In your use of a conveyor system, are your conveyor belts always wearing out? Are you wondering what the issue could be? More often than not, the answer to lengthening the life span of your equipment is proper maintenance. Knowing how to properly maintain your conveyor belts will help mitigate wear and tear, and it will allow you to save on repair and replacement costs. This article will share maintenance tips that will help ensure your conveyor belts serve you efficiently.
With that said, you might want to consider doing the following.
- Understand The Working Mechanisms
The first step in learning how to maintain your conveyor belt is to understand how it works. Figure out which piece does what, its components, and the whole operating system. You can discover here, for instance, different parts that are used in the makeup of a conveyor belt.
With this knowledge, you’ll be able to more easily figure out when things aren’t working right. You will also know what to check or repair depending on the problem. This eases the maintenance process for you.
Also, you may want to consider studying your conveyor belt’s manual. Most of these manuals contain care instructions, including what needs to be changed, when it needs to be changed, and the procedure. The manual will also indicate the spare parts included, as well as specifications of the parts that might need replacement. This information will help ensure you use the right equipment for your conveyor belt model, thus guaranteeing that it works efficiently.
- Use It Appropriately
Different types of conveyor belts are manufactured differently in terms of the performance expected of them. They differ in the type of products they’re meant to carry, the weight they can bear, and the speed at which they operate.
Therefore, if you purchase a belt to serve a certain purpose, refrain from using it to meet a different need than the one it’s meant for. You might end up straining the conveyor belt, which will lead to faster wear and tear. Also, it might run inefficiently, slowing down your operations.
- Store Spare Conveyor Belts Appropriately
As a proper practice, you should always have spare conveyor belts on hand, should your current one malfunction. However, there’s a possibility that the spare belt might not perform efficiently, especially if you stored it in the wrong way.
The major conditions to look out for in storage are temperature, moisture, contamination, and light. If your spare conveyor belt absorbs moisture, its material will weaken, which increases the chances of rapid wear and tear, especially if you subject it to too much pressure in your operations. To avoid this, you should ensure your storage area is conducive for maintaining the proper condition of your spare conveyor belts.
- Clean It Regularly
Cleaning is an essential maintenance technique that doesn’t require much effort. The frequency of the task depends on the conveyor belt’s use. If it’s meant to handle food, you need to clean it daily to maintain hygiene standards and avoid contaminating the food. For non-food products, depending on how quickly the conveyor belt accumulates dirt, you can clean it once or twice a week.
When you clean the conveyor belt, make sure to loosen it so you can get access to its underside. This is a surface that some cleaners forget to take care of. Forgetting to clean the underside of the conveyor belt can reduce its efficiency, as the dirt can accumulate, to the point of it getting heavy. The buildup will add to the weight of the conveyor belt, which may reduce its carrying capacity. This will affect its workload, as you could be overloading it unknowingly.
You can easily find cleaning products meant to clean conveyor belts in your local store. Just be sure to choose the right one, as there are some that might damage the quality of your conveyor belt, such as corrosive cleaning products.
- Maintain Your Conveyor System
The efficient working of your conveyor belt is also dependent on the condition of your conveyor system as a whole. The inefficiency of one will lead to the inefficiency of the other. Therefore, prioritize the maintenance of your conveyor system as well. In particular, make it a point to check its pulleys and moving parts constantly. Ensure that they are well-lubricated and that all loose components are tightened.
- Practice Preventive Maintenance
Prevention is better than cure, and you should incorporate the same concept in maintaining your conveyor belt. Schedule maintenance checks to be performed periodically, every two weeks or every month. To ensure that the process is done thoroughly, make a checklist of what you need to inspect. This way, you won’t leave out any part pending an inspection.
You may also want to consider performing daily inspections for the minor parts that ensure the smooth running of your operations. This could be lubrication, the tension of the belt, and its tracking. Try to make it a habit to perform these checks before starting work. This eliminates the possibility of unexpected breakdowns that might lead to downtime in your business.
By practicing preventive maintenance, you can identify issues right away and rectify them before they cause extensive damage.
Conclusion
Your conveyor belt is what carries your products from point A to B. To maintain the efficiency of your operations, it’s important that your conveyor belt operates smoothly and without problems. To ensure this, consider implementing the tips and practices given in this article. This will help increase the life span of your conveyor belt, thus reducing the chances of interruptions to your operations.
