should be in the CONVEYOR FORUMS....with NORDELL and the experts over there.

George ■

But, since you are here, maybe we can give some advice.

You have not stated the specifications of the replacement, only that it might not be the whole belt.

You have not given the belt strength and cover gauges = thickness. These matter when looking a large roll/reel sizes.

With belt replacements less than 500 m you will need a motorized winder or tractor to pull old belt off, and control payout of loaded new belt reel with brake regulation on winder spooling shaft. This is for safety, when unreel new belt that would be mechanically fastened to belt presently in use. Old damaged belt would then be pulled out of service as new belt is introduced. Once the damaged section is removed the new and existing belts are spliced. Brake is need to control reel inertia.

Going beyond 500 m to much larger replacements, the belt is typically placed alongside the existing conveyor in repeated straight lengths of +/-100 or more meters, each successive section is placed on top of the prior length. At each change of direction a 400-600 diameter plastic or metal pipe is placed within the loop, across the belt width, to control the reverse bending and protect the belt tensile member from becoming kinked.

These piled layers continue for each reel with appropriate splicing of each new reel to the last reel in the pile. At the Henderson Mine in Colorado, 20,000 m was installed in this manner. The pile was placed in successive piles about one meter high, guided by pipes driven into the ground for stabilizing the piles,, either side of the stack, in about 100 m lengths/stack. Many stacks were formed. When the conveyor structure was completed, the already spliced belt was threaded, top and bottom, into the 10 km tunnel in a few lengths.

Remember to apply talc between layers to reduce belt-to-belt friction when pulling each layer off. Take care of the high belt surface temperature, that later may have a large contraction during cooling.

You must place bend pulleys in the appropriate and strategic location to guide the belt along a path from the ground to conveyor idler support system. A small tractor is often used to pull the belt off the stack, using cables and block and tackle rigging pulling in about every 500 to 1000 m lengths (varies with installation complexity), and then moving the rigging for the next pull. ■

Originally Posted by George Baker

should be in the CONVEYOR FORUMS....with NORDELL and the experts over there.

George

Moved to proper forum. Thanks George. I thought as a forum moderator you had the ability to move posts - maybe Reinhard needs to check on that for you. ■

Dear Sir

We would be pleased to quote on your requirement. We have a few questions and ask that you please email us directly.

Thanks and best regards,

Al Goodmundson

Email norsequip@sasktel.net

Phone Canada (306)-664-7260 ■

Basically it is totally impractical to design a belt winder for 14KM of belt. Alcoa in Western Australia change out their overland belts of similar dimensions in one hit by flaking a completed belt judiciously positioned to the belt needing change out and then use the old belt to drag on the new using winches and mobile equipment. They have refined this technique over many years and now have it, I believe, down to a pretty fine art with minimal down time to their overland belts. The splice companies they use are either Metso or Sandvik (their West Australian operations) so if you want details I suggest you either contact these compamnies or Alcoa direct and see if they are prepared to share their experiences. I know Alcoa did publish a paper on their techniques over 10 years ago. Another company Belle Banne in Victoria Australia (not to be confused with the scraper manufacturer) also have done a lot of work in this area. Talk to Trevor Vuillermin.

Cheers

Colin Benjamin

Gulf Conveyor Systems Pty Ltd

www.conveyorsystemstechnology.com ■

Forget Belle Banne. I've been waiting for a response to an enquiry for large scale work/services for over 18 months.■