Sanding belts Keep Separating at Tape Joint

[ssuel]

Recently having trouble with sanding belt’s separating at the splice butt joint tape line. Several years ago, ShopSmith ran a sanding belt sale for both the belt sander and strip sander. A couple of weeks back I went through about 5 on the belt sander and today about 10 on the strip sander. On the strip sander on a couple I can install a 1- inch belt never turn it on and it will pop under the stress of the tension spring. Other belts will run about 10 minutes while sanding and the pop?

Anybody else ever experience a rash of belts break like this?
Any ideas why I am having them break cleanly at the splice joints?
Anybody found success in mending sanding belts? If yes what type of glue or new tape did you use?
Where are you buying your new belts?
How long do you consider the belts should last in storage?

In case any ones asks the belts were probably purchased about 5-7 years ago and store in a oversized clear plastic lidded box to keep out dust. Thanks for reading and your response if you have one.
Thanks
SSuel

[edma194]

How did you store the belts for several years? Both humidity and dryness can be bad for and kind of sand paper, including belts. Humidity softens the backing material, dryness dries out the glue and makes it fragile. I haven't seen belts just snap straight across like the strip sander belt you show. I have seen them start coming apart long the diagonal glue seam on the belt, or a couple of times 6" belts splitting apart length wise so I end up with two narrower belts. Or one narrower belt and one narrow belt jam in the dust collector port.

[algale]

I've had some breakage of belts at the seems.

[ssuel]

The belts are stored in my Woodshop. It gets humid here. The shop is not air conditioned, but does get heated when I am working there-but the shop is subject to temperature swings. Not sure if the wife would let me store the sanding belts in the house. She agreed years ago to let me build a shop and I am assuming the shop supplies that left the garage never to return…haha

[reible]

I have had that same thing happen to stash of belts I got on sale and in bulk. Frustrating!

I found information re-gluing or taping them but had no luck with that. I did find that there is a 3M adhesive that commercial places use but you can not buy it. It also has to ship in a controlled environment and has to be stored in a controlled environment and comes in only large containers. Not something normal people will be able to access.

I cut the belts up and used them for hand sanding, in fact I think I still have some in a box somewhere.

For me the bottom like is I don't buy in bulk.

I will also say my information is somewhat dated so perhaps some you tuber has a solution??

Ed

[kashman]

I too have had no luck in reconnecting separated belts. Perhaps Shopsmith can tell us what adhesive they use or recommend to repair or reinforce the tape seam? Does anyone know how to get that message to them. I assume they buy the belts from a supplier and brand them with SS logo.

[ssuel]

While ShopSmith facilitates this forum, I do not see them actively interacting with their customers much. That’s one of the reasons I bought a new dedicated table saw and took off the PowerPro Headstock and put my on old 1983 headstock back on my way tubes.

If I had the option of going back in time, I would not buy a PowerPro headstock. ShopSmith has few resources for helping customers to troubleshoot problems with the PowerPro Headstock. They are glad to sell parts, which I spent several hundred dollars trying that, but when I came to shelling out either ~$800 for a main power supply board and even more for a motor I just bought a table saw and relegated to using the Mark V to running STPs. Too bad for ShopSmith I have been loyal for a long time, but as tools wear out, I think I will be looking at other options

[edma194]

Your criticism is valid. Shopsmith used to have more responsive and knowledgeable customer service. I hope they return to that but it won't come quickly. The knowledge deficit needs time and experience by their personnel to correct. There are clearly other problems with service they have to deal with. In going out of house for the PowerPro components they apparently did not order sufficient spare parts to properly service the customers who purchased system.

I wanted a table saw also. I found one (two actually) that were made by Shopsmith, Sawsmith 2000 table saws. So far I'm pleased with them, though very relieved when I came across the second one because there's very little Shopsmith can do to support them.

[rlkeeney]

I learned the hard way not to stock up on sanding belts. The adhesive will eventually separate, no matter where you store them. Granted, storing them in a climate-controlled area will prolong the life of the adhesive. I try not to have more sanding belts on hand than I think I will use relatively quickly. I have reglued belts when I had the materials I needed on hand. If I didn't already have the materials, I would not have reglued them. It is cheaper to buy another belt.

[ssuel]

Thanks. I am going to do the same in the future