old Rusty Tools" which have still have a hidden life left in them.

[@KPearce57]

Used one on the farm, our belts were 8 inches wide for driving a silage blower.

[@BrittWayneSmith]

Clipper still is in business. I use them to lace our belts on our automated material handling equipment & conveyor systems when we have to replace belts or repair belts.

[@chieft3357]

Thanks for a great video. :-)

[@manjitsingh-xc4tv]

I seen first time , this type of attachment ,, it's interesting ,,

[@tomberry6902]

If you ever decide to part with it, I bet David Richards would be interested.

[@multiHappyHacker]

Looks fun to mess around with.

[@donpollard9460]

Hmm ... I've laced flat belts (in my youth-I'm nearly 65...) - using a somewhat coarser clip - same principle; worked a treat. The belt drove a chaff cutter off a Case Model B kerosene tractor, which has (as they do) an inbuilt belt pulley. The Case tractors are now in the Museum owned by Larry Perkins, a (now retired, I think) Australian racing car driver. I tried Googling Larry's museum,but couldn't see the tractors anywhere - if any one has any info in this regard, please rely to this post.

[@mightymalikie]

Should clip the corners of the belt at a 45 degree angle before lacing. Helps with longevity of the belt by not allowing the lacing to catch the edge of a pulley

[@dougankrum3328]

Yeah, at least the leading edge...

[@emasbury]

It must be getting hot in Georgia,,, Keith is starting to wear skirts. LOL Sorry Keith I couldn't resist. Great Videos, keep up the great work.

[@pauliepatches]

Holy smokes that Evapo Rust is no joke. I said the same thing WOW.

[@richardwigley]

Evaporust is 100% magic

[@navigatorx1013]

Excellent.

[@mongomay1]

How long have you been using the evaporust process? It looks very beneficial and like your cargo bath container.

[@alfiversen7023]

So- how fast does EvapoRust evaporate? Your tank does not seem to be air thight?

[@trminer]

Keith, I wonder if there's a way to tighten flat belts while they're still in place on the pulleys. In other words, if the belt that needs to be tightened is on a line shaft, and it's not in a place where it can be removed without disassembling the shaft and the other pulleys, is there a way to tighten the belt? That's probably clear as mud, sorry.

[@jamesrawlings8493]

Are you still doing projects for the museum? Early videos had work for them every week..

[@colossus5752]

Nice 👍

[@jagmarz]

I'm wondering if it wouldn't be easier to load the clips into the lacing machine, then insert the pin to hold them in place and THEN cutting to length? Seems like that might remove a lot of the aggravation?

[@ErikBongers]

They used rawhide pins instead of metal? Fascinating. Surely there must have been a good reason for that. Wear? Noise?

[@4GSR]

metal rod, if not serrated or pinned on the ends a little will walk out of the splice .

[@davidellenbaum1229]

nice tool

[@jackgreen412]

I've encountered belt lacing like that on belt filter media on belt filters.

[@MrLukealbanese]

Evapo-wow!!!

[@scummyinoz]

Gday Keith nice but 1 thing u put the id plates on the wrong sides the black 1 was on the left? cheers

[@georgestephens2593]

I saw that as well. Keith must have done more work than he showed in the video.

[@MrPlusses]

After watching I just had to read the comments to see if anyone noticed. I also got an eerie feeling I just watched an infomercial for a solution of rust remover.

[@j-man72b72]

My guess is he opened it up to be sure all the rust was gone. including behind the ID tags.

[@jtee9548]

isn't there an idler wheel assembly you could use to compensate for belt tension changes with temperature variation??