How long do sanding belts last?

Asbestos

Asbestos

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I got a small belt sander for metal and ordered a variety of belts, both zircon and and silicon carbide. the 150 grit silicon seemed to smooth out to a 1500 within about 5 minutes of moderate sanding. and the zircon did not seem to fair that much better. I have no experience with belt sanders for metal but I imagined they should have lasted longer. I got some fairly decent ones, (not HF stuff) Is this normal wear? I searched the posts and there were a few suggestions of brands. Anyone have any that seem to last a lot longer than the others?
 
I've been using the ceramic belts from Red Label Abrasives (Amazon carries them) and they hold up great. I've ground 9 model tools from mild steel keystock, 7 HSS tools and some mild steel flat stock with the same belt and it still cuts well. I will no longer be using Aluminum Oxide like before. You might give them a try.

What are you grinding? That determines what grit you get.
 
The longevity of your sanding belts depends on a bunch of factors.

I had a hard used zirconium belt last 18 years on my 6X48" belt sander. That belt finally became so dull I retired it. (but it still could cut wood...) On the other hand, some off branded ones only lasted a month.

Quality: good bonding, particle uniformity and backing strength make for a long lasting belt (and particle type, too). Good belts might be what looks like poor value, but poor belts are worthless.

For instance a 1 X 32 belt sander will not allow the belt to be used for a long time no matter what belt you buy. That's because the radius of the wheels will tend to break up your resin bonds. AND they run far too fast. This is also a tip for the 2X72 inch crowd. Many of them are boasting about material removal at 2000 SPFM. Well that will reduce the life of a belt by a lot. - If you an afford it, or in a production shop, more power to you. 400-600 SFPM is what I have my belt sanders set to.

-- press firmly but not to crush the grit. If you are rounding 1/8 inch steel, you only need a couple of pounds of pressure. if you are too light your work will heat faster than you remove metal, which is also bad. With a larger contact area, you can and should press harder. If you are pressing red hot steel into the grit, the bonds will be worthless, and you will throw the grit off your belt. So keep your work piece cool.

-- the other reason to not press to hard is that it will stretch the belt, which can break the resin bond. That's why 6X48 sanders have very long belt life - the width prevents stretching the belt under almost any circumstance.

BTW I'm building a 2X72 belt grinder. They have their place and can be used as a very good general purpose machine. For the guys designing new belt grinders, a 3" wheel is the smallest I'd go to, unless I was using only very fine grit belts, such as 400 and up.Those tiny 1.5" wheels and 2" wheels are harder on belts.

You can ruin a good belt in minutes or you can have my experience with my 6X48 by using a quality belt right.
 
Asbestos said:
I got a small belt sander for metal and ordered a variety of belts, both zircon and silicon carbide. the 150 grit silicon seemed to smooth out to a 1500 within about 5 minutes of moderate sanding. and the zircon did not seem to fair that much better.
Click to expand...
I may not have as much experience as most here in metal grinding but I suspect one of the factors in Dabbler's post is not being met , it is possible you're pushing way too hard on the narrow belt /small belt sander, even low quality sanding belts should last much longer than a few minutes.
I have tried Zircon belts from Lee Valley and they lasted 5 years of moderate use but after using those ceramic belts from Red Label Abrasives which was highly recommended by Mikey, I noticed a huge difference in both the quality of the belts and their longevity, these belts seem to run cooler than Zircon and many other types .
I'm still using the same belt but it has only been under two years:).
 
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One good way to extend belt life is to use a belt cleaner bar such as MATZ M-228 regularly. A couple seconds use can remove all loading from the belt like magic and restore cutting action. I make a pass across the belt whenever loading is noticed, which is often. My belts last a long time as others have noted above.
 
I'm still on my first 36 grit ceramic belt on a 2x72. About a dozen HSS bits, a Cobalt, and a T15. And general shop grinding occasionally. Still working well, though I can tell it's showing some wear. Not enough to retire it though. I expect to get at least half again as many bits out of it.

I run it pretty fast, about 3000 SFPM. I go slower with a couple of finer belts to clean up the rough grind before switching to diamond cards to hone them. No sign of the adhesive releasing or any issues outside of general wear from use. I don't doubt that it's a bit harder on them, but it's still within the manufacturer specs and if I get this much life from each belt, I'm satisfied with the value. I only push hard enough to make contact with the platten so I can get a nice flat surface.
 
Thanks for the advice, I was running red label belts. My cheesy sander won't let me push too hard anyway. I tried the cleaner stck i use on wood sandpaper seemed to gum up on the belt.
 
I have only one disc / belt grinder in my shop at the moment, and I do both wood and metal (although not so much wood anymore). One sure-fire way I have found to shorten the life of a zircon belt is to sand wood on it. Don't ask me why, I'm guessing it may have something to do with the bonding of the particles, but I really don't know. I do know it wrecks it toute suite though. I also find the crepe block works great (like the Matz product) as does a stick wax like Formax.

-frank
 
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