Storing, handling and installing a new belt
How a belt roll should be stored, lifted, threaded and tensioned so that the damage does not start before the belt runs.
Storage
- Store rolls upright in the factory packing in a cool, dry building out of sunlight. Between about 4 and 32 °C is the safe range.
- If the roll can hang from a tube or bar, suspend it. If not, keep it on a dry surface and turn it 90 degrees about every 6 months, in the direction it was wound.
- Very heavy rolls, over about 25 tonnes, should be turned to avoid flat spots from cold flow.
- Cover a roll stored outdoors with a tarp or dark plastic. Sun, rain and ozone harm the rubber covers.
- Never lay a roll flat on its side on the ground, and never put weight on one edge. Moisture can reach the fabric, and the belt can stretch or bow.
Handling the roll
Rolls should be rolled only in the direction that keeps the outer wrap tight, never the other way, which loosens and telescopes the roll. Do not drop rolls from trucks or railcars. Lift with a square bar through the core and a spreader bar so slings do not crush the belt edges. If the outer turn of a long-stored roll is hardened or cracked, remove it before cutting for the splice.
Threading the belt
- Mount the roll on a shaft or stand so the belt leaves from the top of the roll when it is pulled onto the carrying idlers, and from the bottom when it is pulled onto the return idlers.
- Where headroom is short, such as in a mine, the belt can be pulled off and laid in large loops. Keep the bends wide, support the ends and never put weight on the loops.
- Pull the belt with a clamp across its full width. Do not cut holes or ears in the belt end to tie a rope to.
- On slopes of about 12 degrees or more, brake the roll and clamp the belt on the structure, with further clamps about every 300 m on long slopes.
- Station people along the route to free the belt from the structure as it is pulled on. For a cut-and-replace, the new belt can be spliced to the old one and pulled in behind it.
- Make the final splice at the bottom of a slope if possible, where the needed splicing tension is lowest.
Slit belts and steel cord
Textile belts slit from a wide slab at the factory should be joined with the cut edges on the same side of the conveyor. The factory marks that edge. For steel-cord belts, string the rolls in the same order as they were made, which keeps side travel small.