Sander Belt Togetherness

[Terry Mac]

Good morning all,

Last weekend I bought a Craftsman/King-Seeley Bench Sander, it's a 6" belt, with a 9" disk sander. The guy I got it from had a bunch of un-glued 6" belts which he threw in extra. These belts are Garnett Cloth belts.

The question is: what adhesive do you use to glue the belt together for use on the sander.

The belt that was on it when I bought it, has three little pins along with being glued.

This is the sander

http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s233/sh20w/sander/00009a.jpg

This is the back side of one of the belts

http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s233/sh20w/sander/00004a.jpg

This is the two ends of one belt

http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s233/sh20w/sander/00005a.jpg

And this is the belt that was on the machine showing the glued portion. It's hard to see, but there's three little pins along the length of the seam

http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s233/sh20w/sander/00006a.jpg


Not real interested in having to put these little pins in the seam; my fingers don't work that small anymore. But I need help with what kind of adhesive to use to make these belts work for the sander.

Any and all help is appreciated. Thanks

[thekl0wn]

Dunno... We buy the belts pre-made to size. :confused:

[Don]

Wow, it's been years since we glued any together. Seems we made up our own stroke sander belts. You are not going to lose anything by trying some stuff. From what I remember we made a jig similar to a film splicing jig. Held the first piece in place while we "sanded" off the abrasive in the area of the lap. You may want to try a moistening the area and see if that loosens the grit. Garnet is usually held in place with something water soluble because its cheap and the garnet abrasive has the life of a good case of gas. But then we simply glued them on the jig using something like Weldwood plastic resin powder glue. Of course, tightly clamping the area. You may simply want to try a good PVA like Elmer's or Titebond as well, don't over do the glue here because heat may cause a failure.

Experiment, you've got nothing to lose now. The pins are going to be useless in my opinion.

dawjr

[Terry Mac]

Just a little update on gluing up sander belts. (sorry no pictures) I tested the glues I had around the house, I didn't buy any fancy stuff (too cheap to spend the money). I tested Elmers white, Elmers Wood, Titebond and epoxy (gougeon).

The first step was to build a jig that would keep the belt straight. This consisted of nailing a straight 2x4 onto a piece of plywood, 1/2 x 10 x 12. A belt was placed securely against the 2x4 and with the other side scribed for exact width. Another 2x4 was then nailed to the plywood, creating a tunnel or hallway to slide both ends together.

The belt was wrapped around the sander to determine length, and cutting if necessary. Apparently these belts were pre-cut to the right length with a 3/4" overlap for gluing.

I did heat up the ends of the belt with a little torch, as that was the only thing I had around. Preferably would have used a blow dryer. I also took some hot water and rubbed off the grit on the 3/4" strip on the down side of the belt, let dry. Then the glue went on using a finger to spread it around (Don't do this with the epoxy!!!, use a sacrificial waste piece of wood!). Thin layer, you just want to coat the 3/4" strip. Once the two ends are glued and placed together, I used an old piece of heavy iron that was laying around to lay on top of the seam for a day. I also put a few boxes of nails on top of that for good measure.

Test 1: The Elmers white. Worked amazingly well. No problems so far, and belt still connected.

Test 2: The Elmers Wood. Also worked amazingly well. No problems, and still connected.

Test 3: The Titebond. Likewise worked with no problems.

Test 4: The epoxy. This one was interesting. Mixing the epoxy, it gets hot. It actually burned or ate through a few little holes in the belt. It's still connected, but doesn't run that good when placed on the sander and tightened.

Result: It appears so far, that regular glues work just fine. No pins were used. It's likely I won't use the epoxy again.