sanding belts

started sanding on the top for Earlene's tv stand and belts are blowing apart at the seam
3x24 Klingspor belts bought probably around 2000
NOT BLAMING KLINGSPOR as I have had them a long time and just never used them
one on the sander is a 40grit and it held up fine but probably has been on there since 2000
changed to 120 and blew 3 in a row got less than 30 seconds usage out of them
changed to 150 and same deal
changed over to old Sears 3x21 sander, same deal
thinking belts are old and seam tape is just not going to hold
stored in basement of air conditioned home with humidifier running in summer time
no rust on tools stored down there, no mildew issues, just have not done any woodworking in way too long of a time

SO who do you recommend I buy more belts from and obviously I need to order less and use them up in a year or so

headed to Menards, getting some for tonight
 
Some belts will stand up to old age and some won't. I learned not to buy very many ahead if they weren't a brand that I knew would stand up. Harbor Freight are one example that will break apart the glue on the seam after they are stored a couple years, as well as some familiar brand.

We ordered no-name belts online from a place online that are really tough and will store for years. You pays your money and takes your chances, like most everything else in this world.
 
theses are butt joined on an angle with tape on the inside
very high quality belts, great price
just stored them way too long
YES I did run them in the direction indicated
 
If I have to buy them at full price I recommend Indasa as the best value I have found. Lately our local independent dollar store chain has been selling a lot of sizes of sanding belt for $1 each and I have bought about 20 or 30. Mostly 50 grit 4x36 belts to level rings of blocks for making banjo rims. They are NOS Norton belts and I don't know how old they are but they never break, at least not for me.
Zach
 
Oh, so YOU'RE the one that keeps buying those up on me, huh??? :) Stock up myself every time they've got them, and have also had good luck with them. Can't beat the price, and even if they do come apart at the joint I use them for general sanding--the thicker backing material holds up better than cheap paper that rips or tears before you've used up the abrasive. Gotta love that store--I can go in, spend 15 bucks, come out with several bags full of stuff, and get the same "shop till you drop" feeling that it would take me 20 times that much money to get at a department store, and the sad thing is it's often at least as good quality. I've got pairs of their pliers and such strung every place you can imagine--at a buck a pair, it beats the tar out of beating your fingers up trying to loosen, tighten, un-stick, or otherwise re-arrange things.

Another thing I've found very handy when working with a belt sander is a belt eraser. Link is the first one that came up on Amazon--there's tons of other ones out there, I'm just posting it as a starting point--but using one will really lengthen the life of your belts, enough to pay for the eraser many times over.
Sanding belt eraser
 
Had the exact same thing happen with +15 year old sears belts. Figured the tape broke down. New menards store brand worked ok.
 
I have had the same thing happen. Mine were Klingspor also, but I don't think it matters what brand. When I placed an order years ago, I thought the thing to do was stock up with a bunch. Wrong!! Now I have a big pile of them in all grits just sitting there. I have tried everything I can think of to fix them, but nothing has worked. Once in a while I cut one up in pieces to use for small pieces of sandpaper, but otherwise they are just taking up space, and I am too miserly to throw them out.
 
When I was doing woodworking, I got belts sheets etc. from Industrial abrasives. I had a B&D sander designed for 3X 24 belts but 3X23 3/4 from Industrial Abrasives worked a lot better. I don't do much woodworking now, but I still have belts over 10 years old that work fine when I do use them. They are still in Reading PA.
industrialabrasives
 
I got a couple of bags full of them with a 1/2x24 air file. Same problem. I doubt scotch tape will hold, probably assembled with a hot glue.
 

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