cork screw belt question

Jack O'Neill

Jack O'Neill

Gold Member
Joined
Nov 15, 2007
Messages
7,193
Anybody out there have any tricks to keep your 2x72 ' J-weight belts from turning themselves into a cork screw after one use ?
 
Humidity seems to exaggerate the problem... I've found that sometimes if I leave one stretched on the grinder overnight it won't be quite as bad..of course, that's not always practical.

-Mark
 
i have j weight belts that are over 17 years old and i figured with age they would straighten out but they dont. one thing i never tried yet, turning them over and spraying the back with spray starch to see if that would stiffen the belt. i might try that if i have any and see if that works.
 
I just stand on part and pull the rest toward me :) but i honestly treat belts like they are free,and toss 'em pretty quick.17 years,that puppy must be good and worn :D
 
MTREDMUN
I was afraid humidity may be the problem as this did not happen in the dry desert climates

Richard J , careful with the sprays , may gum up the wheels an platen.

Balibalistic , put those free belts ina box and mail them to me , I'll squeese another dime out of them .
 
i actually used it when i put the mirror finish on the knife i made for kalama. it worked pretty good for its age. i think if i put spray starch on and then wipe it off there wont be too much left to gum anything up. all it needs to do is soak into the cloth.
 
Belt storage is a pain sometimes. I have had this problem with light weight belts as well. It helped me to nest them inside of each other, hang them from a peg, and then hang something with a little weight to it to the bottom of the belt. Or put them lengthwise on a 2x4, around a nail on one end, stretch them straight, stick an ice pick or something in the curve on the other end. Or I've make a belt rack out of plywood with pegs or nails top and bottom at the right spacing to hold a fairly stretched belt.
 
Down here in Bama we got just a little humidity (normally 95% or so ;) ) I've seen guys make all sorts of things to keep them straight but the simplest is to get some thick walled PVC pipe around 2-4" in diameter and cut them into about 4" lengths and put them in the "free hanging" end of the belt. Now some people get so fancy with that and make little end caps that are larger and bolt them to each end of the piece of pipe so they look like spools but the normal pieces of pipe work fine if you're not careless.

I've heard that leaving them stretched overnight can lead to flat spots on your contact wheels not to mention the potential for stressing the lap unecessarily, leading to belt failure at a higher rate. Heck I loosen my belts every time I turn my grinder off.
 
vorpalknives said:
Belt storage is a pain sometimes. I have had this problem with light weight belts as well. It helped me to nest them inside of each other, hang them from a peg, and then hang something with a little weight to it to the bottom of the belt. Or put them lengthwise on a 2x4, around a nail on one end, stretch them straight, stick an ice pick or something in the curve on the other end. Or I've make a belt rack out of plywood with pegs or nails top and bottom at the right spacing to hold a fairly stretched belt.
Click to expand...

Maybe a variation on this?

belt_storage1.jpg


Pad
 
Removing the belt after using the small 1 inch contact wheel really causes cork screw grief. I find it better to run the belt on the 8 or 10 inch wheel for awhile after using the small ones. It doesn't totally solve the problem, but it lessens the corkscrew effect.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top