Issues That Frequently Affect Conveyor Belts & Conveyor Belt Maintenance

If a conveyor belt breaks, it will affect the whole system. Activities that aren’t on the schedule cost money and slow down work. To avoid this, keep a close eye on your conveyor belts. If you check your belts often, you can find many problems before they get expensive. Even when diligent, parts and equipment break. When this happens, you must know how to deal with the problem.

You must know how to keep the belt conveyor system in good shape and fix common problems. This information will help keep conveyor belts running smoothly and stop them from breaking down when it’s not necessary.

Conveyor Belt Mistracking

This problem happens when the conveyor belt isn’t moving in the right direction. Tracking keeps the belt on the right path and ensures it’s in the right place. It’s important to ensure your system works well and gets the job done. When something goes wrong along this track, this is called backtracking. Mistracking might cause the belt to wear unevenly, which can cause many other problems on its own.

Seized Rollers

Steel is used to make most conveyor belts. Because of this structure, parts are strong and last a long time. When the wheels on a conveyor belt get stuck, they get sharp edges.

Sharp edges can damage the way the belt conveyor system works. They can throw off the path of the conveyor belt. This problem has many sides. First, people who work close to the conveyor belt are in danger. Second, it can damage products on a conveyor belt in a way that can’t be fixed.

Blockages

The main goal of any conveyor belt system is to move things quickly from one place to another. This is often done through a complex system of conveyors. So, it only makes sense that the whole system breaks down when this smooth travel is interrupted.

It’s way too easy to catch a package. When this happens, the next thing behind the first one gets caught, and the pile grows. It can cause the whole system to get clogged up and stuck.

Material Carryback

Blockages happen when packages get caught on sharp edges and keep other items from moving. Material carryback happens when things pile up on the belt itself. When you work with things like clay or mineral ores, they can leave behind small bits of waste. Even though it might not seem like much, this stuff will add up and build up under your belt, which will cause problems with your rollers and pulleys.

Belt Conveyor Maintenance Tips

When there are problems with a conveyor belt, you can fix them in many different ways. These fixes depend on the type of belt, your business, and how much space you have.

There are three ways to fix a seam in a conveyor belt:

Vulcanization

Vulcanization is a way to fix tears in your belt by using pressure and heat. It’s the best way to fix a belt and works for thermoplastic and thermoset rubber belts.

Metal fasteners:

This is the most common way to fix something because it’s quick and easy. You can sew your belt together with metal fasteners. Even though this is a quick fix, it is not as reliable and won’t last as long as vulcanization.

Cold curing

This method, called cold vulcanization, is often used to fix gouges or score on your belt. It uses a base compound and a curing agent to make cement applied like a paste. This type of repair is usually used when there is not enough room for standard vulcanization equipment at a job site.