Kalamazoo 1sm eating belts

[dewfang]

Hi all! I'm a newbie here on this forum and to sharpening knives on a belt sander. I just got a Kalamazoo 1x42 belt sander and have sharpened every knife I own with pretty good results using up to 600grit and then a leather belt with the green compound on it. However when I go to use a 15 micron belt it doesn't last long before it rips it up. I got the belts from Econ abrasives and they look like ribbon with very fine abrasive powder in it. I haven't tried adjusting the platen and there is more ware on the left side of the platen facing it than the right side. The platen looks to be off in that direction as well but it looks like the only way to adjust it would be to bend it in toward the right. Is this normal for this machine and it's parts? The micron belts are ripping on the tape which leads me to believe that it catching on the platen. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks

 

[saltyveins]

I'm not an expert (hopefully one will chime in soon), but it sounds like squaring up the platen and possibly adding a glass platen should fix your issue. Also may be worth trying a different brand of belts, but from your description sounds more like a problem with the platen.

 

[dewfang]

10-4 on the belts I've ordered some trizact belts from lee valley and tru grit but hopefully I can get this issue worked out before I have to use the good ones. Thanks