Abrasive Belt Breakage Problems

[Michael A. Tyree]

I'm having breakage/short life issues with sanding belts that I've never had before. My sander is a Bosch 1273 in good shape, in spite of it's age. The base pad assembly, drive belt and the edge "rub guide" have all been replaced, in years past. Belts are easily adjusted to track properly.
FWIW, I'm a serious level, life long, wood freak, with much experience and been around shops all my life. I taught tech school and worked in skilled trades prior to that.
Klingspor 4 x 24" AO belts are the current belt.
I had this problem a few years back and Klingspor replaced them on warranty. The replacements have the same problem in that the taped butt joint falls apart as soon as the belt warms up and long before it's anywhere near used up. In fact, belts placed on the sander after it gets warm break even faster than the first one used in an operation. It seems the heat releases the tapes adhesive. Klingspor warranty is 2 years and they say to only buy a less than 2 years supply or no warranty later. They also say belts must be stored in a climate controlled area. My dedicated shop is located in Eastern Kentucky near our home. I do run the A/C in hot humid weather and have electric & wood heat too but also open up the shop during nice weather.
I have never had this issue with lapped joint belts! I have used a typical rubber cleaner stick to extend belt abrasive life to the extent that often belts were no longer useful after long usage.
Many manufacturers are using the filament tape joints now. They actually brag as to how the belts can now be run in both directions. My experience with taped joints tells me to stay away from them! I have had good service from Sungold belts made in Korea previous to Klingspor belts. There is zero issue with Klingspors abrasive-it's about the taped joints! I've read many Amazon reviews for taped joint belts and they get anywhere from similar to my experience to 5 stars, all depending on who's using them. Weird huh?
I researched this via google & Woodweb has a 2012 post with similar problems to mine.
I'm out of belts and need some NOW!!! Don't know what to buy? I'm calling Sungold Monday to see if they still lap their joints or now using the tape.
What say you???

[Martin Wasner]

I'm a fan of the 3M purple belts.

[Gerry Grzadzinski]

I'm a fan of the 3M purple belts.




+1 on the 3M Purple.

[Michael A. Tyree]

I see the purple one's often but resist the price based on good service from other, less expensive belts in the past. The 3M purple do have taped butt joints as they are advertised to be reversible.
I only sand wood with this sander and have done further research since this post. Humidity is the culprit and some mfg.'s only do 1 year warranty. I read about a boat guy that had several hundred $ of zirconia belts that had fallen apart in a humid climate area. Also machinist web forums with the belt breakage too.
My source for these current belts, Klingspor sells many different belt joints to industry and has a web information page on suggested uses for like 6 different belt joints. I use too many belts to buy high priced small packs at a box store yet 10 packs per grit have the storage issue. Maybe I need to keep them in a military ammo box @ my shop?
The strange aspect for me is that it's not like I've moved in a long time nor has the weather changed here in KY! It's always been humid, really humid, yet never had this problem with lapped belt joints.
I appreciate the above purple belt comments here but reality is there are many 5 star reviews of various other belts with the same joints keeping me from buying more?
I've also done auto body work as a sideline and am familiar with many brands and types of abrasives. Not belts for that work, however, mostly discs.
My plan for now remains to call some abrasive people Monday and ask tech questions before I order.

[Ronald Blue]

If humidity is the culprit maybe a warmer like for some welding rod is in order to keep humidity from being a factor. Just a thought. Good luck.

[Lee Schierer]

I've used taped joint belts for years with no problems. Recently I needed to do some sanding and several of my 8-10 year old belts broke at the the seam. I bought new belts from teh same source and had no further problems with breakage.

Any chance your supplier sold you out of date belts? Or has poor storage? Was there a date code on the box?

[Joe Jensen]

The adhesive is an organic compound and over time the adhesive fails. I had a TON or 10 year old belts and all failed as soon as the belt touched wood.

[Michael A. Tyree]

Must be the humidity in AZ?:) or not...;)

Organic adhesive aside, they fall apart when I've never had this problem before! The first batch of taped belts I had trouble with failed before they could have had a storage/humidity problem! As in right away. OTOH, I've read reviews from commercial users of taped belts that said they were the best, go figure. I'll report back with my phone call info soon as I need belts now.

