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Steel Conveyor Belt for ABP (raftless) by Tunell is licensed under the Attribution - Share Alike - Creative Commons license.
© 2011 by Tunell
Instructions
1) Remove your previous belt and cut it open to form a single, flat strip.
2) Build your belt tool which can be used to create more belts of perfect size.
___a. Find a stiff cardboard tube (Dougc314 recommends 3" PVC)
___b. Wrap 3 strips of duct tape around cardboard tube until you approach correct belt circumference.
___c. Finish wrapping with clear packing tape until the plastic belt fits tightly around the tape and edges line up
___d. Tool is done (see photo)
3) Using a straight edge and razor blade (on an ugly wood surface) cut a strip of foil from top to bottom. Make the strip slightly narrower than the plastic belt in order to avoid interfering with the bolt heads on the ABP. I first used scissors to cut the strip, but found that it left my edge rippled, which may interfere with prints later on. A razor will leave a flat edge. Your strip should be about 4" x 12"
4) Wrap the strip carefully around the belt tool. Make sure the outer edges line up perfectly and that you have about 1/2" of seam overlap.
5) Tape the seam so the belt is nice and tight on the tool.
6) Wrap Kapton over the metal at a sharp diagonal angle (wider kapton won't require a diagonal.) Make sure to overlap onto the bare packing tape on the sides, this will be trimmed in the next step. When wrapping the Kapton, try to reduce the seams by lining the kapton up carefully with the previous wrap. The tape should be sprialing around your tool leaving small seams between each wrap. Better seams = better prints.
7) With a razor, cut through the tape along the edges of the new belt and pull off the excess Kapton.
8) Slide your belt off the tool. This may be tricky if you made the belt too tight.
9) The new belt should look much like the stock belt. The main difference is the loose flap on the inside of the belt. DO NOT TAPE THIS DOWN. Leaving it loose will allow the belt to slide over the rollers more easily.
10) When mounting on the ABP, make sure this flap is on the top side and pointing towards the rear of the machine. This will keep it from getting caught under the drive rollers. Never run the ABP backwards or this flap may slide behind a roller and ruin the belt.
UPDATE 6-20
I've had some success cutting off the inside flap of the belt. If you cut it off completely so that the two edges of the foil are flush, you can kapton-tape over it and have a flap-free belt.
Also, some users have noted that they would like the belt to be tighter. If you want your belt tighter, just use less tape layers on the belt tool. Be careful though, if you go too tight, you will crease the new belt on the drive support nubs when installing it. (this happened to me)
