Rekiwi's Blog

I feel a little sheepish.

I just learned that what I thought was a pulley (a wheel with a grooved rim attached to a shaft for transmitting force to a belt) is more properly referred to as a sheave.

And it's pronounced "shiv".

One or more sheaves plus a belt, rope, or cable make a pulley, technically speaking.

I know all this now because the key in my jointer's cutter-head shaft is backing out, the key that keeps the sheave from simply spinning on the shaft. I thought I'd squirt in some wicking green Loctite 290 and set the wayward key in place.

Turns out that I'm missing three of four setscrews in the cutter-head and motor sheaves. One screw helps lock the sheave on the shaft and the other screw draws down on the key. The motor sheave is missing both screws, staying in place by the power of wishful thinking. No wonder my jointer started sounding a little loose. Time to get a bunch of 1/4-20 x 3/8 setscrews. And I just happen to have a bottle of green Loctite to make sure those damned screws don't work loose again.

I won't be using the term sheave in conversation. Folks will think me an insufferable prig who has done hard time. Shiv is derived from the thieves' cant word for knife.