I am sure there is a very simple answer to this question, but with no formal mechanical engineering education, I don't know what it is.
I have a 2.5 HP, 3,450 RPM continuous duty electric motor with a 1/2" diameter (smooth) drive shaft with 3/8"-16 threads cut into the last 1/2" or so of the shaft.
I want to use this motor to power a machine I am building (an apple grinder) which uses V-belt pulleys for power transmission. I therefore need to be able to attach a V-belt pulley to this shaft. Every V-belt pulley I've ever seen uses keyed shafts (a smooth shaft with a ex. 3/16" slot cut lengthwise, into which key stock (square-profile steel) is inserted to prevent the pulley from rotating on the shaft).
How do I adapt / convert this motor's threaded shaft into a keyed one?
I would have thought there would be a simple part, with a keyway on the outside and a hole in the middle tapped with threads, which I could screw onto the motor shaft's threads... but all of my looking has not turned up such a part.
All the other parts of the machine use a 5/8" shaft size, with 3/16" key stock, so if I can convert this motor drive shaft to that, that would be fantastic.
(It goes without saying, but I'd rather not have to pay a machine shop a few hundred dollars to create this small custom part... and I thought this would be a common enough issue that there would be a standard part for this purpose.)
Any thoughts?
Many thanks.
EDIT: In the absence of a standard, easily-purchasable part for this purpose, I’m considering trying to make an adapter, by cutting a small section of 5/8” keyed shaft, then drilling a hole through the center and tapping with 3/8”-16 threads. Given that shafting is hardened steel however, I don’t think I’ll be able to do this. (I don’t have a forge available with which I could anneal a shaft, or a lathe on which I could turn my own.)
