Replacing Sanding Belts

[Tom Bender]

My portable sander uses 4" x 24" belts. Long before the grit is worn out the splice usually breaks. I resplice with glue and get a little more out of it but not a lot. If I had some better tape for the back side it would help. This is the case with a variety of brands and grits. Any suggestions?

[Frank Pratt]

This comes up from time to time, so it's not like you are the only one, but I've never had a belt come apart on me. I use Klingspor, & have some that are well over 10 years old. I have no suggestion, other than to do a search for older threads where this is discussed at some length.

[Clint Baxter]

I can't remember the last time I had a belt come apart on my belt sander. I have a Porter Cable that uses those same 4 x 24 belts. I primarily use the blue zirconium belts made by 3M and they last for a very long time. Depending on who the manufacturer of your belts is, maybe a change might be a solution.

Clint

[Rod Sheridan]

Not to insult you, however is the belt marked for direction?

Regards, Rod

[Steve Jenkins]

Belts seem to have a shelf life. I just went through 10 Klingspor 180 belts Saturday. I’ve had them for several years having bought them at a bargain. Some broke she I pulled the trigger some within 1 minute.

[Bruce Wrenn]

One at a woodworkers meeting, Coleman from Klingspor said that the Kelvar used to join the splices in belts has about a 1 year life. At the factory, they keep it in a freezer till needed. Somewhere, a tip was to use bias tape to repair the splice.

[Edward Dyas]

My portable sander uses 4" x 24" belts. Long before the grit is worn out the splice usually breaks. I resplice with glue and get a little more out of it but not a lot. If I had some better tape for the back side it would help. This is the case with a variety of brands and grits. Any suggestions?Are the belts you are using directional. Some belts you have to be sure they run in a particular direction. It may be the belts are just defective. I would use them up and try to find a better brand. I'm using Mirka brand belts and haven't had a problem with them coming apart and they are kept where it is especially humid.

[Ira Matheny]

Time and moisture are both mortal enemies of some brands of sanding belt. New belt created and used in the summer seem to work without trouble in Central California. Some older belt, not stored in conditioned space, used in the cooler, more moist winter seem to fail much faster.
Therefore, I try to keep my belts in a condition atmosphere year-round.

[Tom Bender]

Thanks all.
My shop is A/C so that's good. The three failed belts I have are a few years old and no brand. The Gator Grip belts on my stationary sander hold up great. Sounds like Klingspor is not a good bet. Guess I'lll try Mirka. Their Abranet disks are good.

[jack duren]

Klingspor and VSM are the most common in the cabinet shop..Mirka is not. There more expensive...

You can't get VSM, so Klingspor is your best bet. New belts don't fail. New/ old stock can fail but are sold on Ebay... Cabinet shops generally pay $12-$15 a box of 10 depending if there 80 grit or less if you get into a box of 60 grit you may only get 5 in a box ...

[Frank Pratt]

Never had a Klingspor belt fail & I have used them when many years old.

[jack duren]

I bought a box of 20 VSM 6x80x80 off ebay about 10-12 years ago. This year I had about almost all break at the seam.klingspor will sell me individuals for about $15 each...

I buy a lot off EBAY and they are old stock when I purchase them....

[Randall J Cox]

Belts seem to have a shelf life. I just went through 10 Klingspor 180 belts Saturday. I’ve had them for several years having bought them at a bargain. Some broke she I pulled the trigger some within 1 minute.

I totally agree with Steve on the shelf life thing. I went through 4 belts in one day, all unused but probably 10 years old. I have a 6x48 with 2hp driving and its kinda exciting when they go, especially when you're not expecting it... Now I only buy one when I need it. No 2 or 5 packs. Randy

[Pete Staehling]

Wow, I have never had a problem with breakage at the seam on 4" belts. I have worn out many a belt with the seam still intact. Maybe I have been lucky.

