Siaron belts

R

Remyrw

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Jun 17, 2010
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Pop's has these belts at a very attractive price and some folks mentioned that they have had good luck with them. I picked up a 60 and a 36 grit to try out. I haven't gotten to use the 36 yet but the 60 seems to cut nicely and run fairly cool but it's got a significant wobble to it. Enough that I wouldn't use it as the primary 60 grit on a blade while doing the bevels because it would be tough to get a clean plunge line. Unfortunately I only bought one of them, has anyone else noticed this or did I just get a poorly cut belt?

For the money I still consider it worth buying for cleaning up flats, some profiling... They're cheap enough to use as a way to reduce wear on more expensive belts when doing those chores.

Once I get back out to the shop and run the 36 grit I'll update as to whether that one has a wobble or not.
 
What do you mean by "wobble"? Is the belt longer than what your machine is set up for (fixable) or does it just plain not run flat (problematic, maybe spliced wrong)?

I ask because every brand/style/grit belt I've tried is a little different in actual length/thickness, and requires that I tweak the tension and/or tracking on my grinder a bit to run smoothly.
 
James,
I am assuming he's talking about the side to side sway that some cheaper belts have. They tend to go back and forth across the platen or wheel while running because they aren't true, and it can mess up your plunges if you're not careful.

I sometimes use cheaper belts in the higher grits, but to have a belt sliding back and forth when roughing in bevels is not a good thing! That's why I'll stick to my 3M Cubitrons for that job. Very consistent.
 
That's what I'm thinking too, Jon. Cheap belts just aren't worth it to me, in any grit, for various reasons.

Off-topic, I just got some Cubitron 50's in a few days ago, and I'm really liking them ("it" not "them", actually... still on the first one after profiling and beveling 3 blades. It's still cutting very well)
 
Yup, side to side sway due to a poor cut or splice. I sometimes see it on good belts too, but not to this extent, it's a good 3/16" or more. Usually it's just a little wiggle if at all on good belts. I was a bit annoyed because some 3M 707JE's I got had a noticeable sway but even that was only about 1/16" and mostly went away as the belt broke in. I assume a little stretch evened things out. I just started a new 707JE pair (I use them in 120 and 220) and they're perfect.

The first belt I tried on my new machine was a 50 grit 967 cubitron and I'm going to bet yours starts generating a lot of heat very soon. :) That's what mine did, both the 50's and 80's. Worked great for a good while, then very quickly died. Not much of a gradual process like some belts. I got a 977 and am waiting on some 984's to try out too but I think the 967's are going to be my primary material removal belts for a while.
 
Burned my fingers pretty nicely when it happened. I'd been doing short passes for a couple minutes then went to do one last full length, mid pressure run to cleanup and give consistent scratches before going to the next grit... YOOUOUUUUUCCHH. I'm used to the regular 3m ceramics and klingspor zircs I was using before, they have a more gradual fall off. I was paying attention for the next few belts and when it started generating a lot more heat I checked the belt. Sure enough, worn out. I tried hitting them with a piece of scrap at high speed and high pressure, just catching the edge of the stock as if profiling, but it didn't make much difference.

Seems like a decent trade off to me. Good performance 90% of the lifespan then a quick fade to dead. Easy to know when it's time for a fresh one. I had a habit of over using the zircs and SGY ceramics because the decline was very gradual and it was just a judgement call as to when it was worn enough to be worth throwing out. I almost always used them longer than I should have.
 
Use a diamond wheel dresser bar or an old carborundum stone ( broken bench grinder wheel or worn out coarse bench stone) to refresh the abrasive on cubic type belts. You have to fracture the grit to expose new surface edges.
 
Hmm. I'll give that a try. I haven't pitched the second 50 grit I wore out and the 80 grit. I don't have a diamond dressing bar but I imagine I can dig up an old wheel. If nothing else, I can pester some friends at Lowe's to let me know when they get a broken one and I'll come buy it cheap.
 
Well I found the "hot spot" you were talking about, Remy. You weren't kiddin' :eek: I'll have to try Stacy's advice about dressing belts.

In the meantime, just for fun, I went back to a fresh Blaze 50 and I still like that, too.
 
lol, kind of an abrupt change, huh? It does warm up a bit once it's not brand spankin new, but it's almost like flipping a switch eventually. I'll take a look around this evening to see what I've got and if I don't find a stone I can use I'll hit up Lowe's tomorrow if I can. Let me know if you get a chance to try dressing one. If there's more life in them after that point I'll be pretty happy. They already seem to last pretty well, getting even another 20% would be great.
 
Yeah, the change really was noticeable.
Remyrw said:
They already seem to last pretty well, getting even another 20% would be great.
Click to expand...

Exactly. The grinding I did with the first Cubriton consisted of peeling off the mill scale, most of the profiling, and about 80% of the beveling on 3 full-tang blades, (4, 5 and 6 1/2" long, all full or near-full flat grinds) on 3/16 thick ElMax. That's quite a bit of tough steel to remove with one belt :thumbup:
 
I ran my 60 grit siaron and it also has the wobble. I'm thinking at under $4 a belt I'll use the 36 grit's for profiling. Two of those for the cost of one premium belt seems like a worthwhile trade.

I still haven't gotten a chance to try refreshing my other belts so no update there. I did finally ht the first batch from my new grinder though. :)
 
You might want to just use your refreshed belt for profiling that what I do and they cut better then my cheap belts.
 
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I'll probably try it both ways, it really depends on how well the 967's refresh. The Siaron's are cheap but they're still a zirc belt, so it's not like they're AO or something. They cut pretty well. I haven't used one enough to comment on lifespan, but they seem to be holding up decently so far. I'll know more when I've worn these first two out and also tried refreshing the 967.

Since I don't have a bandsaw I have to do a fair bit of shaping with belts after rough cutting with an angle grinder. The extra performance of a relatively fresh belt might be worth it even if the economics aren't quite there in terms of wear rates.
 
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