Drive band problems

My Kromski has given me no end of driveband problems: the thing has
been eating drive bands at the rate of one per hour of spinning. The
importer/distributor was no help; they suggested that I sand the rim
and all the bobbins to ensure no rough spots were eating my (wet-spun
long-line linen) drivebands or my hemp drivebands. In making that
suggestion the importer overlooked that I had already done the sanding
and was still having problems :P

Today I got out a spindle and my bag of tussah silk sliver and spun
myself a driveband. The Z-spun single was almost too fine to be seen.
I made four Z-plied 2-ply strands, which I plied back together S. The
resulting cabled strand is certainly not "soft and silky" as most of
us probably think of silk! It is probably plied tightly enough to
repel water and is correspondingly hard. I'd compare it to #20 perle
cotton in terms of finished size but it is much smoother and harder.

I have high hopes that *this* drive band will make it to the 20-hour
mark. We'll see!