Hi, I have just bought a 2nd hand drum sander and this machine is a first for me. I am still playing around with the machine to get a proper "feel" for it and to test out different conveyor belt speeds on different materials, different belt grits, etc.

One problem I have encountered straight away, is that the sanding belts are not available in different grits and the one's that are available are expensive. As an alternative, I tried to get hold of sanding belts without the tapers on the ends (on rolls) that has the same width (80mm), but with no luck. The closest was 50mm. I then got hold of some used (but still good) wide belt sander belts. The idea was to cut them up in strips, cut the tapers on the ends and I will then have plenty of belts at a fraction of the cost. Unfortunately, these belts are just to short when cut at a width of 80mm.

I have the following questions and need some help please?:

- How can I join the strips of belts together? I only need to make one joint per belt. Looking at my belt sander's sanding belts, some are joined with a certain type of special tape and some joined with an overlap. The tape joint looks simple and easy to make, but I am not sure what materials to use?

- I have also played around with different belt widths, but to determine the exact belt length of the belt, is not easy. I do not want to remove the drum to wrap scrap paper of different width's around to determine the different belt lengths. Surely, there must be some formula's out there that makes this a simple calculation?

- I have managed to work out the angles on the belt ends. These are simply the circumference of the drum, measured from one side of the belt to the other and works for all the different belt width's.

- Lastly, does it matter and will it affect the machine's performance if you use different belt width's, i.e 50mm, 80mm or even a 100mm? My common sense tells me this is irrelevant, as long as the drum is covered evenly by the sanding belt, without any gaps in between?

Any help and comments (especially with regards to the joining of belt strips), will be sincerely appreciated!

Regards
Louis