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Super tape for abrasive belts?

PeteM

Diamond
Joined
Jan 15, 2002
Location
West Coast, USA
I recently came up with a couple hundred new old stock 1/2" wide x 23" length abrasive belts that all have the same problem. They have butt joints at a 45 degree angle and are joined by a sort of cloth tape inside the belt. Run the tape over a small diameter wheel and the tape instantly pops off. The adhesive may have dried up or ???

Anyone know of a proper tape to salvage the belts? Getting the old tape off is easy. Getting something else to stick is the problem. I'd prefer not to glue the belts because they're already at minimum length.

Anyone know a tape that has exceptional peel strength, excellent flexibility, thin thickness, and negligible stretch?
 
I haven't tried any yet,but look at http://www.gorillatape.com/home.htm
It might be an answer. I have had some success with the clothes patch stuff.It must be cleaned thoroughly with solvent first. I used acetone. It took some very persistent pressing (putty knife and heat gun) to get it to work. So far it's held,but then I run my sander really slow for guitar fretboards.
 
I looked at the Klingspor website and found that they guarantee their belts for one year from invoice date. They say that is because their adhesive and tape suppliers say that is the minimum shelf life of the joint after the belt is made.

I have some old belts that instantly fail in the joint when I run them. I could probably save them if I had some new joint tape. I sent Klingspor an email asking about the tape source and name.

Larry
 
I got a very quick response from Klingspor. By the way, they are a good source for abrasive products. I am a satisfied customer, otherwise not related to them.
Klingspor FAQ page

Klingspor's reply to my tape availability question:

Basically, they said the tape needs a heated press and is not available outside their industry, as for home use. Use the broken belts for hand sanding, or you could try superglue.

Larry
 
perhaps a thin patch of linen polyester [square weave] with barge cement or flexible epoxy. the comercial clothes patching tape takes high heat and pressure, thus it's durability, you may need a hot plate and a c clamp. The commerical presses alow the patch to cool under pressure, so if you maybe heated a aluminum plate, and then clamped everthing to cool. Maybe you could send the belts to a converter that does this work. or you could donate them to someone else!
 
I just had to buy a new batch because the unused ones that had been hanging in the shop for several years have all failed within 2 minutes of starting to use them.

I had attributed that to them being no-name Enco belts, so I went with 3M this time in the hopes they'd last longer.

cheers,
Michael
 
Don't bet on it. We use belts to polish turbine journals and they're not purchased because they are cheap but because the work and hold up. We use 3m and other brands, but unless you keep them in a humidity and temp controlled room they WILL fail in time. WE've thrown many of them out. After a year or so they aren't worth much.
 
I have had belts that came apart just hanging on the wall. They were a few years old. I tried different glues and decided that some kind of magic must be involved to make them stay together.
 
I've had some luck with gorilla glue by cleaning the ends of debris and placing the glue on and clamping between two boards to keep the ends lined up snd drcrease thicknes at splice.
 
I was on my last belt a while ago when the seam failed, I used contact cemet and the old strip of cloth, worked well, still on the belt sander now.
Have since stocked back up on belts, but the 'old' one is still working fine.
cleaned the old glue off as well as I could with thinner first.

ken.
 
I tried carpet tape, the kind you have to iron on. This was only marginally successful Im afraid. Seems like one held up for 10 or 15 minutes of use.
 
jl sargent, was thinking about doing that myself
have the tape and a old iron i picked up at a yard sale ya saved me some time..
 
I think I'll take my new abrasive belts and put them into those big ziplock bags (with as much air squeezed out as I can) in the hope that will make them last longer.

cheers,
Michael
 
Looking for love in all the wrong places.

Sorry guys, I couldn't help it. This thread for some reason caused that song to pop into mind.

Anyways,
It's a secret. Certainly the sanding belt mfg's aren't going to tell you anything except, they don't last forever and there are no repairs that can be made to a belt that has come apart.
And also, be assured, the glue joint will not last forever.
The reasons, well, I just think they want you to think this knowing you will need to buy new belts, and, more belts, and more belts.
Some of them really cost as width and size get up there and you use many. wow,better have a bank roll.

