Laps and belts

A couple of short points for you this month -
 
1. I was grinding a thin piece of stone recently and applied it to a previously-used sheet of 600 grit Wet & Dry (W&D) on my lap.  The stone was whipped out of my fingers and bounced harmlessly off the back of the splash box, happily.
 
The next time I tried it gave me the same result.
 
I stopped the lap and checked the W&D and found it to be more worn than I had thought.  Being flat, the stone was being dragged out of my fingers by osmotic attraction between W&D and stone.
 
By replacing the W&D I finally got to grind it down.
 
2. A few days later there was a lot of squealing when I started the motor.  I added my usual wax to the inside of the belt with no reduction in squeal, so I checked the belt tension and found it to be a bit loose.
 
The tension needs to be “just right”: too tight and you eventually wreck the motor bearings/bushes; too loose and you get excessive belt wear because of the slipping/squealing.
 
The moral of the stories is: you need to keep on top of these matters with your equipment.
 
Happy carving!