pulley ratios on 3 pulley axis

[John S]

Right so looks to me like 16 driving 72 with a 24 on the same shaft driving another 24 ? [ not in picture ] ?

If so the two 24's cancel out at 1:1 and the 16 to 72 gives a 4.5 : 1 reduction x by 1 : 1 is still 4.5 reduction.

[Swarfing]

Cool that is what i was hoping you would say, shall change the config tonight and give it another go. As you can already guess i was trying to do something with the gear up scenario which does not exist.

If all is well i will take some proper pics and post the results :-)
Cheers guys