Wide Urethane belt splicer

A belt splicing jig for urethane belts. The heater is a key bit here; its a PTC heater. You just plug it into 120 VAC and it will heat up to 220F and then stop heating! Unlike soldering irons and wood burning tools, it will not combust the belt! I made a handle for it with a Teflon block, welding wire to attach it, a fiberglass tube, and a hand grip, but its not really easy to do. I would cheat and just put a power cord on the heater, and put it (gently) in a vice.

In use, fit the belt in the jig as shown in the pictures and shave it off straight and square with a razor blade. Be careful, of course! You want to set the two ends of the belt in the jig such that when you close the handles it will squash the belt one full belt thickness. You can get this by putting a strip of cut off belt in between the jaws and then setting the belt ends flush. Open the jig, put in the heater (hot) and wait for it to melt both sides. Once both sides are molten, pull the belt apart (away from the heater), remove the heater, and clamp the handles back together. Wait. Wait some more. Wait until you just can stand it... Really, 5-10 minutes. You will regret it if you start messing with the belt too soon; it takes a crazy long time to cool off! Once its fully cool, trim off the flash with flush cutters and/or a razor blade and enjoy a belt that delivers full strength!

At some point I will revisit this and dream up one that can be used inside a robot...

The 1/4-20 heat set inserts came from McMaster.