Thinking of getting some ceramic belts...

Go to trugrit.com or combat Abbrassives. Get a couple of 60 grit and 220 grit and hand sand the rest to as high as you want
If you can spare it get 120 and 400 grit. If not the 60 and 220 will be fine
 
I would also like to use some amazon gift cards i received for Christmas and was wondering what 12 pack grit i should try out for the belts in the link provided. Thank you for the reply aswell!
 
many people profile and shape with a 60 grit, then switch to 120 grit before heat treat. after heat treat i usually go 120, 220, 400.
 
36, 60, and 120 ceramics.
It's SiC after that.
 
someone from here recently suggested that i try out some ceramic belts, specifically norton blaze. I got a 6 pack, 3 80 grits and 3 120 grits. The difference between these belts and aluminum oxide belts is night and day. Not only do they remove material faster, they don't heat up nearly as fast, which on my 1x30 is super important. I feel the quality of my grinds has gone way up. I think they are on amazon for 39usd or something like that for the 6 pack. After 120 I would hand finish anyways.

EDIT: they also come in 1x42, search norton blaze 1x42. 20$ for a 3 pack of 80s, 3 pack of 120s for 20$.
 
A 1x42 is a little better than a 1x30 that I and kessik above have, but it's still a smallish belt and platen, so it'll heat up more than people using 2x72, especially variable speed.

My 1x30 is only one speed: fast, but it's easy to stall out by pushing hard. So I've been using 1x30 Norton blaze ceramic 40 grit to hog metal. I also have some generic-like zirconia 40 and 50 grit that I was using for the same.

Above those grits I've gotten by with aluminum oxide (AO) belts though I have to be careful not to overheat and soften the metal after heat treat and temper. The lower the grit and the newer the belt, the less you'll build up heat because the belt will be cutting/abrading metal more so than rubbing it like an old belt would (which generates heat from the friction). But at higher grits I'm just evening out the scratch pattern versus trying to hog metal, so that's why I keep using the AO.

I have a ton of higher grit AO belts from when I initially bought them, but in the future I might splurge for zirconia to help keep heat build up down. Alternatively, I could learn to retire the AO belts to grinding only wood sooner than I have been doing. :oops:
 
One issue with using ceramic and other structured abrasive belts on smaller grinders ( 1X30 and 2X42) is that they work properly at high speed and full pressure. They actually stop cutting and glaze over without plenty of pressure. On lower power grinders, this will stall the belt or pop a breaker.
 
Thank you all for your suggestions. I ended up getting the norton blaze ceramic belts on amazon. Have a happy new year!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top