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How to clean a sanding belt

Steve Maskery

Steve Maskery

Old Oak
Joined
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Location
87290 Laplagne, France
I'm servicing my 16-32 drum sander. It's a pain, really. Yes it does a great job but it all too easily get bunged up or out of alignment.
(Free tip - if you decide to unbolt the drum cover from the rise-and-fall plate, bear in mind that it is not bolted to the rise-and-fall plate at all. It's bolted THROUGH the rise-and-fall plate into the motor itself, so when you remove the last bolt the motor will crash to the floor. Or so I'm told).

The loading on mine is fairly new, it's only done a few metres, really, but already it's beginning to get gummed up. If left, it will start to burnish the workpiece, even burn it, rather than sand the surface.

I did buy one of those rubber blocks once, and while they do a decent job, they are expensive and don't least very long.

But I'm a cheapskate and WD40 is cheap. I used:

  • My gummy loading, removed from the drum
    A can of WD40
    A wire brush (mine is a steel one, but I think a brass one would be better)
    Plenty of paper towels
    A softer hand brush

I clamped one end to the far edge of my bench with the rest of the loading hanging over the front edge of my bench.
P1060782.JPG

Then I drenched the surface with WD40, left it for a minute or two and got to work with the wire brush
P1060783.JPG

Then I mopped up the mess and brushed off the paper towel debris
P1060784.JPG

Brilliant! Just like new. For comparison, a before and after:
P1060785.JPG

You're welcome.
 
Good tip, thanks Steve. I've got one of them there rubber thingies and as you say, does a decent job but I can see it getting chewed up fairly smartish.
 
The problem with wire-brushing abrasive is that it reduces it's "sharpness", and although clean, the belt will then act as a finer grit than it was when it started.

In place of the rubber stuff you buy for the purpose, if you have an old tube of construction adhesive which has gone off, set solid in the tube, then cut the end off and use that. It can help to reverse the belt.
 
or an old trainer (something with a crepe soul works better but a trainer will do) :D
 
I was always under the impression that souls were ectoplasmic but that trainer soles were a tad rubbery.
 
AJB Temple":zvzq8lb6 said:
I was always under the impression that souls were ectoplasmic but that trainer soles were a tad rubbery.
Click to expand...

Quiet you. :P i obviously meant soles.

But just for you I put my pants away in the draw.
 
9fingers":id39k0ff said:
Might be interesting to try that insitu Steve. Doing most of the job without the drum turning and a final spin cycle to polish up with the soft brush once the worst of the dirty wd40 has been mopped up.
Click to expand...
I might try that next time, Bob, but it is quite handy to be able to flex the sheet.

Mike G":id39k0ff said:
The problem with wire-brushing abrasive is that it reduces it's "sharpness", and although clean, the belt will then act as a finer grit than it was when it started.
Click to expand...
I think this is a myth, Mike. I certainly don't understand it. I think the result of using a hard wire brush (which is why I said I think a brass brush would be better) is that, yes, the abrasive gets a bit duller, but that doesn't make it finer, it just means that it will cut less effectively.

Mike G":id39k0ff said:
In place of the rubber stuff you buy for the purpose, if you have an old tube of construction adhesive which has gone off, set solid in the tube, then cut the end off and use that. It can help to reverse the belt.
Click to expand...
That's a good tip, Mike, I'll see what lurking at the back of the Building Supplies cupboard!
 
Who keeps old tubes of construction adhesive that have gone solid? Is this Hoarder's Anonymous?
 
I don’t suppose that you posh people have ever come across them, but plastic wine bottle “corks” work a treat.
 
You can buy rubber belt cleaners, and I’ve seen the tip of using old plastic bags. Where I used to work though we got a lot of stuff delivered on pallets with wrapping round it. The plastic wrap is either transparent or black and when wound tightly into sticks works very well at cleaning sanding belts. You simply push the stick against the belt whilst it’s running and all the crap comes off without damaging the belt.
 
AJB Temple":2k6unatn said:
Who keeps old tubes of construction adhesive that have gone solid? Is this Hoarder's Anonymous?
Click to expand...
ME....I cut the ends off and use them as belt cleaners.

It's true, I think it was Peter Sefton who suggested it, they aren't as good as the proper blocks but maybe it's because I'm a cheapskate bought cr*p silicone. ;)
 
TrimTheKing":2cizfh6y said:
Good tip, thanks Steve. I've got one of them there rubber thingies and as you say, does a decent job but I can see it getting chewed up fairly smartish.
Click to expand...
Thanks from me as well Steve, brill tip! I like Mark have one of those rubber cleaning blocks but it only partially cleans the belt so in the not to distant future I'll sort out my old kacky one that's on my 16-32 using your method (with a brass brush dating from my Plessey apprenticeship days in 1967) - Rob
 
What a cracking thread. I was recently given a belt cleaner by someone who I met through a different website who bought lots of tools then sold lots of tools. Twice. Really nice guy but he moved house and I think he probably won't buy many tools again. He lived very close to me and I have some nice gear I couldn't have paid for new if he hadn't been one for buying stuff and 'hobbies'.
A week or three ago I got a text and he gave me all the bits left over. As I say, lovely guy, genuinely nice to meet and have a chat. Marking gauge, a large hadron dust cyclone, french chalk(!) some bits of copper lined dust hose and this wedge of brown gear. I asked what it was and he told me. I took it home in the van and tried it on the sorby.
'Well sh*t the fu***ing bed....' were my exact words. It was like black magic. Not the chocolates. The necromancy.

