Sweating so much I ruined my grinding belt!

eric brinkerhoff

eric brinkerhoff

Joined
Mar 10, 2013
Messages
1,074
So hot and humid in the shop the sweat is falling off me like rain ,landing on the belt and warping it .Ive got my hand on the tracking knob more than the knife .Eventually it wont track at all and jams against the frame .
 
You are lucky your electric motor isn't shutting off. When mine gets too hot, it shuts down for a good 20-30 minutes.
 
Im just one of the amateurs,still using my trusty ole' 4"x36".Since its in a horizontal position the sweat pours down on it like rain! No matter how cold it gets in my shop in the winter , I still like grinding in the winter a whole lot better.
 
I make headbands out of the super absorbent drying rags made for drying cars after you wash them. They will hold a lot of sweat before they need ringing out.
 
eric brinkerhoff said:
So hot and humid in the shop the sweat is falling off me like rain ,landing on the belt and warping it .Ive got my hand on the tracking knob more than the knife .Eventually it wont track at all and jams against the frame .
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I live in the southern part of the US and its been too hot for about a month for me to do anything in the shop. I don't have any AC in there and fans just wont cut it. If I can get the time, I plan on trying to do some work at night when its a little cooler.
 
eric brinkerhoff said:
Im just one of the amateurs,still using my trusty ole' 4"x36".Since its in a horizontal position the sweat pours down on it like rain! No matter how cold it gets in my shop in the winter , I still like grinding in the winter a whole lot better.
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Does your's have a pivot that allows you to turn the belt and pulleys 90* to the base? Also, does anyone here know of a brand which produces wet/dry (sweat-proof) belts, just curious.
 
Move here, still waiting for summer weather, gray, with cold winds blowing in from Hudson's Bay steady. Been running furnaces and woodstoves with the exception of a few rare warm days. Not much of a summer here this year, good to keep the steel on the wheel just to stay warm and away from billions of biting flies. So thick you cut the air with a knife.
 
Seriously-a window A/C unit is $125 or so. I don't understand not having one.
 
My shop is made of concrete, faces west and is heavily shaded almost all day, so I'm lucky. Even without A/C or heating ducts it stays pretty reasonable most of the year.

eric brinkerhoff said:
Theres so many cracks and holes in my walls , Id just be spewing money right out .
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This stuff may be worth a try. It certainly worked well for me in my last shop in the Frozen Tundra (wooden garage in Central Wisconsin). I had the opposite problem; for about 3 months of the year it was so dang cold I couldn't see straight, so I had no choice but to seal the place up and insulate it before installing some heating. Easy as pie to use and a can goes quite a ways... it's surprising how big a crack/gap this stuff can fill. When the excess foams over and sets, you can easily trim it off with a utility knife or razor blade... not that you really have to :thumbup:

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Check local used outlets like Habitat for Humanity, Goodwill, etc for a used window A/C unit. It doesn't take a whole heckuva lot to bring a typical shop down to tolerable temps, once you've got it sealed up. You need some venting, though... be careful of over-sealing and giving yourself CO poisoning.
 
If you want to find all the air leaks and deficiencies turn on the shop exhaust fan on cold winter day. This will create negative airpressure and you will feel the drafts pouring in like icy streams from around bad weather stripping and air leaks throughout the house. I have to be careful how I use the exhaust fan, as it creates enough negative airpressure to kill the fire in my woodfurnace if used too long.
 
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