At Wire Belt Company, our goal has always been to provide simple solutions to real problems and issues in processing plants. Our team is committed to troubleshooting and maintaining strong relationships with our customers. Between our technical service team, engineers and sales team, we spent numerous hours and late nights visiting our customers’ processing facilities. Throughout these visits, we’ve identified some common issues with conveyor belting, and how to address these issues.
Sharing this knowledge is part of achieving our goal to educate our customers on ways to help increase the life of their conveyor belts. Throughout maintenance training presentations we’ve been able to communicate many of these issues. In this blog post, you can learn a few of the things you can do to extend the life of your conveyor belt.
The Flat-Flex wire belt is a low tension system meaning you only need enough tension to properly engage the sprockets. There are no technical calculations for how much tension to use, however, we often refer to the correct tension as “finger tight” providing you with enough slack that you can slightly pinch the belt. Too much tension in the belt circuit can cause numerous issues that decrease the life of your conveyor belt; too much tension can pull the belt apart over time. The key takeaway is to never to overtighten a Flat-Flex conveyor belt, it only requires enough tension to engage the sprockets.
There should always be clearance between the z-bends and the drive sprockets or any component on the belt circuit. Remember, the strength of every wire mesh conveyor belt lies within the z-bends so you don’t want any component “rubbing” against a z-bend which will cause premature wear. Any contact between components and the z-bends will fatigue the belt and will over time result in damage to the belt and the components. There should always be at least 1/8 of an inch to 3/16 of an inch clearance between the components and the z-bends of your wire conveyor belt.
Improper sprocket alignment and configuration is one of the most common problems we see with conveyor units. There should never be sprockets in every space across the width of the belt. If you have a drive sprocket in every space across the width of the belt, you will cause friction on the belt wire strands because you are driving two separate wire strands. If you follow across the belt, you’ll notice that every other space is a different strand of wire offset by a wire diameter. The drive sprocket teeth must be perfectly aligned so that they all pull together smoothly to avoid stress overload on the individual wire strands. That is why we educate our customers to only use drive sprockets in every other odd space across the width of the wire mesh conveyor belt. You should also always use a blank on the outside edge spaces of the wire belt in place of a drive component. Remember, the most effective way to ensure proper alignment is to use a keyed shaft.
In the demanding environment of food processing linear freezer applications, Eye-Flex® offers unparalleled performance. Its superior material suitability, smooth operation in low temperatures, gentle product handling, ease of maintenance and seamless integration make it the best choice for ensuring the success of your freezing processes. With many options and configurations, Eye-Flex® conveyor belts can be custom designed to meet your specific requirements, delivering the reliability, efficiency and durability that your facility needs.
The best prevention against belt breakage and failure is product knowledge. The more educated your team is about equipment and products, the less belt breakage you will experience. Many times, the solution to conveyor belt issues is a simple adjustment to your conveyor circuit. Always check for Interferences with the belt and ensure that the belt is properly installed. Communication and education could be the difference between hours of downtime and efficiently running your production line.
If you have any questions or would like to find out more, please feel free to contact us today at Wire Belt Company of America. We look forward to hearing from you.
We also post new blogs each month, highlighting a range of topics such as different products, maintenance tips and much more, so be sure to come back soon.
Phone: (603) 644-2500
Email: sales@wirebelt.com
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