shirt stuck in belt sander

[William Hamilton]

I swear all of this is true. At some point around halloween, the love of my life was creating a zombie halloween costume and decided a belt sander was the best way to rough up her shirt. Luckily she wasn't wearing it. There's a good amount of material stuck in the belt sander. Obviously it does not currently run. Anyone have something like this happen? Is there a trick to getting the fabric out, short of disassembling? Note to self: lock up your tools. The belt sander is a Ridgid R2740.
Thanks,
Bill

[Mike Henderson]

I hope you don't mind that I laughed out loud when I read your post. Sorry - no suggestions for fixing it.

Mike

[William Hamilton]

no offense taken.. I used it as an excuse to upgrade (can't argue with that one, right?) but would like to see if I can fix this and either sell it or have it as a spare

[John K Jordan]

I swear all of this is true. At some point around halloween, the love of my life was creating a zombie halloween costume and decided a belt sander was the best way to rough up her shirt. Luckily she wasn't wearing it. There's a good amount of material stuck in the belt sander. Obviously it does not currently run. Anyone have something like this happen? Is there a trick to getting the fabric out, short of disassembling? Note to self: lock up your tools. The belt sander is a Ridgid R2740.
Thanks,
Bill

Sounds like my Lovely Bride - any excuse is a shopping opportunity.

I would probably disassemble if practical. But then, I love to take things apart.

Sounds like my big diesel 3-blade mower when I run over a rope or something. For me that is 20 minutes with a sharp knife. Whether a knife would work in your case would depend on the clearances. If it stalled quickly perhaps the wad of cloth is accessible and can be sliced with a scalpel, x-acto, or maybe a filet knife and pieces extracted with hemostats.

JKJ

[Mel Fulks]

Unplug . Try to hand turn rollers in backward direction. Try to unlock the tensioner. Bring a knife. Give up hope of saving shirt.

[Bill Neely]

This is child's play, when I was in the Coast Guard someone flushed a skivvy shirt down the toilet and it got caught in the impeller of a sewage pump.

[Martin Wasner]

I've sucked up a shirt i was wearing, but didn't pack it in right. I was able to beck it out pushing backwards on the belt by hand.

If she pulled it in hard, chances are pretty good something is tweaked. Worth a shot though

I had a co-worker suck a finger into one. I watched another co-worker smash the case with a hammer to get the finger out.

[Yonak Hawkins]

Tell her next time to use a wire brush.

[Yonak Hawkins]

Tell her next time to use a wire brush.

[Rod Sheridan]

Tell her next time to use a wire brush.

Correction A MANUAL WIRE BRUSH.

I would hate to see someone try a powered wire brush for a T shirt.............Rod.

[Yonak Hawkins]

Correction A MANUAL WIRE BRUSH.

Yes. Thank you, Rod. We're often too quick to jump to a power machine when a hand tool will do fine, or even better.

[Bill Jobe]

I cannot be certain he was being honest about this, but when I worked at the time shop I retired from one of the old timers and I were discussing the seriousness of loose clothing around machines. He told me that years ago he was running a large radial drill and ACCORDING TO HIM it grabbed him by the shirt or pants ( I can't remember which) and it stripped him bare naked, aside from his belt. He said luckily he worked near a locker room.
That's not as far fetched as it may sound.
One job at a shop I had placed me in their machine shop and my foreman was quite serious about loose clothing. They had a lady running a drill that grabbed her by the hair and pulled her around several times banging her head on the back of the machine. She died as a result.

It was common place at my last job for guys to throw things such as wadded up pairs if gloves, at guys running drills. This was especially unsettling for me. To risky and basically placing that machine operator at risk of serious injury or death.

[Dave Cav]

Sounds like my big diesel 3-blade mower when I run over a rope or something. For me that is 20 minutes with a sharp knife.
JKJ

I backed my diesel tractor rototiller over the end of a 30 foot tarp once. That took a lot more than 20 minutes to clean up.

[Jerome Stanek]

When I worked in printing there was a guy that was a little slow and always wore ties. He was amassed at the folder where the papers would come down and 2 rollers would grab them and fold them he bent over and it grabbed his tie and almost pulled him in.

[Mark Wooden]

Cut the belt and then try to pull it out backwards. Maybe a thin bladed screwdriver to dig some o the cloth out.

Many moons ago, I, and about four others, saw a guy get his shirt tail caught in a jointer, and it ripped off across the middle of his back in a heartbeat.We figured his large stature- about 6' and close to 300 lbs- saved him from further injury. That shirt hung over that jointer till the shop closed down.