Shortening a narrow sanding belt

Re: Shortening a narrow sanding belt

Barry Irby

I have tried many times to find out how to repair broken sanding belts, to no avail.

There is a local company that manufactures belts and I bought boxes of ten of every size I thought I might need. After a few years they would fail instantly. I went back to them and they said, "OH yeah, they only last about a year" I was ticked. They seem to think they did nothing wrong. I think there should have been a "use by" date on them if they had such a short life.

These were the belts that had what looked like nylon or fiberglass tape on a butt joint. The company told me there was no easy fix and certainly not one I could do at home. They were not willing the redo them. I certain will not buy anything else form them.

I have some Craftsman belts I bought about fifty years ago with the lap joint and they are still serviceable. Not sure these new fangled ones were an improvement.

been there, done that myself

Re: Shortening a narrow sanding belt

Bruce, a MN Galoot

First, ask the guys at Acme if they know of anyone. Second, try Gibbons Fiberglass in Bismarck.

Re: Shortening a narrow sanding belt

CharlieL

Waiting for a reply from ACME, Gibbons I never thought of, I'll send them a note too, thanks.

Re: IMHO no hope!

Larry Clinton At Frankfort, (Central) Indiana

Several years ago I purchased a large lot of various grits of Crapsman belts at Sears on a great sale. After about a year or so, they started to fail within a minute after installation on my sander.

At the time I was working as an Engineer at a large company, and had access to several adhesives, epoxy and various other materials. I tried many different methods ~ absolutely none were effective and failed in various modes.

I still have some of these belts, I cut them into sections and use them on blocks of wood, pads and just as pieces of sandpaper.

Re: IMHO no hope!

del schisler

been their , no hope , don't but ahead on a good buy on lot of belts , or you will end up cutting them up for other use

Re: IMHO no hope!

CharlieL

Oh well, at first that was the plan to just cut them up for hand sanding because I got them so cheaply. ^Then I had the brain storm to resize them, they are a good brand, they are 3M. It looks like cut them up it will be. Thanks for the advise folks.

Why not ask 3M?

John in NM

One of the guys at work has had very good luck talking to their tech department. Worth a try, they make a lot of adhesives, including a very thin double sided tape that is an absolute bear to remove. Use some of that with a fiber reinforced cover material and I bet you could do it. I have the number of that tape on my computer at work if you want it.

Re: Why not ask 3M?

CharlieL

Thats possible John, but I think that I may just try to sell the belts and get the correct size that I need. If that doesn't work, then maybe try the tape your talking about.

Re: Shortening a narrow sanding belt

Ray mountain home arkansas

I looked on YouTube and typed in glueing sanding belts. I'm going to try one of their methods.

Heat+pressure bond *LINK*

John in NM

I think the reason the DIY methods always fail is that the belts you buy use a heat & pressure bonded tape. The pdf data sheet in the link below provides some of the specs.


https://www.sheldahl.com/technology/splicing-tapes/pre-coated-abrasive-belt-splicing-tapes

Re: Heat+pressure bond

E Phillip Smith

Not only heat and pressure, but notice the precoated is shipped packed in dry ice with desiccant. Recommended storage temp. is -20 F and has 90 day shelf life. Just not something hobby woodworker is going to manage well.