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I am looking at buying cloth or felt belts for polishing as an alternative to buffing wheels.
The main reason would be that that way I don't need to buy a variable speed buffer.
Plus they are easy to change to switching gritw would be a breeze.
Anyone else here use polishing belts and have some tips to share?
no tips to share. I have however been looking at a lot of lapidary stuff lately to try to figure out a power lapping system and there a many different sizes of belts that fit the description. Let me know if you want some links.
I have some wool felt belts that I bought for buffing. In theory they sound great, slow belt speed, the diameter of the wheel will match. In practice I am kind of meh, about the belts. I find the work ok to good with coarse compounds, but not very well with fine compounds.
What kind of belts are you planning to get? I have seen other types of polishing belts and wonder how they work.
I have wondered about the diamond slurry they sell for putting on belts, it seems like a great idea.
I have a few worn cork belts that have compound on them. I have had a shoulder shrugging, meh experience with them also.
Charlie
My experience is similar to Charlie. They work OK but nothing really great.
If you get a deal on the belts it may be worth a try.
Another possibility is leather belts. I have no experience with them, but I have heard they can be used with various compounds. Perhaps Randydance will chime in.
I talked with Surtech about the cork belts they have. They reckon they are really rough when new - they look like a 24 grit belt, so you have to break them in. Their procedure (different from others I have read about) is to soak the belt for a couple of hours then use compound and scrap steel to flatten it. Once the whole belt is a uniform black colour it is then ready for polishing steel - to a mirror finish they reckon, but the belts cost so much and you needed to order so many at a time that I never followed up on it.
Regards,
Neil
I have a Tormek with a leather wheel (useless machine for the most part) using the Tormek compounds it will put a very high shine on steel.Quote:
Originally Posted by skipnord
USA Knifemakers has cork belts that already have abrasive in them - 120 up to 1000, as I recall, for $7.18 each. Again, never tried them, but the sound interesting. If you can't find them in the index, type in "cork belts".
In that case I am not going to bother. I thought they would be at least equal in quality and convenience to a buffer wheel. If they're not, I'll just have to cough up and buy the buffer.
My experience with leather belts is very limited. One belt was made by handamerican.com, a 4x36, and loaded with chrome ox. It worked very well for sharpening plane blades.
The other example was a large buffer wheel made from walrus skin and used by Bowdins Wedge.
His grandson, now older than me, still has it.
I do want to order a leather 2x72 from trugrit.com
TruGrit - 2x72-Leather
I just ordered 2. Wish me well.
The belts from TruGrit are excellent. For sharpening/power stropping... As a polishing belt, I have had little luck. The cork belts are very good. One grit per belt. As for break in, they are near a 36 grit-ish, too rough to use for polishing. Tried soaking in water, pressing, loading, with poor results. What has worked for me, was to run the belt fast, and "rub" the belt down with the tip of a file, effectively "dressing" the belt. After 15 minutes or so, the belt is fairly smooth, then load it with the compound of choice, use a scrap piece of leather, to rub/press the compound into the belt. Then polish away. Reload frequently, after several uses, the surface will smooth out, and subsequent polishings will be more even. It takes some effort to prep the belts, but well worth it. Remember, one grit per belt!