How to cut conveyor belt?

[tallyho8]

I have used conveyor belt from grain elevators as flooring in my barns and sheds for many years now and have been very satisfied with the durability and economy of these belts.

These come in 3 common thicknesses, 1/4", 1/2" and 3/4". The 1/4" is about 3 times as thick and tough as the sidewalls on a truck tire and the 3/4" is indestructible and very tough and hard to cut. I have the 3/4" belt. It is 4 1/2' wide. When I cut it into shorter lengths and only have to cut 4 1/2' I use a razor knife with a new blade constantly dipped in diesel for lubrication and it usually takes me about 15 minutes to cut it exerting as much pressure on the blade as possible. By the time I make one cut I am worn out and need a long rest.

My problem comes in where I am trying to cover the floor of the alleyway of my barn which is 16' wide and 60' long. Three strips are 13 1/2' wide and then I need a strip 2 1/2' wide. This means I have to rip a piece 60' long. This is much harder to do than it sounds. Between cutting times and rest and recuperation time for my aching muscles, it would take me at least a week to accomplish plus about 15 utility knife blades and probably 2 or 3 sliced fingers.

I have never found a power saw that would cut this material. Has anyone ever found an easier way to cut this belting?

 

[funny farmer]

Are you saying a regular skill saw blade wouldn't work? Maybe an abrasive one for metal, but then it might get gummed up. A sawsall blade made for wood and metal may work, you just have to find a way to hold the belting so it doesn't move up and down with the blade. If you can't get any of these to work, I have a buddy that used to have his own buisiness splicing belts, I could call him and find out the eaiest way.

 

[SimS]

Tallyho8;

Commerical belt slitters use a round knife that rolls while cutting. A circular blade may be hard to find and then you would have to fab up a contraption to drag the belt through/under the blade. You mentioned a power saw. Have you already tried ripping with a table saw or Sawsall? Have you thought about powered sheet metal shears or an open throat metal shear at a local sheet metal shop? Those belts are tough and hard to handle. Sorry I don't have any good solutions. Good Luck

SimS

 

[tallyho8]

A sawzall, jigsaw or circular saw just gums up and burns up the blade without even cutting one inch. As a 60' length weighs about 1200 pounds it is not the easiest thing to transport around to shops to see if they can cut it. You can not bring it to a machine, you must bring the machine to it.

SimS
"Commerical belt slitters use a round knife that rolls while cutting"
This sounds sort of like a supersize pizza cutter.
I wonder if they make any kind of razor blade that would fit a circular saw and it would probably have to be lubricated while cutting.

 

[tallyho8]

Tallyho8;
Have you thought about powered sheet metal shears? SimS

I have never seen powered sheet metal shears. Could these easily cut a large truck tire in half? If so, they might be able to do it.

 

[John D]

Just thinking here but I wounder if you could cut them to 8-10ft and have a sheet metal shop shear them with a break shear.

 

[2manyrocks]

A contractor I know sharpens recip saw blades to an edge to cut rolls of landscape fabric. Maybe it would work on conveyor belt?

How much does it typically cost to get used conveyor belts?

 

[L3650]

A sawzall, jigsaw or circular saw just gums up and burns up the blade without even cutting one inch.

Try using a jigsaw blade designed for cutting plastic. I have cut many conveyor belts from rock quarries withoout issue. There are different types of jigsaw blades for cutting many different materials. The ones I have found that work are very aggressive in cutting and produce rubber shavings about 1/16 inch wide and 1/2 inch long. They have never gummed up or burned. I would suggest trying different brands and designs. Cutting 60 inches of conveyor belt should take about 2 minutes after setting up on a couple of sawhorses.

 

[LBrown59]

I've had good success with sandwiching things like pickup bed mats between pieces of scrap 1/4'' plywood , paneling or osb and sawing through the whole works with a metal cutting blade in a jig saw or a saws all.

 

[tallyho8]

Just thinking here but I wounder if you could cut them to 8-10ft and have a sheet metal shop shear them with a break shear.

Cutting them into small pieces would greatly reduce their effectiveness as a smooth tough floor as seamless as possible and I truly doubt that a sheetmetal brake could cut them. They are thicker and much tougher than the threads on an 18 wheeler tire. Thanks for the suggestion.

A contractor I know sharpens recip saw blades to an edge to cut rolls of landscape fabric. Maybe it would work on conveyor belt? How much does it typically cost to get used conveyor belts?

I might have to at least try that.
I get it for free because I know the right person but there are usually some grain elevators that sell it for $1 a foot when they replace their belts.

Try using a jigsaw blade designed for cutting plastic. I have cut many conveyor belts from rock quarries withoout issue. There are different types of jigsaw blades for cutting many different materials. The ones I have found that work are very aggressive in cutting and produce rubber shavings about 1/16 inch wide and 1/2 inch long. They have never gummed up or burned. I would suggest trying different brands and designs. Cutting 60 inches of conveyor belt should take about 2 minutes after setting up on a couple of sawhorses.

I have tried blades with very fine teeth to very coarse teeth with no success. Maybe you could give me a better description of the blades you are talking about. I need to cut 60 feet of belt not 60 inches. Even 60 inches of this belt would weigh about 200 pounds and be hard to get up on sawhorses but I could cut it on the ground with 4x4s under it.

This is extremely tough belt. I have used a piece as a back up for my firing range. A 22 long rifle or a 38 does not even leave a mark on it. I read where they use lazers to cut some of these belts but they only cut ones up to 1/8 inch thick and these are 3/4.

