984F Cubitron IIs; for the doubters.

javand

javand

Joined
Oct 17, 2010
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I've been busy telling every knifemaker I know about these belts, partly because I've been more than a little bit dissapointed by all the hype people have been chatting about the "Blaze" belts, which haven't begun to live up to my expectations.

Maybe it's just my style of grinding, I rarely use 36grit belts (but the blaze 36 produce an orange cloud of death grit for me), or maybe its just the crap I grind, but I've never met a belt that works as well as the 984Fs.

Admittedly, I've only gone through about 20 or so; 60 and 80 grit belts in the 984s. For the doubters however; here is a photo of tonight's work; 25 chisel grinds (about an hour of solid grinding at 40% speed on a 3hp grinder) on virgin 90deg edges of 6al4v titanium.
20120510_023358.jpg



After that hour of work, all the wear is on one half of the belt, which feels just as sharp still as the unused side. The last grind showed just as clean grit lines as the first.

YMMV of course. These belts aren't for soft media like wood, but they kill for Ti, Carbon, and Stainless, IMHO.

If you haven't tried these belts, please give them a shot. I've got no vested interest in them, but these are theyre the first premium belts that I feel are really designed for our type of application, and actually justify the premium. Tracy has em, tru-grit has em, and so does Pop. Prices vary, but they're competetive with the blaze belts.
 
I have ordered some of those 984F cubitron belts.
I have tried to convince myself that the Norton Blaze belts should work better for me. I've tried a bunch every time I ordered along with the 3M top of the line ones. My results have been the same each time which is very poor results from the Blaze belts. I have been told that if I run my grinder at a slow speed and don't use lots of pressure the Nortons will not do a good job for me. That is the way I grind so no more course Blaze belts for me. Frank
 
I think that's the key, Frank. We need to match up how we each grind to the right belts or the belt that someone else raves about stinks for us. I've got 984's on order and can't wait to try them. I'm like you, now that I can I'm slowing things down and using moderate pressure for the most part. It gives me better control over my grind.
 
+1 for the 984f's. There is a distinguishable difference from all the other highend ceramics.

I run the 36 and 60 grit belts for rough grinding; my next order will also be for the 984f series.

Fred
 
Blaze belts are designed to run at high speed to continuously break the ceramic into sharp cutting surfaces - if you don't run at full speed, there's no doubt you'll have bad results. It's good to hear you've found a belt that works with your style of grinding, however.
 
I rough grind at 5400 sfm with all the ceramic belts I've used, which includes the Blaze belts; the 984f's are IMHO a much better belt. They last far longer than any of the other ceramics I've used.

When they are fractured using a carbide tip, the new surface is very aggressive.
 
Fred, what do you mean by using a carbide tip to fracture? I have a 36 grit ceramic belt that just went dull on me. I mean VERY dull but there is still plenty of grit left on it that needs to be opened up, and I can't, for the life of me figure out how to do it. I don't have any dressing stones to do it. I've tried a grinding wheel but it doesn't work. I think it must be an AO wheel. I do have a few dull carbide tipped drill bits that might work. Is that what you are using?
 
jawilder said:
Fred, what do you mean by using a carbide tip to fracture? I have a 36 grit ceramic belt that just went dull on me. I mean VERY dull but there is still plenty of grit left on it that needs to be opened up, and I can't, for the life of me figure out how to do it. I don't have any dressing stones to do it. I've tried a grinding wheel but it doesn't work. I think it must be an AO wheel. I do have a few dull carbide tipped drill bits that might work. Is that what you are using?
Click to expand...

I followed James Popin's advice, Pop's Knife Supply, which was: ceramic belts can be re-fractured by pressing the tip of an old or broken carbide drill bit into a the belt running at full speed. Do not keep the carbide in contact with the belt very long; just long enough to fracture the entire belt surface along its length. Apply pressure to the carbide.
James followed this up with this: "ceramics are designed to be run at very high sfm speeds along with as much pressure on the steel as is possible". "There are people who grind on a commercial scale who grind using a lever to apply the pressure to the blades" they are running 7200 + sfm belt speeds. James told me they can get a 100 blades per belt with this technique.
He said that using slower speeds with little pressure glazes and rounds over the ceramic structures instead of fracturing while grinding, which is what happens using speed and pressure.

Fred
 
Thanks for sharing this Javand and all. Belt choice is very hard, especially for folks like me that don't grind that many knives. I don't go through enough to be able to compare.
 
Thanks Fred, "slower speeds with little pressure glazes and rounds over the ceramic structures" - that's exactly what happens to mine.
 
Jason,

Get to the hardware store and pick up a 1/2" glass drill(Carbide tipped!). I use one all the time. It works great.
 
AH HAH. why the heck didn't I think of that? I was at the hardware store picking up a regular drill bit and checked out their grinding wheels to see if they had any on sale or broken... no luck. I literally browsed through the drill bit aisle wondering what else I could pick up for upcoming projects and couldn't think of anything. I may have to check my rotary hammer drill bits actually, I think I have some old ones I've replaced but they're still carbide tipped and big enough to be easy to hold.

Thanks, Aldo. As always, you're the MAN.
 
This is awesome!!! I have been wondering if it was me, but i guess not.Ok out to the shop with a carbide bit...
 
I might be a really happy camper for keeping all of those old belts around now. Thanks Fred and Aldo! :)
 
Guys,

No big deal. I used to use them to drill holes in ceramic sinks and save them when the edge wore out.
 
Thanks for the heads up as I will start on 2 x 72 grinder setup very soon. Like the drill bit trick too.
 
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