Round Belting - Solid vs. Hollow, Polycord vs. McMaster

[Kevin Ray]

Falconmaster--
NO, Polycord or the less expensive versions are very different than surgical tubing. Round belt urethane belts are MUCH less elastic than surgucal tubing. The are also, however, less "sticky", but far more than enough to move the 2009 game balls. Surgical tubing stretches too much and is a bit more difficult to attach to itself (Although a volunteer at Hartford Ct regional [can't remeber his name] told me the perfect way. Roll the surgical tubing back on itself and put 1/2 of a one inch section of pneumatic air hose from the KoP up to the edge. Coat the edge of the tube with Crazy Glue then roll the tubing onto the hose. Repeat the process with the other end of the surgical tube and the other half of the hose and you'll have a closed loop which will NEVER break at that point.)
We prototyped the round urethane belt conveyance for this year and it moved it beautifully. The key is deciding if you are going to have one set of belts roll against a stationary wall or have two belts rolling the ball between them. Both worked for us, obviously one is twice as fast as the other.

One mistake many people may have when first trying to adhere two ends together is to heat with a simple flame and hold them together. Using a short (6" or so) length of aluminum angle to maintain allignment, heat to a liquid melt then touch together and pull apart about 1/16 to 1/8" . This is crucial. Failure to do so may give a false sense of adhesion. The separation prevents the hot urethane from being squeezed out by the non-melted belting.

Don't be intimidated by the product. We've used it in '06 and could gather the small balls going 12fps, as fast as we could drive over them.


I hope this helps you. Any questions... message me and I'll help out as best I can.