- Do you hear it with the belt removed completely from the motor pulley?
- Does the ticking change with belt tension? If so, how (rate loudness, etc.)?
- How about different pulley ranges -- do they change the rate or loudness of the noise?
- Have you checked the pulley to see if it is solidly locked down on the motor shaft?
- If there is a setscrew, verify that it is tight -- before you do that, check the exploded parts diagram to determine if it has a jam setscrew sitting on top of another.
- With the power off and the belt removed, rotate the motor shaft by hand slowly to see if the noise is still there. Do the same thing for the lathe spindle.
- Are the two sets of pulleys aligned?
If the ticking were related to the motor, then the ticking would be more like a low frequency buzz since the motor rotates at about 30 revolutions per second. If the ticking is such that there are several ticks per second, but you are able to distinguish individual ticks. then there might be a defect in the belt. If you suspect the belt, remove it, turn it inside out and examine for breaks and cracks in the ribs.
The problem is more likely to be in the spindle than the motor, but the source of sounds can be difficult to diagnose unless the troubleshooting procedure breaks things down into isolated components.