Conveyor belt clips cut costs
Plastic belt-conveyor rivet fasteners dramatically decrease downtime and save this manufacturing plant nearly $20,000 in overstock costs.
By Staff -- Modern Materials Handling, 6/1/1999
Our packaging conveyors always had the potential to become bottlenecks in the process," says Bert Scott, project engineer at the Dalbeattie plant of Caradon-Stelrad, a leading U.K. producer of pressed steel radiators located near the southwest coast of Scotland."It was a classic dilemma," says Scott. "We had to use endless belts with vulcanized joints instead of mechanical belt clips that could scratch the finish. But whenever a belt broke, we'd lose 8 hours because it took that long to open the conveyor, get a new belt fitted and running true, and put everything back together again. Replacing an endless belt was an extremely difficult job."
Because it took Caradon-Stelrad at least two weeks to receive a replacement belt, the company had to stock a spare for every belt in the plant. With 20 belt conveyors in a variety of lengths, almost $20,000 was routinely tied up in spare belts.
Production often continued when belts were down. This scenario often left 2,000 radiators crowding already tight floor space.
Scott learned of a non-metallic conveyor belt fastener, part of a system designed as an alternative to vulcanized endless belts. These fasteners were ideal for applications where metal clips cannot be used due to easily scratched products.
Molded of UV-resistant nylon, each segment consists of top and bottom plates approximately 24 mm wide, joined at one end by a pair of hinge loops. Molded into each upper plate are two rivets that align with holes in that segment's lower plate.
The hinged-plate clips are installed by first drilling holes in the belt end using a locating template. Open clip segments then are snapped into place across the width of the belt by inserting their molded rivets through the holes in the belt.
Each clip is then compressed into the belt end by a special installation tool. This action closes the clip, pushing its rivets through the matching holes in the lower plate.
When a row of clips has been installed on both belt ends, their opposing hinge loops are meshed and a nylon hinge pin is inserted. This locks the belt ends together into a hinged joint that runs around end pulleys as small as 38 mm in diameter.
With the new clips, only one engineer is needed to replace a broken belt and they can do so in about one hour. Caradon-Stelrad now stocks only one 164 ft roll of each of the two belt widths. This cuts stocking costs by two-thirds and requires less storage space.
Flexco
800-323-3444
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