Belt Caution

george tichbourne

george tichbourne

Joined
Apr 19, 1999
Messages
3,560
I had a brand new belt break today, just picked them up at the belt manufacturer yesterday afternoon. Apparently they have not aged long enough for the splice to have completely cured...This takes from 24 to 72 hours depending on temperature.

The darn thing sounded like a gunshot when it broke and caught me on the side of the neck and shoulder. No warning noise at all.

They are now quarantined until next week to ensure that the splice has completely cured.
 
Yikes! Did the belt cut you or just whack the heck out of you?

I've been wondering lately, is that a problem with belts in general? Anyone find any brands to avoid, that seem to have weak splices?
 
Belts that have been on the shelf too long or have been exposed to moisure are prone to this type of failure
 
the tapes are applied to the belts with heated ton press's the spliceing tape comes from the glue manufacturer to the belt manufacturer on dry ice and are only good for 72 hours. after this they will not hold onto the belt material properly and have to be discarded.(I got this info from a belt manufacturer(3M?) when asked about getting some tape to make custom size belt lengths. (realy I was just desciseing the fact that I wanted to buy shop rols of belting at 1/3 the price of an equel amount of 2x72" belts)
 
what are the chances of buying a brand new belt and it doing this?

@ciphery - thanks for that info. since my shop is going to be outside and just covered with a tarp when not in use im going to take the extra step and remove all abrassive belts and leaving them in the house when not in use.

so ARE there any brands to avoid?
 
no not that I know of. if you do some surfing of the www in paticular "belt spliceing tape" you will find that they are all pretty much the same. If I recall a belts shelf life is somewhare between 6 months and a year.
 
I've been lucky so far especially after using hundreds of belts. I did almost have one break a few days ago. The warning sign, the belt begin to wobble and not track properly. It was starting to split.
Scott
 
Yes it drew blood, it was a very fresh 50 grit.

In all my years using hundreds of belts a year I have never had a belt split at the seam before and I have used Hermes, 3M, Standard abrasive, Klingspore and maybe 5 or 6 other brands.

My status as a house account of the supplier gets me belts on very short notice made to order. This time I guess I didn't give them long enough to cure. The manufacturer will get the pieces to examine on Monday.
 
My experiance with belt failures (for what ever reason) is that #36 is like a meat grinder and #220 is like a razor. I am glad to hear that Mr. tichbourne did not get seriously hurt. I have only had an explosive detatchment of spliceing tape once.(my fault)and I must say that it was not only scarry but painfull (#220) . The hospital did not belive me when I told them it was caused by a peice of sand paper(4 stitches)
 
Well we got the splice tests back yesterday. All of the rest of the batch of belts tested 50% over spec for strength so the manufacturer is scratching his head as well.

In the mean time they made up another batch of belts from another batch of belt material totally unrelated to the original batch. I have begun to run them already and the new material is very impressive, a softer ceramic material than usual and it looks better than my preferred aluminum oxide, now I have to find out what the cost would be if I decide to go ahead with it on a regular basis.
 
yeah, I have been wacked on the noggin a few times by a 36 grit belt. First time it happened I was wearing a hat so now..........I always wear hats:D
 
About a month ago I had a belt break while I was grinding the flats on my platen. Scared the shit out of me. It sound a lot like a gunshot. It hit me in the face. Luckily I had on my safety glasses and respirator. They blocked most of it and I was fortunate not to get hurt. Since then I really listen to the belts with how much pressure is applied and haven't broken one since.
 
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