Something I have been using for some time now and it has given me better than average results is a simple book binding strip.

What is it you ask?

I use some tape called "AccubindPro".
It is a tough tight weave material tape with a thermal glue adheasive.

Unlike carpet tape and some of the other things mentioned in this thread by people, this stuff is really tough. It is designed to take a lot of bending punishment and the thermal glue will give the tension pull a good ride.

I get mine from two places if one is out when I need it. An office supply store or a craft store.
Altho, you could probably find it online or if you have a book binding shop near you.

It comes on a roll in several widths. I like the 1-1/2" stock. with this I can cut to width, usually 1" wide for edge butting, and leave it wide,1-1/2" should I need to do a bias tear repair.

This tape is bonded with a thermal heat.
I first invert the sanding belt,grit sides together, then cut the tape to size, fold it in half, place it over the two edges and heat bond them together.

For a bias tear I just place it over the area and once again, heat bond the tape.

Now, you can get silly and buy the book binding machine made by this same supplier at well, a reasonable cost actually if you are really into much use and repair of sanding belts and writing books.

Or,

You can treat your wife(girlfriend)(yourself)to a nice little kitchen machine called the "FoodSaver".
You know, its the machine that plast-i-wraps your food by sucking all the air out and then sealing the bag.
This machine will heat and bond the Accubind.
Tho the heat strip in this machine is narrow it will still give a good weld and you can place the edges twice to insure full width heating.
Remember too, to flip your sanding belt over and reheat to bond the other side.
You see, the sanding belts are a bit thick and the heat generated from the little FoodSaver is not enough to give it a good heat because of the thickness.

Now, for the bias tears.
What I did was to take two pieces of 1/4" steel plate stock about 4.5" long by 4" wide, welded a small hinge to them. On the top I welded a 1" sq. bar that is about a foot long as a lever.
On the bottom of the plate, the one without the lever, I welded another piece of flat stock in "T" fashion so I could put it in my holding vice.

With this complete, It is possible to place your belt with tape, press together, or lay flat as for a tear, and apply heat using your oa rose bud
to one side, or, both sides of the plates thus creating a heated press.
It really takes very little time to do all this.
It works pretty good too.
After doing one or two you will get to know what it will actually take to give a good job.
The temp of heat should be around 250/300 degrees.

They make some other stuff for book binding but I haven't really had to experiment since I started using this little bit.
Perhaps, someone will and then maybe I will know of something new to try.
For now, this works for me.

By the way,

Anyone remember who wrote that song? :D

Hope this helps,

Patch
 
I would agree with Patch on this one except for one thing.Instead of or maybe in addition to the bindings there is also the glue.I used to work at a printing and publishing company.Right close by actually.I worked on the binder one day for a specialised run of books.The machine was like a really small merry-go-round where you could sit in a chair and feed it the rough book.It would go around and cut of excess at next two stations the third station was the hot glue then the cover.The glue had to be a specific temp for if not hot enough it didn't bond well or took too long to dry thus the cover would shift.Maybe if you have a lot of rolls that need fixing call the nearest printing supply and see what they have.If no luck,give me a PM and I will go to company and ask for some.Can't hurt.
 
I'm planning on trying Accutape and high strength contact cement on cloth. Got a roll of Gorilla tape today, just to check it out. This is basically a high priced duct tape with an extra thick layer of adhesive. Might be good for bonding to rough surfaces and the reinforced layer would be fine for wrapping stuff. However, the thick adhesive layer has almost no tensile strength and doesn't work for this application.
 
This is a timely topic!

IIRC, 7 or 8 years ago, I acquired (200) 3x24 120 grit sanding belts for free. They were probably 2-3 years old at that time.

I've noticed that in the last year, they have started to fail at the glue joint.

I spent today in the shop; belt sanding the outside surfaces of finger jointed pine boxes...14 boxes required 12 belts!

Oh well...they were free :D
 








 
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