piggy backing belts

H

Happychicken

Joined
Nov 14, 2018
Messages
176
quick question all. I have heard of people piggy backing higher grit belts off or their surface conditioning belts for blending grinds. is anyone doing this successfully? I had a fairly bad experience trying to get my 220 grit belt to fit over the surface conditioning belt.
I would prefer to do this as the soft platen I made is ok but lost a lot of its "softness".
Also considering getting a rotary platen but I have been reading that is more for convexing than blending
any thoughts appreciated
mike
 
I have never tried it, or heard of it.
I can't see it working well. Tracking would be a big issue as well as getting the outer belt over the inner belt.

I keep surface conditioning belts (3-M Scotch Brite) in grades from coarse to extra fine for blending and surface finishing.

Other options are cork belts and well used gator belts. Cork belts need to be broken in properly. It takes a full 10 to 15 minutes to get one ready to use on a blade.
 
Happychicken said:
quick question all. I have heard of people piggy backing higher grit belts off or their surface conditioning belts for blending grinds. is anyone doing this successfully? I had a fairly bad experience trying to get my 220 grit belt to fit over the surface conditioning belt.
I would prefer to do this as the soft platen I made is ok but lost a lot of its "softness".
Also considering getting a rotary platen but I have been reading that is more for convexing than blending
any thoughts appreciated
mike
Click to expand...
I’ve not had good luck getting belts to track that way, what I’ve done instead is cut a piece of leather or old surface conditioning belt to fit the size of your platen and use strong double sided tape to hold it on for your finish grind. Then you can take it off for other tasks. Another alternative would be to get an extra platen that you can glue the leather or conditioning belt onto to make a soft platen that is easy to switch out.
 
Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith said:
I have never tried it, or heard of it.
I can't see it working well. Tracking would be a big issue as well as getting the outer belt over the inner belt.

I keep surface conditioning belts (3-M Scotch Brite) in grades from coarse to extra fine for blending and surface finishing.

Other options are cork belts and well used gator belts. Cork belts need to be broken in properly. It takes a full 10 to 15 minutes to get one ready to use on a blade.
Click to expand...
tell me more please!
 
Cork belts have a grit impregnated in a base of fine cork and binder. You have to run them on the grinder while pressing a bar of hard steel against them for 10 to 15 minutes to break down the cork and binder sufficiently for them to work. Warning - it will throw grit and cr@p at you while breaking in. Run the shop vac/dust extractor and wear a face shield and respirator.
Once broken in, the belts last a really looooong time.
They come in grits from very coarse to super fine, and ones with no grit at all - just cork Use the gritless ones for polishing by charging them with very fine compound or polishes.
Cork belts are one of the best ways to get a mirror polish.



I have a platen with 1/4" thick graphite canvas on it. IT did a pretty good job of blending and on fine grits.
I hardly ever use it anymore. My rotary platen does that task, now.
 
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I do piggy back belts frequently with a fairly good success rate.
However, I do it only on a slack configuration (by removing the platen) and use stiff belts as a backer (ceramic 60 or 120 grit belts).
The tracking is a bit all over the place and with enough pressure belts start flying.

I wouldn't advise piggy backing with a platen, the options provided already are a much better solution.
 
my "soft" platen is an old steel one with 2 layers of blue jeans clamped by the top 2 bolts of the platen mount. i replace the fabric now and then but it works well for a while
 
My "soft" platen is a layer of 1/8" graphite sheet glued on top of the platen. Works good, but the graphite does wear out and require replacing.
 
I made a soft platen with leather over a cut piece of surface conditioning belt. It doesn’t have as much give as I thought it would. Now I have to look up graphite sheet!
The belts went flying apart with very light pressure when I tried piggy backing very exciting indeed!
Thanks everyone your input is always greatly appreciated!
 
Many knife supply companies and industrial suppliers sell it in 2" width. The knife suppliers sell it by the foot. It is often called Graphite Platen Liner.
 
Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith said:
Cork belts have a grit impregnated in a base of fine cork and binder. You have to run them on the grinder while pressing a bar of hard steel against them for 10 to 15 minutes to break down the cork and binder sufficiently for them to work. Warning - it will throw grit and cr@p at you while breaking in. Run the shop vac/dust extractor and wear a face shield and respirator.
Once broken in, the belts last a really looooong time.
They come in grits from very coarse to super fine, and ones with no grit at all - just cork Use the gritless ones for polishing by charging them with very fine compound or polishes.
Cork belts are one of the best ways to get a mirror polish.



I have a platen with 1/4" thick graphite canvas on it. IT did a pretty good job of blending and on fine grits.
I hardly ever use it anymore. My rotary platen does that task, now.
Click to expand...
The cork belts we get over here have to be soaked in warm water for half an hour before "conditioning"

I have not done mine yet so dont know if it would be easier than just breaking it straight in.
 
Well lookie here, Pop's has got the canvass backed graphite platen liner in stock, sold by the foot in 2" width. You can also do a search on GR03062 and it will show up in woodworkingshop vendor.
 
last belt run, I ordered a VSM 400 grit cork belt and I used it for the first time today, first time using that kind of belt. I took Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith 's advice and ran it against a piece of steel for awhile until it looked like cork.

a mystery scratch showed up on one of the knives I'm working on and a couple needed a touch up where the flat ends at the junction of the swedge and primary grind, and that belt did a great job of fixing those problems without causing new ones.

I've tried doubling up belts, and it's a bad idea.
 
I rigged up a platen setup with rare earth magnets on it. I use 2" wide mild steel for the backers and have a leather, S2-32 (very hard) felt platen and a F3 Felt platen, as well as a thicker mild steel platen for hogging, a glass platen, and a radius platen. I use double sided carpet tape for the leather and felt platens and can easily change between which platen face I want. I want to try the surface conditioning belt with leather over it as the platen like Housemade.us does.
 
Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith said:
Cork belts have a grit impregnated in a base of fine cork and binder. You have to run them on the grinder while pressing a bar of hard steel against them for 10 to 15 minutes to break down the cork and binder sufficiently for them to work. Warning - it will throw grit and cr@p at you while breaking in. Run the shop vac/dust extractor and wear a face shield and respirator.
Once broken in, the belts last a really looooong time.
They come in grits from very coarse to super fine, and ones with no grit at all - just cork Use the gritless ones for polishing by charging them with very fine compound or polishes.
Cork belts are one of the best ways to get a mirror polish.



I have a platen with 1/4" thick graphite canvas on it. IT did a pretty good job of blending and on fine grits.
I hardly ever use it anymore. My rotary platen does that task, now.
Click to expand...
hi Stacy,
what is a rotary platen please?
 
Its a platen assembly with wheels (usually 3 or 4 wheels) and a rubber belt that runs over the roller wheels and gives support to the sanding belt. Usually the tension is adjustable or uses different distances between the wheels for different levels of give. It helps give a consistent convex grind and lets you use finer grit finishing belts without getting the belt splice bump.
 
Taz said:
Its a platen assembly with wheels (usually 3 or 4 wheels) and a rubber belt that runs over the roller wheels and gives support to the sanding belt. Usually the tension is adjustable or uses different distances between the wheels for different levels of give. It helps give a consistent convex grind and lets you use finer grit finishing belts without getting the belt splice bump.
Click to expand...
Thanks for that Taz,
Is the type with different size wheels that you can rotate?
I cant picture it, I don't think I have seen one
 
Beaumont, AmeraBrade, OBM, Moen all make them. You can google it and they will come up. I don't think I can show links to non supporters of the forum?
 
Taz said:
Beaumont, AmeraBrade, OBM, Moen all make them. You can google it and they will come up. I don't think I can show links to non supporters of the forum?
Click to expand...
Found them thanks, was not the one I had in mind, looks handy though.
 
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