Belts 'n' suspenders - more on the Rhino lathe

The best one can say about an old lathe is probably that there ain't much to say about, because it just does its job. In reality that's pretty much accurate with this old beast. But I have to admit that the lathe belts had a rather nasty tendency of slipping... a lot.

Now in order to swap the belt on this lathe, one would have to take the spindle out. (Which on its own wouldn't be the dumbest move to start with, because the bearings certainly could do with a bit of cleaning!) But what if, there was a way to avoid this?

Bring on the fenner belt or as the seller calls it "linked v-belt". As the name implies, it is comprised of sections that make it possible to lengthen or shorten the belt according to the needs of the situation and also you can link it up in place. 

A thing to note: After running the belt in for a few revolutions, it had to be shortened. A process which I had to repeat quite a few times and I attribute to all the links seating correctly. I was expecting it to run rather roughly, but to be honest, it's not worse than it was with the old belt. Surely you wouldn't do this to some Schaublin finishing lathe or the like, but for jobs like this one: perfect.