Splicing grinder belts

[JaDub]

I have some very old belts and need to re-splice them.  This is a wonderful thread.  JHCC, where did you purchase the Scotch Strapping tape?

[SLAG]

SLAG,  here,

Shoe makers and shoe repairers glue leather to leather by using Barge cement. It woks a treat

I speak from experience. I replace heals on my , (& my friends, and family's) shoes when the originals wear out.

Been doing it for years.

Shoe repair sellers carry it as well as all manner of other shoe products.

SLAG.

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

Seeing as the last shoe repair shop anywhere near us closed decades ago. I googled Barge Cement and the first line was Amazon and about 50 other places selling it online.

[JHCC]

Barge Cement and Weldwood Contact Cement both use a polychloroprene (Neoprene) base. 

[JHCC]

Got some Weldwood and applied with a plastic spatula:

Tape on one side:

And on the other:

Let cure overnight, and we shall see what we shall see. 

[Frosty]

Reading the Weldwood can reminded me of the story a while back about the gal using spray glue when she ran out of hair spray. The thing that brought it to mind was the maker, Dap and a catchy jingle form my youth. 

Weldwood a little Dap will do you!

Weldwood you'll ha a ave one piece hair! 

Dad used Brylcreem though not enough to slick his hair down like in the commercials. Shannon and I would sing the jingle when he put it on. 

Frosty The Lucky.

[JHCC]

My dad was balding already when I was little. I expected to be as well by now (both grandfathers having been quite bald), but so far it's still all there (if greyer than before).

12 hours ago, JaDub said:

I have some very old belts and need to re-splice them.  This is a wonderful thread.  JHCC, where did you purchase the Scotch Strapping tape?

Sorry to miss your comment earlier, JaDub, and welcome to IFI!

I got the tape at Office Depot.

[Frosty]

I believe we inherit our hairline from our Mother's side. What I have inheriting from Dad's side is no gray hair, it's fading to white eventually. No distinguished gray at the temples for us, oh no Dad and my uncles enjoyed pink hair till it faded to white. My hair is more brown with red highlights so I'm going to pinkish tan hair with a pink beard.

Fastenal or Grainger would be a good places to look for grinding belt tape or cements in these parts. 

Frosty The Lucky.

[JHCC]

Well, this is my mother’s father when he was substantially younger than I am now:

[Frosty]

Hmmm, I'll have to see if my little sister has any pics of Dad and his Brothers this is one of the few I have on the comp. Darned if he isn't silver on his temples! It might be stress running his own spinning shop. I'm not sure of the part other than it must be a jet or rocket engine alloy to need that much heat. Holding torch was one of my jobs. 

Frosty The Lucky.

[JHCC]

Well, I put the finished belts to work today. 

It was not an unqualified success. 

The belts in question are 36 grit cubitron (ceramic) and are very thick and stiff and have pretty much zero stretch. While my grinder is nominally a 2 x 90, an actual 90” belt just barely fits on, and then only with a lot of tension. This puts a lot of strain on the joint — more than it can withstand. In short, all the belts I glued up yesterday (two new ones and one old one) ended up self-destructing. Interestingly, the joints stretched a LOT before they finally let go, which tells me that the fiberglass in the tape really gotta have a ton of tensile strength. Here’s one of the belts with about 1-1/2” of stretch, still functioning (if a bit bumpy):

I decided to make a couple of belts at 2 x 92, to see if that’s any better. Here’s a 4 x 116 (I think?) cut down to 92” long; I’ll split it when the glue is cured. 

I’m wondering how much effect the polyurethane will have on this. Of course, finding out will require finding the polyurethane first....

[JHCC]

Found the polyurethane and sprayed on a coat. Interesting to note that there appears to be a bit of bleeding in at the edges. 

More to come later; stay tuned!

On 3/22/2021 at 1:07 AM, JHCC said:

In short, all the belts I glued up yesterday (two new ones and one old one) ended up self-destructing.

