Shelf life of belts?

G

Guy Thomas

Joined
Feb 1, 2000
Messages
1,370
Do grinding belts have a long shelf life or should they be used in a reasonably short amount of time? Within six months? a year?
 
Good question. I don't have an answer for you, but I have gotten a "bad batch" of belts before that kept comin apart at the seam. Don't know if it had anything to do with the age of the belts or not.
 
Read or heard from someone they have a shelf life of 2 years. Bruce is right about storage conditions affecting this. Try calling one of the belt suppliers, they might have more info.
 
Most belt glues are affected by moisture. Normally you will get about 0.1 millisecond of warning when one goes, so move fast. It really really hurts!
 
My favorite thing is when half of the joint fails and the belt comes around slapping my bald head repeatedly.
Mark
 
Seems like I remember someone saying at some point that they should be used inside of a year and you guys have confirmed that. Humidity in my shop is a definite problem here in Florida. I wouldn't have thought to store them inside (my wife is just gonna love that!:D ) Thanks for the tips.
 
From everything I have heard, the problems with the splice joint failing on a belt is NOT a problem of too much humidity, it is a problem of too little... The glues dry out or something like that and start to come apart from there.... I used to keep some more expensive belts in a dry box meant to control the humidity in natural handle materials but quickly found that i had done the exact opposite and ruined the splice on every single one of them, the splices were dry and powdery and you could see where the glue had degraded. Maybe its just a weird North Carolina thing but i swear it happened... Been leaving the belts just hanging in the shop for the last few years and havent had a problem. I have a really bad habit of not throwing any belts out til they are totally worn out so i have some belts that are still on the rack after 5 years or so and have never had any problems with them popping when i go to use them...

Alan Folts
 
Now Alan, you've gone and thrown a monkey wrench in the works! Are you up in the mountains or near the coast. If you are near the coast then I know your summers are near as hot and humid as here in North Florida. That's actually good news because I have an idea I will be knee deep in old belts one day also seeing as I hardly throw any thing else out!
 
It likely has to do with whose belts and what adhesive. I can promise you that Hermes belts are affected by humidity. Due to a flood, my shop got very wet for awhile and once it was dried and back in business, ALL my Hermes belts started popping. The problem occurred to a much lesser extent with 3M and never with Klingspor. I've not experienced the problem to that same degree since, though belts occassionally let go for no known reason.

Dry boxes and drying closets are usually heated and it may well be that dry heat is not good either.
 
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