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Post by mohs on Dec 11, 2010 19:19:34 GMT -5
I made my own leather belt for the expandable ! I’m really stoked about it! It works. I was just trying it today! So here what I did. I glued a piece of leather to a 100 grit belt. It was quite a process. I worked on it all week long. Buying the leather, getting the glue, thinking, experimenting and presto!!! I think I got a good buffing system down! I’ll post pics and more later… Ed
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Post by johnjsgems on Dec 11, 2010 22:13:30 GMT -5
I guess you will know when leather wears through. You will see 100 grit scratches. If you hav trouble with grit contamination you can try a Rez Belt.
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Post by mohs on Dec 11, 2010 22:24:18 GMT -5
Thanks John! now you tell me Ha ha ! i was going to ask what resin belts are? over in another thread I asked my local distributor about them and they kind of look at me with a ed
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Post by johnjsgems on Dec 12, 2010 9:27:58 GMT -5
Rez Belts are a Raytech product. Basically a resin diamond belt, hold the diamonds. They are meant to be loaded with diamond compound by the user.
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Post by jakesrocks on Dec 12, 2010 12:37:21 GMT -5
They also make a felt belt to fit expando drums. Not sure who makes it, but it's on page 75 of the Kingsley North catalog. 3M used to make a polishing belt that was covered with tiny chips of cork. They worked really nice, but I haven't seen them listed for several years.
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Post by mohs on Dec 12, 2010 15:03:40 GMT -5
Here's how it came out This a piece of 5 oz. leather. I could have gotten the seam better. Remarkably its pretty smooth. I used contact cement and for the butted ends a dab of 330 epoxy. Its a good tool. But I can tell... unless I slow the rpm's down it won't be at its full buffing efficiency ed
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Post by johnjsgems on Dec 12, 2010 16:32:12 GMT -5
Covington carries cork and felt belts. I think they are used a lot for glass.
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Post by jakesrocks on Dec 12, 2010 17:17:59 GMT -5
I'll have to check my Covington catalog. I like those cork belts. They really soak up and hold the polish.
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Post by jakesrocks on Dec 12, 2010 21:45:06 GMT -5
Can't believe this. My wife just came out of her craft room with a role of 1/16" cork, and asked me if I had a use for it. She was going to throw it away. Think I'll reface a couple of worn out SC belts.
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mc2
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since April 2009
Posts: 1,147
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Post by mc2 on Dec 18, 2010 9:00:02 GMT -5
What a great idea! Thanks for posting. I just might have to try that also.
Mike
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Post by johnjsgems on Dec 18, 2010 10:11:16 GMT -5
Don, how do you think it would work to use an old split drum and glue the cork over a foam backing? They are not much use normally and maybe glue over the slots to cut down the bump?
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Post by mohs on Dec 18, 2010 10:46:26 GMT -5
What a great idea! Thanks for posting. I just might have to try that also. Mike Its working out really well My idea is to buff by hand, I don’t dop, well I doo wop, but I digress slow speed is the key some tips on making it - inexpensive do not over pay for the leather the 100 grit belt seems like the best contact cement works great ---do not buy rubber contact cement--- I could have cut the length better I did by it eye --if I had been smarter I would have cut an old belt, laid it out, overlayed the leather on top of, and cut it to that length I put the belt on the expandable and just rolled the leather onto the 100 grit think that was a good plan leather can be sanded so the top butted ends of the seam can be beveled, smoothed seamless let dry buff to hearts content !
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NDK
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2009
Posts: 9,440
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Post by NDK on Dec 18, 2010 23:07:09 GMT -5
Nice work Ed. I really like home-grown ideas like this!
Nate
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mc2
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since April 2009
Posts: 1,147
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Post by mc2 on Dec 19, 2010 9:10:19 GMT -5
Oh, I do have one question though. Which side of my leather should face out? The smooth, finished side, or the rougher back side? Well, two questions actually. What cement do you recommend? I know you said not rubber contact cement, what exact brand/type did you use. I will get some of that also.
Thanks again!
Mike
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Post by mohs on Dec 19, 2010 10:05:58 GMT -5
Thanks Nate!
Good questions, Mike
The smooth side if the leather is glued down on the belt. Another thing I did was roughed up that smooth side with the 100 grit sand paper. Leather tough! So use a100 grit piece of sand paper and cross hatch sand the smooth side. This will allow the contact cement to adhere better in its bonding.
The contact cement I used is Tanner Bond Contact Cement.- Craftman #4085. I bought this at Tandy Leather store and this brand is made exclusively for Tandy Leather. I paid $10.00 for 8oz. and used only a small fraction.
I used 5 oz. leather which as something to do with thickness, I think. This leather is about 3/16 thick or 1.5 meters. Anyway it seems to be ideal . Although thinner/thicker would most likely work.
The leather store wouldn’t cut the leathers width for me. So I went to a leather man. H e cut the 10” length and 2 1/2” width. He used a pizza cutter type tool to cut the width. A razor knife and straight edge would work fine for the DYI!
This is an inexpensive project. Or should be! No more than $20.00 max.
It’s a neat project. I’m no expert. It works good. Buff on! Ed
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mikeinsjc
spending too much on rocks
Member since June 2010
Posts: 329
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Post by mikeinsjc on Feb 12, 2011 13:32:01 GMT -5
Ed, Great idea. What polishing compound do you use? I have a bull wheel, and have been saving the old belts. Now I have a use for them.
Mike
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Post by stoner on Feb 13, 2011 4:26:34 GMT -5
Nice job Ed. A little tip if you're using diamond paste with the leather(which you should be!) the leather needs to be broken in before it will start to polish. After its broken in, it will last a long time and there's not a stone it won't polish!
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metalartz
having dreams about rocks
Member since January 2011
Posts: 69
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Post by metalartz on Feb 13, 2011 10:36:04 GMT -5
I could have cut the length better I did by it eye --if I had been smarter I would have cut an old belt, laid it out, overlayed the leather on top of, and cut it to that length
Add just a little, like 3.14 x the thickness of the leather. you are working on add to the diameter of the belt, aka a larger wheel.
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Post by mohs on Feb 13, 2011 19:02:02 GMT -5
its works pretty good for my purposes I've only used cerium oxide being able to slow the RPM makes it pretty nice
I may make another one down the road doing lots of rock experimenting eventuality I'll get all pieces of the puzzle to be sweet edmostest
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Post by mohs on Feb 13, 2011 19:02:42 GMT -5
Add just a little, like 3.14 x the thickness of the leather. you are working on add to the diameter of the belt, aka a larger wheel. is that like pi?
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