Forgot to mention: I actually did get some work done with these before their rapid unplanned disassembly. 

[JHCC]

Update: split apart the double belt and put it to work over the weekend. Mixed results:

The good: no creep. The stretching issues of the previous batch were not in evidence at all.

The bad: not as durable as I'd like. After several hours of grinding, the first belt let go, and the fiberglass strands appear to have worn completely through. The second belt is still going strong.

A thought that occurs to me is to take some of the Hurricane tape, rub some dust or something on the sticky side to keep the adhesive occupied, and then attach them to the belts upside-down with contact cement both on the belt and on the top side of the tape (without adhesive). One big difference between this tape and the 3M is that the latter has fibers embedded in a plastic matrix, while the former is basically a woven cloth that might be a bit more durable.

[JHCC]

And here we are, giving that a try. Results to be reported later.  

[JHCC]

Update: the contact cement didn’t hold, pulling apart from back of the belt. 

I think I might try this with the polyurethane glue and see how that works. 

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

Have you tried just using the tape without the rubber cement? On my 1X30 that's all I used after making sure the belt backing was clean & dry. Then I used a wallpaper seam roller to set the tape. Of course a 1X30 has a lot less tension on the belt so it may be why it worked for me.

[JHCC]

I might try that with the Hurricane Tape by itself. The bond between the 3M fiberglass tape and the contact cement held together well, but the tape itself wore through too quickly. 

[Frosty]

Do you have a glass or teflon friction pad(?) on the platen? I get noticeably better back side belt wear when I apply a little paraffin wax to the back of the belt. I've been kicking the idea around of getting a friction maybe plate is the term if I start using mine enough. One of the benefits I hear about is them being exactly 2" wide and make for cleaner lines and such. 

Anyway, something slicker backing them might make your splices last longer.

Frosty The Lucky.

[Glenn]

What type of tape and or glue do the manufactures use?  You may want to find a source for that product.

[JHCC]

The only industrial splicing materials I’ve located thus far aren’t available in smaller quantities, have to be stored at below-freezing temperatures, and/or require a heated press. My goal is to find some kind of splicing method that lasts long enough for the grit to wear out. The holding power of the polyurethane adhesive (Gorilla Glue) is great, but neither the denim nor the bias tape is used previously had much staying power. 

Interesting idea about the friction pad. 

[JHCC]

Hmm. It seems one can get flat-woven Kevlar tape:
 

which is expensive, but there’s also woven fiberglass tape available for somewhat less. 

[JHCC]

Update:

Flipping the Hurricane Tape over did not work, either with contact cement or with Gorilla Glue. The tape is basically too slippery to hold the adhesive. The GG version didn't even last thirty seconds.

I've decided that further attempts will be with the GG only. I've had a lot of problems with the contact cement melting from the heat, whereas the polyurethane has never given me any issues at all. It's just a matter of finding the right splice tape material.

I think I may have found someone selling small quantities of the industrial splicing tape. I might get some of that and see how it works with the GG.

[jlpservicesinc]

I have been patiently waiting for your results..

 

From what I understand they use 2 processes heat activated tape and uv glue. 

 

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[JHCC]

Hey, guess what? ANOTHER attempt!

Since the Gorilla Glue works just fine and the weak point was the bias tape, I decided to try a piece of the toughest fabric I have: Kevlar!

I have a box full of knit Kevlar sleeves (less of a good seller at Quad-State than I’d hoped), so I cut a scrap off the end of one and glued it down. 

 

Trim the ends and split the middle:

And rip down the middle:

I’m letting them cure until tomorrow at least. Reports will be forthcoming. 

[pnut]

6 hours ago, JHCC said:

Since the Gorilla Glue works just fine and the weak point was the bias tape, I decided to try a piece of the toughest fabric I have: Kevlar!

Have you considered cutting up a cheap nylon tarp to use instead of the kevlar? You'd have to singe the edges but it seems like it would check all the boxes you need for that particular use. 

Pnut