Shopsmith Forums

Does anyone know what that tape is that they use for sanding belt seams?

I have some older sanding belts 3 x 24 that have lost their tape hold and it seems like a waste to just give up on them. If I could peal the old tape off and put new on and have them usable it would be great. Just don't know what the magic tape is.

Anyone????

Ed

Ed
I thought that stuff was just a thin fabric and was held in place using a CA type glue that is slightly flexible. Regular CA would be too stiff but there is a flexible type.
Bill V
try here https://www.amazon.com/Starbond-KEG-50- ... noacrylate

I'm putting an order in to Amazon so I will tack it on (yea tack it on). I like how long they claim it will last. At least 20 months! I don't use much of that type glue and it almost always expired with most of the tube still left.

Thanks for the heads up!

Ed

I have had a bit of success with FastCap Speed tape. I had tried other method and tapes with little runtime. The FastCap tape is a double sided tape but I just leave the protection strip on it. I have only used it with the 6x48 belts. I bought a bunch of them few years back at a great price but the adhesive doesn't survive time in a pole barn wit minimal heat and cooling.

Don't know how long this fix will hold up but I have used one belt for making a Giant Jenga set , which required quite of bit of sanding.

https://www.fastcap.com/estore/pc/SpeedTape-17p310.htm

Your mileage may vary. This was not my idea. I stumbled across the method somewhere on the web..

You might try contact cement. It is difficult to pull apart particularly when stresses are lateral. Home Depot, Ace, Lowes, etc.

I was looking on the web a while back to make some sanding belts or sleeves from a bunch of sand paper rolls I have. From what I understood, any adhesive would work for a while but the backing material usually tears first. Of the various materials tried, house wrap was supposed to be one of the best adhesive backers for making belts. I have not actually tried it as other projects have taken priority.

I had the same thing happen a few years ago to my old 3x21 belts. New belts are amazingly cheap so I bought new ones and used the broken ones on my hand sanders until they were used up.
I suspect you will spend as much money and more time trying to fix the old belts than you would by just buying some generic new ones.

You could try sheathing tape, the stuff used to seal the vapor barrier in house construction, it is thin, strong and sticks like shite to a blanket.

IMHO, I like to play with things and save/improve them in my younger years, but I think 20$ for a couple new different grit belts would be a better value then dicking around with this and have it come apart when working on a project.
I have some 3M 3x21" belts for over 15 years, in a garage on the upper shelf in summer heat and winter cold and all still hold together.

Any time i have a belt failure i recycle it into small pieces and give the my wife. She uses it to sand off chalk paint to get her desired effect. I also use them tacked down to a board making a hand powered belt sander. Great for flattening edges or general touch up.