 

[JohnDeere4300]

I have never seen powered sheet metal shears. Could these easily cut a large truck tire in half? If so, they might be able to do it.

When i worked underground in the mines we would cut a lot of belt if we had a belt break, and needed to make a new splice,

We used a regular utility-knife for years, we would take the belt clamp lay it on the belt and take the knife and make a cut but it wouldn't go all the way through, and the clamp was so we had a straight cut.
But you could use a board if you needed a straight cut.


After we had the first cut, 2 guys would fold the belt and one would take the knife and keep going over the cut, with the first cut and the belt folded it made it very easy, even with a dull blade.

Then they came out with a electric belt knife just for the coal mines.


*I will try to post a picture here in a hour or two showing a piece of belt with a cut and it folded if it will show up*

 

[Bignoles]

I looked at McMaster-Carr
they have a jigsaw blade that is for leather and rubber
part #4131A17
description says the blade has a knife edge, its a thought but may still take 3 days and who knows how many blades

 

[tallyho8]

When i worked underground in the mines we would cut a lot of belt if we had a belt break, and needed to make a new splice,

We used a regular utility-knife for years, we would take the belt clamp lay it on the belt and take the knife and make a cut but it wouldn't go all the way through, and the clamp was so we had a straight cut.
But you could use a board if you needed a straight cut.


After we had the first cut, 2 guys would fold the belt and one would take the knife and keep going over the cut, with the first cut and the belt folded it made it very easy, even with a dull blade.

Then they came out with a electric belt knife just for the coal mines.


*I will try to post a picture here in a hour or two showing a piece of belt with a cut and it folded if it will show up*

This is similar to the way that I cut the belts now when I am just cutting across them 4 1/2 feet. I put a metal staight edge down and hold it in place with vicegrips on each end and put a crosstie under the belt so it will fold back as it is cut. This is pretty easy with the 1/4 " belt that most places use and not too difficult with the 1/2" belt but still pretty hard with the 3/4" belt.

When cutting the belt lengthwise for 60 feet, I have no way to hold a straightedge in place and must work freestyle. Do you have a photo of the electric belt knife?

Right now it seems like the easiest thing to do is to make my barn 2 feet wider so I can use a whole belt. Either that or hire someone to cut it for me.

 

[tallyho8]

I looked at McMaster-Carr
they have a jigsaw blade that is for leather and rubber
part #4131A17
description says the blade has a knife edge, its a thought but may still take 3 days and who knows how many blades

I'd like to try those. Too bad they only come in t-shank and my saw uses a u-shank. I'll have to try sharpening one of my blades to a knife edge and try it.

 

[JohnDeere4300]

This is similar to the way that I cut the belts now when I am just cutting across them 4 1/2 feet. I put a metal staight edge down and hold it in place with vicegrips on each end and put a crosstie under the belt so it will fold back as it is cut. This is pretty easy with the 1/4 " belt that most places use and not too difficult with the 1/2" belt but still pretty hard with the 3/4" belt.

When cutting the belt lengthwise for 60 feet, I have no way to hold a straightedge in place and must work freestyle. Do you have a photo of the electric belt knife?

Right now it seems like the easiest thing to do is to make my barn 2 feet wider so I can use a whole belt. Either that or hire someone to cut it for me.

No i don't have a picture of the belt knife.

But i remember that it only cuts straight across.

The reason the mines went with it was on the 3/4 in. belt, and to hurry up with break downs.

I didn't like the 3/4in. in the mines, when we had a belt slip it would
take longer to burn through and smoke the place up.

 

[SimS]

Tallyho8;

I've been thinking about your problem. What about a hot knife? Back in the day we used to groove tires with a hot knife and if you were not careful you could cut through the cords of the tire. Or maybe something like the hot metal bar that the box stores have to cut nylon rope. I would be a smoky job but it might work. I just don't know if the hot knives have enough umph to cut 3/4" inch belt. In my last post I also mentioned a throatless shear. Would something like this work? It would be portable. Good Luck SimS

 

[dex3361]

I use mine belt to put down on the ground to put my 3 point equipment on. I dont use the kind with metal wire in it. I cut the belt with a chain saw. Laugh if you like but I had a lot of it to cut and I tried the utility knife and I can cut it with a chain saw like a knife through hot butter. If you are cutting a piece length wise roll it up and clamp it on the sides keeping the clamps well out of the way of the saw kerf. Then cut it like you would a log. It has worked well for me.You might try it on a test piece first and see how it works for you.

 

[DanD78]

I cut the rubber belt I use with a 7 1/4" skill saw with a carbide tooth combination blade. I have even cut it on my table saw for smaller work. I am cutting 36 wide by 1/2 thick with layers of what looks like nylon in the mix. I started out with a roll that was about 5' tall about 10 years ago. You are right the stuff is heavy. I clamp two pairs of Vice-Grips on the end to drag short chunks around.

Dan

 

[dex3361]

I am usually starting with rolls that are 36" rolls and 100' long. They weigh probably 1000# (thats a guess).

 

[JohnDeere4300]

I am usually starting with rolls that are 36" rolls and 100' long. They weigh probably 1000# (thats a guess).

I guess when you use a chain saw it smokes a lot and slings rubber everywhere.

I hadn't really thought about using a chain saw.

I have family that lives in Beckley and Beaver WV.

Me and my brother used to go and trout fish the cherry river.