[Ron Selzer]

HAVE HAD 3 BATCHES OF KLINGSPOR BELTS BREAK ON ME. 3x24,ALL AT OR OVER 1 YEAR OLD
ALL were bought from Klingspor, direct out of the catalog, as box of belts, 36 belts, 6 of each grit.
Only time they have held up was IF I used one and changed it out with minimal use, then it would work a couple of years later
OTHERWISE EVERY ONE BROKE THE SPLICE, MOST WITHIN MINUTES
I will only buy what I need and can use in a couple of months now. No more selections of 36 belts no matter how good the price.
Have passed all of the broken belts on to the wood shop in the high school at work.
Buy wide belts from 2sand.com and have broken belts primarily when first getting used to it and trying to hog with a belt 100 grit or finer. Then the splices let go

[keith wootton]

i have had good luck using super glue to re-glue the tape back to the belt

[Gary Thinglum]

I have approximately 300 sanding belts mostly 80's and 120 grit. Some are close to 50 years old. When I was working they used them to sand denim material on paper supercalendar rolls at our Paper mill. They used them one time and threw them in the garbage barrel. I and my father would take them and blow them out with compressed air. They were like brand new after this. The glue on the joints have dried out and will break at the splice if used in a belt sander but, I have used them for hand sanding. They are the "cloth" belts. I am curious if anyone has tried to "re-glue" the splices. I have tried formica glue but, it still does not hold. I see someone has tried super glue. These belts do have the directional arrow so, I am running them in the correct direction.
Any other suggestions???? Thanks.

[Eric Danstrom]

I totally agree with Steve on the shelf life thing. I went through 4 belts in one day, all unused but probably 10 years old. I have a 6x48 with 2hp driving and its kinda exciting when they go, especially when you're not expecting it... Now I only buy one when I need it. No 2 or 5 packs. Randy

Same for me. I just used up the last of a 6x48 5 pack i bought 30 years ago. The 4x21 I have are ~10 years old and none have failed at the seam. I never heard of Klingspor before today but they don't make the top reviews on Amazon. 3m seems to be one of the better reviewed brands.

[Zachary Hoyt]

I guess I've been lucky. I bought about 20 or more 36 grit 4x36 sanding belts from the dollar store, they were old stock and are several years older now but I've never had one break. I don't use that sander all the time like I used to before I got the drum sander, but there are certain jobs for which it's still handy.
Zach

[jack duren]

Same for me. I just used up the last of a 6x48 5 pack i bought 30 years ago. The 4x21 I have are ~10 years old and none have failed at the seam. I never heard of Klingspor before today but they don't make the top reviews on Amazon. 3m seems to be one of the better reviewed brands.

Klingspor sells to the industry lke VSM. Personally I could care less about AMAZONS review. I've used them in an industrial setting and know they work fine....

[Frank Pratt]

Same for me. I just used up the last of a 6x48 5 pack i bought 30 years ago. The 4x21 I have are ~10 years old and none have failed at the seam. I never heard of Klingspor before today but they don't make the top reviews on Amazon. 3m seems to be one of the better reviewed brands.

Generally, 3m stuff is top drawer, but in my experience Klingspor has them beat. And Amazon ratings? Really, your better off just ignoring them, or taking them with a mountain of salt.

[jack duren]

Generally, 3m stuff is top drawer, but in my experience Klingspor has them beat. And Amazon ratings? Really, your better off just ignoring them, or taking them with a mountain of salt.

3m stuff is great, but so expensive. Klingspor you can afford to break a belt once in a while or sand glue off...

[Osvaldo Cristo]

Belts seem to have a shelf life. I just went through 10 Klingspor 180 belts Saturday. I’ve had them for several years having bought them at a bargain. Some broke she I pulled the trigger some within 1 minute.

Perfect.

Some belts states shelf life so small as a couple of years. The villain is the adhesive and the effect of the storage humidity.

My storage of Porter Cable belts after only twenty years could not survive higher than one minute at my sander.

[jack duren]

There cheap enough yet not so cheap as to waste them. Finding a deal is a good thing but unless you are using a lot at a time or buying enough to finish the job and having a source to get more would make the most sense