How Sanding Belts are Made

On a recent visit to Ali Industries, manufacturers of the Gator Finishing sanding system, I was able to learn the steps used to make sanding belts. It's a rather interesting story, as there are some steps incorporated to make the belts durable that are a somewhat surprising.

Sanding belts are really nothing more than specially constructed sandpaper with the ends connected to form a loop. Because belt sanders tend to be workhorses that generate a lot of heat, one might expect that the joint holding the two ends would be the weakest point, but as you'll see in one of the upcoming steps, tensile strength testing actually shows that the steps taken to create the joint make it stronger than the paper it connects!