Hi, I'm Kevin. I'm new to this forum but nearly 30 years in bulk materials handling, design/build. I'd just like some opinions about a couple simple matters.

Having started in this business on drafting boards, I was taught, fresh out of college, by degreed and non-degreed individuals. I owe so much to these people who taught me the conventions, rules-of-thumb, empirical calculations and many things materials handling. I still have cut sheets and tables and "cook book" calculation sheets from these people and everyone who's ever worked for me since has an almost duplicate of my "design binder" because I've passed on this knowledge.

One thing I was told is to dimension the INSIDE of chutes. The inside dimension is most important because, as materials handling goes, we care about the flow-ability, the throat through which lumps must pass, etc. The outside, unless were placing a chute in a tight area, has to do with rigidity, wear resistance, and maybe damage at points of impingement. The outside is secondary. It seems that almost all drawings of chutes I have seen or used which were produced by materials handling people across the US show indie chute dimensions. Please tell me your opinions regarding this very simple dimensioning convention.

Second thing is that I would almost never dimension vertically to the horizontal center of a pulley. I almost always dimension to the top of the pulleys where the pulley WP is established. A dimension along the conveyor's length is of interest - center/center of pulleys. But even a dimension of total Lift is from tail pulley WP to head pulley WP. Similar to the chutes, being a materials handling person, I'm interested in the beltline primarily because I'm interested in the material and the pulley centerline is one step away from the material. So dimensions to the pulley centerlines reference to the pulley support or to the mounting of the pulley. As and example, a dimension from grade up to the centerline of a head pulley or tail pulley looks odd. I have used new dwgs of conveyors and ancient dwgs during retrofit projects. I rarely have seen dimensions to centers of pulleys. Please tell me your opinion of this dimensioning convention.

Thanks in advance. ■