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Sanding Belts Coming Apart

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I have a number of "new" 15 year old belts for my 6x48 belt sander. The last three I've installed have had the taped joint fail after just a few minutes running. The tape / adhesive seems to have dried out.

Anyone been successful in repairing belts? How?

Thanks,
Tom
 

john lucas

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Yep had the same problem only they weren't but about 4 or 5 years old. I had a whole bunch break. I foolishly bought one of those boxes of belts deals. I don't use a belt sander much anymore so they sit. I also have had problems with my 2" x 30" belt sander breaking belts. I don't use that one a whole lot either. My 1" belt sander has never had a belt break and some of them are quite old. Not sure why that is.
 
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You're lucky they lasted a few minutes. Typically they let go as soon as wood touches them. This is a very common problem, and there is no fix that I've ever read about. Might be a couple of days of reading on a Google search, but I've never read about a good fix.
 

Bill Boehme

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I spent a lot of money buying boxes of 3M purple belts for my belt sanders. I thought that I was getting a good deal by buying in large quantities. It turned out to be an expensive education. After about seven or eight years the belts suddenly started failing after about two seconds. As far as I could tell there is no DIY repair option.
 
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I queried this with the belt manufacturers some years ago. Apparently its because of the joint flexibility required in the belts that the joints are only guaranteed for a couple of years. Also the manufactures claim that the glue is a trade secret.
 
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Bill Boehme

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Hoping one day to find a commercial product, but no luck so far. Here's s couple of options, but I haven't tried myself:

https://www.woodmagazine.com/sanding-sharpening/easy-fix-for-seam-split-sanding-belts

https://www.amazon.com/review/R14W4OOW9LQEWL
https://www.amazon.com/Scotch-Bi-Di...00006XY3H/ref=cm_cr_srp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8

Someday I might try the first option using bias tape and some Parfix Flexible CA glue. The scotch tape just seems too expensive for fancy strapping tape.

I saw both of those yesterday. I was somewhat skeptical of the one on the Wood Magazine site. The cloth bias tape doesn't strike me as being very durable. The Scotch bi-directional filament packaging tape sounded promising, but that's an awfully expensive roll of tape.. Also, it appears that the tape might be thick which would create a "bump".
 
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