Anyone here ever make wooden pulleys? I want to make these up for the initial setup on the lathe I am building, but I was not sure the best way to connect them to the shafts. I did a test and made one for the motor but am not sure that my initial thought of putting in a threaded insert for a set screw would be enough, although it is a tight fit as it is now without the screw.

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Flanged Collar
Have a standard ANSI keyway, three tapped counterbored holes, and three through holes for additional mounting options.
Not cheep but could make for a permanent solution.

traditionally, ironwoods like lignum viatae were used for pulleys -  Hop Hornbeam, dogwood, boxwood are good alternatives which have the structure to hold up well on shafts of steel or brass/bronze -

This was turned off the drilled center with the keyed slot "not seen as it is in the large end of the piece". It is my plan to do wood pulleys in the initial stage of build and to convert it to aluminum after I am sure that I am happy with gearing. To have the pulleys made in aluminum will be costly, and I only want to do this once. I plan to saturate this with epoxy once I cut the 10 groves for the belt. If you look closely you can see the 1/4" hole in the top which has my alignment dowel stuck in it at this point, this was used to glue up blanks initial.

I did ponder the iron wood but from past experience I felt this would be suitable for my prototype stage.

Thanks for the comments guys.  smiley=thumbsup.gif