Cubitron Belts?

L6steel

L6steel

Joined
Sep 23, 1999
Messages
5,855
Is there something special you're supposed to do to cubitron belts before or during grinding with them to make em work? I bought some and I can't get em to grind worth a crap. I must be missing something here.
 
run the belt with the gritty side out...


:eek:


No seriously, you must be having some issues, or some crappy belts. My cubies cut like there's no tomorrow. I'm putting in another order as I write...

Dan
 
Mike,
Run em slow and with lots of pressure. If they seem to dull, use a carbide tipped tool and run it across the face to open up the grain.
Something sure doesn't sound right. I love them, but I grind hardened blades.
 
I was under the impression that in the lower grits, cubitron belts, you need to run them fast to keep esposing new grit. If I am wrong please excuse the post.


ken beatty
 
They work VERY well for me, although I have been getting alot of wobbly ones lately..
The thing about running them at high speed I also heard, but the speeds are higher than anyone can achieve with a regular grinder from what I understand..
They seem to do much more work, and act like a new belt longer IMHO...
 
I've read nothing but good stuff about em. That's whats got me wondering about these. It might be the way I grind. I don't use much pressure because it's the quickest way for me mess up the grind but I'll have to try it as per Kit's suggestion! I'll also try the carbide trick, Kit, thanks!!
 
I like them a lot because about 50% of my stuff is hardened before I grind. I run them fast and when they dull I use a chunk of steel and cram it into the grit good and hard for a couple rotations. That seems to clean 'em out good. One more thing about the longevity... I have old cubies that I just can't seem to throw out. Now, I'm not one of those frugal guys who will sap the very soul out of a belt before it gets the boot. I go through other belts quickly. But these cubitrons just seem to last and last for me.
 
Belts self sharpen themselves by having the grains fracture to expose sharp corners, it is called friability.

The harder the grain, the more pressure is required to cause the belt to resharpen itself. Light pressure on a hard grain will simply result in the grains smoothing out and it stops cutting.

I don't like to use a lot of pressure while grinding so I use the softer aluminum oxide belts. The lower cost makes up for the shorter belt life. I can still grind 4 or 5 bowie knives on one belt or 20 4" hunters.
 
I love 36 and 50 (or is it 60?) grit cubitrons for roughing out a blade. Steel just seems to melt away under them. I do tend to push a bit harder with them than Norton hoggers. I'm switching to them when I use up my norton hoggers. Problem is I keep grabbing the cubitrons because they work so much better. I haven't tried them in any grits past 60 but I plan to. If they get dull - which seems to take a long time, I'll run the edge of scrap steel across them at full speed and they sharpen back up just like jhiggins mentions. I'll have to find a carbide tipped tool and try that like Kit talks about.
The best part about them is that I don't burn my fingers with them like Nortons or smaller grits.
 
I may have been the one saying how good the Cubitron belts were a few months back but I've been pretty disappointed in them lately. Just don't seem like I have been getting the life out of them like I was before. Maybe I've gone to gentle with them. I tossed most my old belts but did save the Cubi's that I thought should still have more life in them. I'll give them heck and see if thats what the problem is....
 
My memory is shorter than my, er, other parts of me :)

I was talking about the 3M 967s, the yellow ones. They were designed for slower grinding. The 970s are the fast ones (red).
 
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