Belt sander belt storage ideas. Updated

C

Creedmoor

Joined
May 7, 2014
Messages
32
Hello,

Fairly new to BladeForums. I've been reading and lurking for a while. I did search for ideas but didn't find anything that would work for my problem.

I purchased a Kalamazoo 1x42 belt sander a while back and it didn't take long for the belts to get out of hand. I started out with them hanging on some nails but that wasn't really working out too good.

Then I "repurposed" an and old bicycle wheel and made a sort of lazy Susan type deal that works pretty good but I really need something better.

I've been using some oil based CBN compounds on linen belts. I've been happy with the results and plan to use more.

The problem is that I am afraid all kinds of grit from sharpening will get stuck on the belts with the oil based compounds and contaminate them. I've been storing the belts in zip lock bags to keep the grit off them but it is a pain to get them in and out and I'm usually short on time.

My idea is to make a cabinet with slots to hang each belt and have a sliding door (actually three doors) so that I would have easy access.

I'm not much carpenter but I think I can make a decent cabinet.

Any other Ideas? Or any problems you can foresee with the cabinet?

See below for pics of what I am using now and a rough plan for the cabinet.

Thanks for reading my long post.






The three horizontal lines that say door 1,2,3 just show the width of each door that would slide in either direction.

 
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Creedmor, welcome to the forums, I like your 'lazy Susan' idea. I hear you about keeping the belts, especially linen ones with different compounds, separated. I currently do what you do, and keep them in 2 gallon ziplock bags. I think your cabinet idea is good, but you still have the issues of cross contaminating your linen belts I would think--unless you segregate those belts to a particular section of the cabinet and leave a few gaps between them and any other belts. One thing I would encourage you to do, is to make it a little deeper than 3"-- I guess you have figured that your belts are 24" or less when folded over as in hanging them on a peg like you show--you might want to allow for longer size belts if you ever imagine you might get a longer belt using machine. Let us know what you come up with, maybe some pics when you're done.

Best luck--Don
 
Fish30114 said:
Creedmor, welcome to the forums, I like your 'lazy Susan' idea. I hear you about keeping the belts, especially linen ones with different compounds, separated. I currently do what you do, and keep them in 2 gallon ziplock bags. I think your cabinet idea is good, but you still have the issues of cross contaminating your linen belts I would think--unless you segregate those belts to a particular section of the cabinet and leave a few gaps between them and any other belts. One thing I would encourage you to do, is to make it a little deeper than 3"-- I guess you have figured that your belts are 24" or less when folded over as in hanging them on a peg like you show--you might want to allow for longer size belts if you ever imagine you might get a longer belt using machine. Let us know what you come up with, maybe some pics when you're done.

Best luck--Don
Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply. Making the cabinet deeper that 3" might be a good idea. I'll have to look at that. It would be good to be able to store belts two deep. New in the back and used up front.

Making it so that it would hold longer belts might be a good idea also. I would love to have a 2 x 72 sander/grinder but space and $$$$ will probably prevent that for the foreseeable future!

If I build it, I will probably wait till the cool weather gets here but I will post pics for sure if I do.
 
Good for you Creedmor--I think a lot of us have similar problems in dealing with belts. Foxhunter, I have a friend who has a ton of belts, and the key to keeping them from curling up like that is to have some tension on them, Newt hangs his from a steel peg driven into his work area wall, and has a heavy steel 'S' hook that he puts through the belts at the bottom which keeps them 'stretched out' and prevents them from curling--just a thought. The hook on the bottom of the belts probably weighs at least 1-1.5 lbs.
 
Creedmoor said:
Thanks for the reply. Making the cabinet deeper that 3" might be a good idea. I'll have to look at that. It would be good to be able to store belts two deep. New in the back and used up front.
Click to expand...

Looks like a good idea! I'll 2nd making it deeper and storing belts like you suggested here (new ones stored behind the current one)... would make keeping track of inventory a breeze.
 
For my 12 x 3/4" belts on the WSKO, I bought a few Plano tackle storage flats. I get 2 of them in each of 6 compartments, which means I've got just about all of my belts in one Plano box. I went looking for Plano and then Rubbermaid boxes to see if any of them had nice long (24" or so) compartments and I came up with nothing. You'd think there would be extra large tackle box type things with configurable compartments like the small ones: Plastic inserts you can move around to change the shape of the interior compartments. So far I don't see anything like that.

I don't have any clever ideas, but maybe this gives someone something to think about.

Brian.
 
bgentry said:
For my 12 x 3/4" belts on the WSKO, I bought a few Plano tackle storage flats. I get 2 of them in each of 6 compartments, which means I've got just about all of my belts in one Plano box. I went looking for Plano and then Rubbermaid boxes to see if any of them had nice long (24" or so) compartments and I came up with nothing. You'd think there would be extra large tackle box type things with configurable compartments like the small ones: Plastic inserts you can move around to change the shape of the interior compartments. So far I don't see anything like that.

I don't have any clever ideas, but maybe this gives someone something to think about.

Brian.
Click to expand...

That's not a bad idea. There are all kinds of stackable storage drawers that might work. I'll have to look at some to see if they might work for me.

Thanks for the idea.
 
Just wanted to update this thread and show a few pics of what I ended up making.

I'm not much of a wood worker and I don't have a lot of wood working tools but I do like to tinker at it.

I spent way too much time on this but it came out pretty good and I think it will do what I wanted.

The cabinet is deep enough to hang two belts front and back.

I am going to keep the coarse belts hanging on the rack I made since it doesn't matter if they get some "crud" on them.

Please excuse the clutter.:apologetic:



The unfinished wood dowels are basically weights to keep the belts pulled down and to keep them from twisting.





 
Dad-gum Creedmor, that looks great--your idea of using the chunks of dowel to keep the belts stretched out is cool. I'd say your woodworking skills are pretty good looking at that thing, heck if I lived near you, I would be tempted to ask if you could make me one.

Nice going bro!
 
Fish30114 said:
Dad-gum Creedmor, that looks great--your idea of using the chunks of dowel to keep the belts stretched out is cool. I'd say your woodworking skills are pretty good looking at that thing, heck if I lived near you, I would be tempted to ask if you could make me one.

Nice going bro!
Click to expand...

Thanks! I thought it came out pretty good but a real cabinet maker would be like :eek:
 
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