Now I hear I can use all sorts of shizzle. Old dunlop green flash. The souls of newborn babes. I have several tubes of cured mastic etc. So it's me. I'm the guy who has half tubes of cured intumescant sealant or pink grip or slate grey BAL bathroom mastic. No hoarder. I just stick the half used tubes in a drawer. If they get used before they die then all good, otherwise I bin them the next time I'm decorating and go to the mastic drawer of doom. Awesome. Now I'm like Greta Thunberg except less miserable. Because free belt cleaner.
 
Woah there sailor, new born souls are useless,you need the souls of aging woodworker forum trolls.
 
I use old bits of garden hose on my belt sander, works really well. There is a Lidl cleaning product (I forget which) that is fantastic for removing resin off circular saw blades. I bought the CMT stuff once, it was good but very expensive. I think the Lidl stuff is actually better!
 
intumescant? Has to be the word of the day...if it was spelt right :) had to look it up... intumescent I think.

Can’t wait for an opportunity to drop that into a diner table conversation.
 
Andyp":3mk0j1ww said:
intumescant? Has to be the word of the day...if it as spelt right :) had to look it... intumescent I think.

Can’t wait for an opportunity to drop that into a diner table conversation.
Click to expand...

Regularly found in everyday life around fire doors in either the edge of the door or the frame.
That as a description of a level of anger.
Best keep the sexual use away from the dinner table though!

Bob
 
yep, you can't have a more restful night than when you use intumescent pillow in front of a real fire
:eusa-dance: :eusa-dance: :eusa-dance:
 
So Steve I had a look in the shed and my magic saw blade cleaner is also marketed in Lidl as W5 sink and plughole unblocker. (in an orange bottle). I can't remember what possessed me to try it.....something along the lines of what nasty chemicals have I got that might work. Any way it does!
 
pitch pine":1jl5e2st said:
So Steve I had a look in the shed and my magic saw blade cleaner is also marketed in Lidl as W5 sink and plughole unblocker. (in an orange bottle). I can't remember what possessed me to try it.....something along the lines of what nasty chemicals have I got that might work. Any way it does!
Click to expand...

and here in is the basics of the reason why dounray clean up used cillet bang to clean up plutonium stains.

and to prove I'm not taking the pee

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/hig ... 217772.stm
 
novocaine":1zypmvvg said:
pitch pine":1zypmvvg said:
So Steve I had a look in the shed and my magic saw blade cleaner is also marketed in Lidl as W5 sink and plughole unblocker. (in an orange bottle). I can't remember what possessed me to try it.....something along the lines of what nasty chemicals have I got that might work. Any way it does!
Click to expand...

and here in is the basics of the reason why dounray clean up used cillet bang to clean up plutonium stains.

and to prove I'm not taking the pee

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/hig ... 217772.stm
Click to expand...


Why did something like that stick in your head?
It was 10 years ago .
Interested as I was working there at the time.
 
2 reasons.
1. I'd worked there previosuly as part of the decom design team with kvearner.
2. The stuff they were decommisioning was designed by my grand father.

I use it as a training discussion on a pretty regular basis whem talking about ALARP.
 
Andyp":215k8aee said:
intumescant? Has to be the word of the day...if it was spelt right :) had to look it up... intumescent I think.

Can’t wait for an opportunity to drop that into a diner table conversation.
Click to expand...

Andy, the intumescent mastic was found abandoned in a plant room on a job somewhere. My front door needs replacing and was a bit 'gappy' When I read the label to see what itumescent meant, ;) , it said it was also super flexy. Just the ticket I thought for the front door to keep out the breeze for a couple of months 'till I can sort a new door. Thats was two years ago. :oops:
 
Steve Maskery":1vcsiy6s said:
I did buy one of those rubber blocks once, and while they do a decent job, they are expensive and don't least very long.
Click to expand...

Steve:
My first rubber block lasted at least 15 years, and when it got small I cut it in half so I could leave the parts next to specific machines while buying another one for my main use. I think I got the large size of this brand: https://www.amazon.com/Prostik-W130...t=&hvlocphy=9022352&hvtargid=pla-435134352840 which is like $15. Yes, it will cost you more, but for me a dollar a year isn't a hardship...

Kirk
 
Steve Maskery":fi62orxm said:
The anguish is not induced by Lidl, pitch pine. the anguish is knowing that there is a "fantastic" product out there but you can't remember what it is! :)
Click to expand...
Acetone, AKA the wife’s nail polish remover, works very well for resin on blades.
 
Two great tips, thank you both.
Kirk, if I thought that one of those things would last 15 years, I wouldn't hesitate, but although it was a very very long time ago, I seem to remember being very disappointed with its working life. Perhaps yours are better quality than the one I bought.
S
 
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