No you don't.? I am cheap and lazy. So I went to my local auto repair shop and asked for an old timing?belt.? I cut it to length and spliced it back together.? The picture shows a splice with stainless wire and a really bad belt.? It worked like a charm and ran smoothly with no slippage.? Eventually the wire fatigued?and broke.? I then got a newer belt from the auto repair and used the heaviest kevlar?fishing line I could find.? It has be working great for several months now.? Of course, if you are going to take the spindle out of your lathe you will want to use a continuous belt.