What type of abrasive belt by grit?

[balibalistic]

Ed,

How much flex to the norax x30 belts have?

[Dodd]

Originally Posted by Ed Caffrey

I'll throw in my thoughts....

I tend to use more heavy grit belts than anything, therefore, I use only the best belts I can in that range. My favorite are the Norton Blaze in 50 grit, followed by the Klingspoor CS 411 Blue Zirconia, also in 50 grit. When grinding blades I go from the 50 grit, straight to a Norax X30 grit (400). I picked up that trick a few years ago, and at first thought it was crazy....but it does two things for you.... first you don't miss scratches as you would if you went from say 50 to 120 to 220, etc. Secondly it saves about 30-45 mins of grinding per blade.

About the only reason I keep 120 and 220 belts in the shop are for guard/handle work.

I grind all the steels that were mentioned, and the Blaze belts go about 4 to 1 over regular Aluminum oxide belts.

Heres a list of a normal belt order for me:

12- Norton Blaze in 50 grit
5- Norton 823, Blue Zirconia 120 grit
12- Klingspoor LS-309 220 grit
12- Norax X30 (400 grit)
12- Norax X22 (800 grit)

If you order from Tru-Grit, there is a price break at 10 belts, which is why I order a dozen at a time. The way it works out I wind up getting 12 belts for the cost of 9.

Now that just about says it all. I DID in fact just order $130 of belts from tru grit including Norton Blade 24 grit, ALL the available Gator grits, and some aluminum oxide belts for all those 'filler' grits. Now to get me a ceramic platen liner, an additional tooling arm for my KMG, oh.....and maybe some STEEL

Thanks a WHOLE lot guys!

[Ed Caffrey]

Just about as much as the Klingspoor LS-309 does. The reason I like the Norax belts so much is that they are thicker than the Ls-309s (J-flex) and are more "cushioned". They also give a finish that appears much finer than what the same grit size in another type of belt would give. I routinely roll them over the edge of the platen for rounding out plunges, and they last much longer than the standard AO belts. The trick to getting extra life out of the Norax belts is to slow them down. On my variable speed set I normally run heavier grit belts at 50-60% on the controller. When I switch to the norax belt(s), I run them at 30-40% on the speed controller.

As a side note on the heavy grit belts.... If your going to use 24 or 36 grit for your heavy belts, then you WILL NOT be able to jump straight to a 400. I settled on the 50 grits for my heavy belts because they remove a lot of material, fast, but do not leave such huge scratches that I cannot go straight from them to a 400 grit. If you use 24 grit your also going to likely have to go with a 60-80 grit, then a 120, 220, etc. My idea was to try to cut down on the number of different grits that I have to use, saves me money and time.

[Gary Mulkey]

It's curious that many of you have mentioned the 977 belt. I have tried it and have gone back to the 967 (which is the same belt but with an additional coating). They are promoted as the 977 is designed for carbon steel and the 967 for stainless but the 967 seems to give me better belt life for all steels. I suppose that everyone has a different grinding style which affects belt life.

Gary

[Quickcut]

Ed when you order these 10 or 12 belts do they all need to be one type or is a mix ok. If mixing is not a problem that is a good offer
E

[CWKnifeman]

Try the Hermes Jflex in the 406 series they work well as well.

[cliff fendley]

Does anybody know if you can get 132 inch Norax belts and if so from who?