Thread: Sanding belt maintainence

There are cleaning sticks available to do the job.
I have also found that soaking them in laquer thinners works very well.

I've seen people (long pockets & short arms) use an old rubber thong
(as in footwear)! It does however, do the same job!
Good luck.
Regards Sandman.

Thanks for the suggestions, guys. And thanks for clarifying that "thong" thing.

Mike Ellis

Most belt and disk cleaners are a rubber substance.
A cheaper method is to use a short length of hosepipe against the belt.
It will do the same job as a purpose made cleaner block.

Here is a post I submitted to the accident survey at the Woodworkers Central. It does refer to an industrial sander where the safety features would not allow the machine to run if any of the panels were open to get to the belt. The switches that operated the safety feature were removed however.
This happened 17 years ago, and like I say, I thought that these rubbery cleaning sticks would have been banned by now.

This happened to a workmate of mine quite a while ago, but I cringe everytime I think back.

He was working on a full sized industrial belt sander as he had done for years and was usually very competent. Our employers started to use a de-clogging stick to try to get more life from the belts. These sticks were made of a rubbery material which you had to open the safety panels of the sander and push the stick against the belt. I would imagine that they are outlawed now.

The powdered remains of these sticks would fall onto guide rollers at the bottom of the belt. My workmate decided for some reason to use his fingers to wipe the dust off the rollers. As these rollers were close to the sander belt, the belt grabbed his fingers and pulled his hand right under the belt. His screams chill me to this day.

The hand surgeon at the hospital immediately prepared for amputation as soon as he looked at it, but almost miraculously, one of the best hand surgeons in the world was on a visit, and he decided to try to save the hand, and he did. Needless to say, a large sum was settled.

The sticks would be fine for small sanders I suppose, but I definately would advise against compromising your safety. Turning the belt around and putting an old tyre tube against it certainly sounds dodgy.

Be careful,
Ray.

Smiffy

The practice of using rubber belt cleaners is well established.

Your post makes little logical sense. The cause of the accident has nothing to do with cleaning the abrasive, or the use of a rubber abrasive cleaner.

The issue is that of unsafe work practices, and the bypassing of safety interlocks, and the stupidity of sticking body parts into operating machinery.

Considering that disc and belt sanders, which is what the rubbers are intended to clean, have the abrasive surface exposed, the cleaning is no more hazardous than the operation of sanding, which I assume the machines are intended for.

Alastair

Mike
I have a supply of old thongs {Foot wear } that I use to clean my belt and disk sander. They are large enough to be able to keep hands well away, and work well

David

There is a cleaning product called Simple Green that is available through Coventrys. Belts soaked overnight in a 50/50 solution in water clean up like new. It is dearer than old thongs but does a better job.

Having said that, I have one of the rubber stick thingys and use it to keep belts working. That way I don't have to remove the belt and be without it overnight. I have the crankiest, worst built sander ever made and changing belts, getting the new one to track true, is a nightmare.