Quote:
Originally Posted by Gregor
How did you customize the belts to the correct length? Did you weld them? Also why does it require fewer lineal feet than round belting needs to cover the same span.
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We buy the belt in bulk so we mount the rollers and wrap the large piece of belting in place and mark it with a sharpie. We pull it snug, but do not attempt to tension the belt at this point. Then we pull the belt off and measure the length we marked out above. We subtract 1% off the length for tension then cut the belt at the new mark and weld it up. I think only once have we had to increase the belt tension, but I think we only had 2% cut off even then. We try to keep the tensions down to minimize frictional losses in the system.
In the past we have welded these belts with just a heat gun and some blocks of wood which is is not a great experience. This year we sprung for the heating tool, McMaster-Carr p/n: 62065K11 which greatly simplifies the welding process.
The span I am referring to is the width of the conveyor. Poor word choice on my end. As can be seen in the photo above we only used two flat belts to manage the 8" ball width. Using 1/4" round belt would have taken 2-3x as many belt runs to keep the ball from pushing past the belts. This cuts the cost premium for flat belts at least in half.