Belt and pulley system for very high speed?

[CATCH22]

Im looking for any advice on a belt and pulley system for my mini lathe,I am building my own spindle and I want it to run about 12,000 rpms.I already have the lathe built but the spindle I have now will only handle about 5000 rpms so Im building a new one and dont know what belt and pulleys will handle these high rpms?

Any advice would really be appreciated!

Thanks Mike

[BobWarfield]

20,000 rpm on a lathe spindle?

Wow.

5K is pretty good. What are you trying to do there that requires that speed?

Cheers,

BW

[CATCH22]

Sorry I miscalculated I need 12,000 rpms,and its to drill very small holes.

[BobWarfield]

That makes sense.

FWIW, there are easier ways to do that than trying to spin the lathe spindle so fast, which is pretty hard.

The usual approach would be to build a holder for an air spindle (or a motorized electrical spindle) that sits on your cross slide. You can then use CNC control to position the spindle on axis and drill your tiny hole.

Those little spindles are pretty cheap because they don't have to be so heavy duty as the full lathe spindle would need to be. This is also a more versatile arrangement since you can drill holes parallel to the spindle axis that are off axis.

Would that work for you?

Cheers,

BW

[CATCH22]

Thanks Bob