Who Knew?

Sadly, I did!

Barry Irby

Several years ago I stopped at a local company that manufactures belts and bought a "lifetime" supply over the counter. 4 x 24,10 or 20 of each grit. All stocked up and good to go. Used a few. Life gets in the way. Go back to use them and they don't even last a second. Put the belt on, fiddle it in. Set it down and BAM! Shredded about five. On a Sunday. Called them on Monday and they said "Oh yeah, they only last a year at most.

I call BS on them. I have some ancient Craftsman belts I bought when I was a kid. They are completely worn out but have not failed. If your crap only lasts a year you should have a expiration date prominently on it. They made no suggestion of help. No bring them back, no we'll give you new ones for half price, nothing.

I am taking the shreds and making sanding mops out of them.

A possible cure *LINK*

Lee Schierer in McKean, PA

I had the same thing happen to some of my 3 x 21 belts, but I only had a couple old ones.

I recently read a suggested fix for old belts that break on first use in Wood Magazine. I haven't tried the suggested procedure yet, but it could save a few of your belts.

Lee


Fixing sanding belts

Yep, add hook and loop to that.

Keith Newton

I don't use nearly as many of my 3" and 1.5" hook and loop disk as other sizes, so sometime I have lots of losses where it just falls off before I even stick them on the pad.

A possible solution :

Yonak

Having had the same problem, I figured it was the excessive tension on the belt so I fashioned a way to put a stick in the mechanism to lessen the tension. It works to extend the belt lives to a good extent. I have to be careful about belt tracking but it's a workable solution for me.

Thanks, Lee!

Mark Mandell - Gone Round In New Jersey

That's worth a try

somebod try and report back

Bill Tindall, E.Tn.

My CA glue is set up so I can't

Re: Who Knew?

William Duffield

Am I counting right when I get 5 belt changes per finished surface? This all makes the arguments for a #4 or #4-1/2 a lot stronger.

What viscosity of CA?

Yeah, that has a shelf life, too

shelf life

John K Jordan

A thread on another forum discussed this a few months ago. It appears you have plenty of company. Seems like it's not wise to stock up more than a year's worth of belts.

I've had problems with pressure sensitive adhesive on older sanding disks too, the adhesive appears to dry out and not stick well. I solved this by applying then heating with a heat gun then pressing tightly until cool.

JKJ

Re: Who Knew?

Jim Dillon

Mark, yeah, based on my experience I would not stock up on more than a three years supply of belts - even from a reputable manufacturer. Years ago I stocked up on a "100 years" supply of belts based on a great sale - again from a reputable manufacturer. Well, after 3-4 years the belts starting failing. Lesson learned. Jim

Re: Who Knew?

John C Lucas

We t tbrougb the sams thing. Apparently the glue in the belts goes bad over the years. T

Re: Hand Tools people know

Clementine

Look what $219 would have got you, and you would still have it. (Just a hand tools guy being a little smart-alecky).

http://www.leevalley.com/us/images/item/Woodworking/Planes/05P2601s1.jpg

Re: Who Knew?

Mark Nowicki

Geez, youse guys never heard of JIT, (just in time inventory strategy?)

Search Amazon.com for "performax", click, wait 24 hours and sand away.

Oops!! You might want to add "sanding" to that search .....

Re: You are LUCKY!

Larry Clinton At Frankfort, (Central) Indiana

Several years ago, Sears had a great sale on 3" wide belts for my old belt sander (I now have a 4" PC). Anyhow I bought MANY of each grit thinking I would have several years supply. Well, when I installed one of them 3 or 4 years later it lasted a few seconds! Went through about a half a dozen before I gave up, now used on sanding blocks. I just cut them up cut some scrap lumber and stapled them on. Probably the grit will fall off next!

You are right about that!....

Barry Irby

I Googled Performax and.....Shock! OOPs! doesn't cover it.

Re: You are LUCKY!

Barry Irby

The belts I spoke of were the old kind with the lap joint and were directional. In the sense of durability, I am not sure the new taped joints are an improvement.

This raises another question....

Barry Irby

What about the conveyor belts one Performax type sanders? They are basically wide sanding belts. The various ones I have had often failed at the join. (One of them tracked off to the side and shredded itself.)

Re: What viscosity of CA?

fred in ct

I keep my ca glue in the freezer, i have some that is at least 10 yrs old and still works.