It took a little bit longer but I've made the videos.
And I discovered something that may help A50 owners all over the US!
I ran a test load with towels and did something very stupid. I kinda overloaded it. Not a huge overload, maybe 1 face towel more. At certain point, the impeller got stuck and I heard that scary silence. The belt broke.
We all know that the A50 belt is NLA and it's a pain to find a replacement. Well, I design appliances, something had to be done. It's IMPOSSIBLE that a washer will die just because of a broken belt.
I first contacted Martin, because I know he also owns an A50.
He said he had good results using those cut-to-fit hollow urethane belts.
Ok, That would be an alternative. Those U-thane hollow belts work very well, they last for a long time but there would be always that concern "will the connector resist?"
Then a giant lightbulb came on, over my head. If I were designing this washer and going to make a prototype the old school way, what would I do? Bingo!
I first grabbed my caliper and measured the pulleys. I discovered something interesting. The original belt is 1/4" thick, but the pulley can accept thicker belts... I don't need to say a thicker belt will last longer.
The original belt could be worn so it wouldn't make sense to measure its lenght.
So i measured the whole washer and redesigned it using solidworks. the number i got was that the belt had to be 1/4 inch shorter.
Ok, now I have 5/16" and the lenght 1/4 inch shorter than the 49 inches we always believed.
Google comes to the rescure! I've found this company in East Los Angeles. only 10 miles away from home. It was worth a drive there (except that I did the stupidity to leave right on rush hour and it took almost 2 hours to arrive there.)
Madsen Electric Mechanical Drives & Belting Co.
2915 East Washington Boulevard
Los Angeles, California, 90023
(323) 263-4131
I arrived there with the broken belt, I said I needed a belt to replace it and that I had the exact dimensions. I mentioned "It's for a washing machine" the attendant froze. "I know this belt. Your machine is a Maytag A50. My mom had the washer in Avocado. I didn't know they still make those washers.
Well, they don't... my washer is from 1973.
That's smart. take care of your washer I wish I had kept my mom's washer when she died... Now I have a modern Maytag and it sucks. I don't know what those engineers do nowadays because the modern ones are all junk. (I wanted to punch his face)
Making the story short.
I spent $38.33 exactly and it took 2 days to have the belt made.
The result was impressive. I can barely see the welding, the belt is not hollow, it fits perfectly and the only difference is that my belt is orange because they didn't have clear in stock.
On Friday I picked it up and rushed back home to test it. It fits perfectly and looks 100% like original (except for the color)
The belt rests more accurately in the pulley just because it's a nail thicker.
And the A-50 is running smooth as brand new.
It made me so excited that I'm seriously thinking about replacing the other belt.
I'll post the pictures later as they're still on my phone.
First video, with old belt (the belt broke during the rinse right after i made this video) Later I could hear on the video the belt starting to fail.
Test AFTER the belt was replaced.