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To My UNIMAT Site
UNIMAT / BELTS / MANUALS / ACCESSORIES
As a fellow UNIMAT user this site is maintained as a service to the UNIMAT community. You will find information and parts for the UNIMAT DB200 & SL1000 and UNIMAT 3
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Hi, I'm Doug Feistamel from the Chicago area
The Unimat was first introduced in 1954 by Emco .This precision miniature Table Top Machining Lahte/Mill was made in Austria and sold world wide in the hundreds of thousands until production ceased in the early 1980's.These wonderful little machines are now orphans since Emco discontinued support of accessories and manuals.
The uses of these machines are as unlimited as the skill and imagination of the operator given the wealth of accessories available.
There is resurgent interest in the Unimat here in the U.S. and the secondary market reflects that, as prices for machines and accessories are on the rise. Machines are brought down from storage shelves, rescued from boxes in the basement, bought at flea markets, they trade hands on the Internet and are brought back to life as new generations discover the enjoyment their fathers found working with their hands .
These machines have gone through some changes during the length of production, I will go over them briefly as they are documented on other sites. The machines have not changed in basic design or overall appearance. The first DB's were cast iron and painted hammertone silver with two styles of motors, the early one was silver with a switch at the bottom, the later motor was a gray/black Dutch manufacture motor, with hand wheels more detailed with waisted handles.The later production DB's/ SL's were of cast aluminum-zink ( white metal ) and painted hammertone green, the handles on the hand wheels were now a straight taper, there was a change in the mill mast and socket design. The early units in this production had a green metal cased motor with exposed brush access.The next change, that came sometime in the 70's, was the U-100 motor of gray plastic with an orange built-in slide switch, this motor was internally fan cooled and continuously rated ( probably their best motor ). In the final years of production the green steel cased motor returned and the hand wheels were now made of plastic. From what I have read, I believe over 400,000 units were produced.
Please keep in mind that: these features overlapped in production cycles, I am not a Unimat expert, any Unimat information, additions or corrections that you would like to share I would gladly post here. Note: In General the Unimat DB, DB200, SL, SL1000 parts & access. are interchangeable.
The first Unimat I bought had no belts. The fellow I bought it from assured me they were easy to find, maybe twenty years ago this was true. I tried O' rings. I tried belts. I made them. I bought them. I still wasn't happy with them. I finally teamed up with a belting manufacturer and I am now able to offer the best fitting belts ever to ride the pulleys of a Unimat!
Please have a look at these other pages of interest on my Unimat web site
Here is something of interest from my belt specifications:
The tension is a percentage of the pitch length and is in the middle of the recommended range.
The belt is not glue bonded but rather, heat welded and is as strong as the belt material itself.
The belts are sized not only for low and medium speed operation, but also to allow for the forces placed upon them at higher speeds.
Although the material has a memory, the belts will stretch a little after 20 or 30 minutes of use.
This material has a very high coefficient of friction and will not have a problem transmitting power for this application.
Of all the elastometers available for power transmission, this material is the best suited and most widely used.
These are self-tensioning belts, as no mechanical adjustment is provided, therefore the initial length is important.
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This page was last updated on: August 20, 2008
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To place an order for belts, manuals or other parts, scroll down to Unimat Belts & Parts Order Page. Or click on this link!
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DF 2008
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Providing belts, since 1999
At the Parts Order Page you will find links to printable order forms for Unimat DB/Sl & Unimat-3. Instructions to place an order via mail or internet, ( PayPal ).
