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Not the exact same as what Bruce found but I went looking for it because of his video... This stuff works amazingly well!!
If you have any small engines/accessories, you need to get to Walmart and pick up a roll of this. It’s in the craft/jewelry aisles. Being so small, it’s very fiddly to melt together, but it’s also small enough that you can roll the melted join between your fingers without needing “asbestos fingers’’
Only $2.97 for the 75 foot roll and it doesn’t eat up power like the larger belting does when running mini engines and lightweight accessories and has just the right amount of grip and stretch. I currently have the setup running below on minimal flame and it’s still too fast! (Ignore the tying instructions and just melt end to end together)
They also have it in silver... I bought a roll but have not tested it...
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Found Bruce’s video in case your Walmart carries one or the other (mine is .7mm his is 1mm)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvuJtb5yl8A -
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Made in the USA as well , good catch Nick , surprisingly strong stuff and perfect for the "mini" steam stuff where small pulleys and tight curves are used.
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We have a store in Michigan called Hobby Lobby(think they are a national chain) that has a couple isles dedicated to beading/jewelry making. I used to think this store was for crafty girls only but I keep finding useful stuff for My hobby bench! I had planned a trip as I know they have Very flexible metal cable in these sizes (planned upgrade for Wilesco crane) but now I will look for this type of product to! I am hopeful to score some similar but in "Belt" Black...or Dark brown would not be bad as well, my mother used to sew on and old foot pedal operated sewing machine and it ran on a brown "Round" cross section shaped leather belt. As a child I was fascinated by how well this old machine worked.
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I did some brief research on beading cord and it seems the beading crowd wants many of the same characteristics we seek in a belt material, some moderate stretch but springs back.
I am Very interested in this type product for hopefully low power consumption small attractive belts for my horizontal 8 station stirling project and also want to belt up my adjustable speed stirling as that one makes some power!
Anyway, I found the Beader crowd consider this a Premium brand and it's available in at least 8 colors including "black is beautiful"
I have seen it listed online as small as 0.5mm and as large as 1.5mm with sizes in Between...so if it works it could offer belting for a range of engine sizes.
I have not had a chance to try it but thought I would share in case someone wants to give it a go before I get to it.
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more good stuff, thanks Ben.
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Sometime ago I got some hollow necklace cord from a hobby store, it came with a length of what looked like heavy fishing line to join it, worked okay for light loads on larger pulleys as the joint was not that flexible.
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Success! This Stretch Magic is not quite as low cost as what Nick found, but if you Must have black it may be an option.
I payed $2.99 for 5 meters.
Hobby Lobby had quite a selection of sizes but 3/4 of stock was clear and the rest black. I managed to score some 1mm in black.
I did not have any accessories ready to power, so I put 2 QX6's back to back.
The left one is fired and the right one (Disabled) is being Driven.
I tried to power with the unfired making vacuum but the power engine would not quite do it, so I unhooked the displacer piston rod and pulled the side bolt that makes the seal between pistons.
It runs now about 60-70% of no load.
I really Like my new black belt, thanks Nick and Bruce for pioneering this effort!
PS: the picture quality is low, I dimmed the lighting so you could see the flame on left engine.
PPS: they do make Stretch Magic in Glitter color...So if you feel the need to add some Bling to your table, that might do it
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This stuff looks cheap and they take Paypal -
https://www.jewelryandfindings.com/p-1064180-elastic-crystal-thread-jewelry-beading-cords-for-stretch-bracelet-making.html?currency=AUD -
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I picked up some 0.5mm as well when I was at the store...I don't know of an engine that Needs this small of a belt, (off top of my head) but I wanted to see if I could weld it. I did manage a weld but it was not pretty. I need to get my Good reading glasses from work and practice my weld method a bit more.
A bit off topic but it was Big Fun to belt up the QX6, it's seems Stirling engines are like Steam engines in that they make nicer "sounds" under load than No load conditions. -
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Ben, mine is .7mm so not far off .5mm, just light both ends on fire, blow it out and roll them between your fingers. You can’t even feel that it’s warm.
CBWHO just ties it together and trims the tails off. Said it makes such a small knot that it’s not even noticeable over the pulleys. -