[Ira Matheny]

I live in the Central Valley of California and purchase sanding belts from Supergrit in Gettysburg PA. I use 4x24, 6x 132, 6x 360 [Yes, 30' long for the stroke sander] and 37 x 60 for the wide belt.
I've had NO problems as you describe since talking to Arturo, the owner. He has set me up with some great belt and NO FAILURES.
But I do not use 'economy' belts.
www.supergrit.com

Ira

[Ira Matheny]

I live in the Central Valley of California and purchase sanding belts from Supergrit in Gettysburg PA. I use 4x24, 6x 132, 6x 360 [Yes, 30' long for the stroke sander] and 37 x 60 for the wide belt.
I've had NO problems as you describe since talking to Arturo, the owner. He has set me up with some great belt and NO FAILURES.
But I do not use 'economy' belts.
www.supergrit.com (http://www.supergrit.com)

Ira
BTW, I clean 'filled' sanding belts [heavy cloth backed only] using the pressure washer. I have some belts that have been recycled three or four time!
Try it!

[Michael A. Tyree]

Ira and others here, I appreciate your comments. I did a few calls today and ended up buying Sungold Belts on Amazon in 4 x 24 AO. They use the same skived joint which has never had a breakage issue for me after many boxes of their belts. They run smooth and storage is a non issue as is shelf life. The Sungold representitive told me they understand limiting a warranty to a year or two but otherwise have never had a shelf life concern come up before, given the air tight storage requirement comment from Klingspor rep..
I did look at Supergrit's website and shied away from their taped joints! When you say economy do you mean Aluminum Oxide vs. other abrasives? I don't see a belt called "economy" by their website? They are inexpensive in AO material. I've always had good results in AO with hardwoods.

[Mike Wilkins]

Had the same problem with some sanding belts purchased from a closing business. Sat in a cabinet for a long time before the need to use some of these belts. Ran the sander for about a minute before the taped seam came undone. I was told that this was the result of age. Old belts and their seams do not last long; something about the glue in the seams failing due to age.

I now go to the local big box store to purchase belts, and only 2 at a time to get fresh ones (hopefully).

[jack duren]

We use Klingspor without any problems, I use VSM personally. Had a lot of VSM belts go out, but had them several years.

Either there old stock or defective belts. I really don't think its the brand....

[Michael A. Tyree]

While I don't store near the belts as shown in the storage shelf, I do need the price break of 10 in a box. The nearest box store is a 50k RT so my UP's man is a best friend! We have his cell # to augment our rural shopping. I'm not gonna buy belts on a onesie/twosie basis!

Jack: Let me be clear that this thread was never intended to discredit Klingspor! I was clear in saying it was my problem and that others were making 5 star reviews of taped belts. Klingspors warranty is 2 years while most have one year as far as I know. I've never had a warranty issue with belts until the taped belts came into the picture & they replaced them once -with belts that broke as soon as I started using them! Those belts pictured are the belts I had issues with.
I'm not one to go after a mfg or retailer! I've actually been to the Klingspor store in Hickoruy,NC several times and nice folks there indeed. Reality sets in though and I moved on to the Sungold which have worked for me before.
I don't pressure wash a belt. I do use a rubber stick on them-if they hold up.
I'm hoping the order of 50 belts I placed today will keep me happy through my next few projects. I'm making kitchen cabinet doors and then a drop leaf table-all from wormy chestnut which requires some belt work after the planer and glue up.

[Roy Turbett]

I had the same problem with belts that came with a sander I bought at a school auction. I suspect age was the issue.

[glenn bradley]

Michael, glad you found a source and I did not take this as a slam on any particular vendor. Your thread created some good conversation and got a lot of good discussion / responses with varying experiences. These are the things that make a thread valuable. Thanks!

[Michael A. Tyree]

The Amazon Sungold description has a commentary about their "skived belt technology", just below the main ad in the info list. In spite of that information which corresponds with my phone call info from the Sungold rep in NY (belts are Korean) I got responses from folks on Amazon question I posted there (before the phone call when I was wondering if Sungold had changed their belt joints) that were saying the belts had taped joints-I got that response from two people! I don't know if they know tape from skived but seems odd to me? I even mentioned the ad to Sungold rep as the word "skived" was m,is-spelled in the ad and she said it was "their ad" and she'd get it corrected. Sungold, as a manufacturer dose not sell directly to the public FWIW.
For the record, I've never been one of those people that disses a business on a forum. I'd call them out to their face not to the public if I had a beef. I have a BIL that will not go in Walmart for some bad clerk reason years ago-not my style either.