How to cut conveyor belt?

dex3361 · Feb 28, 2009

The demolition saw that I tried had an abrassive blade and it didnt work so well. It smoked and was grabby on the rubber I would be careful trying an abrasive blade
(this coming from the guy that cuts his metal free mine belting with a chain saw)

tallyho8 · Feb 28, 2009

Today I tried to cut a scrap piece with my old chain saw with a blade that wasn't too sharp. I got a little smoke, the belt and chain heated up a lot and the chain got so loose I had to stop. I cut about 2 inches.

I think I have to keep it wet down as I cut with water or a lube such as diesel. I am going to sharpen my blade tomorrow, tighten it and get my wife to spray the belt as I am cutting it and see if that works. I'm also going to get that jigsaw blade with the knife edge and try it.

The photo is the belt in my barn used as floor mat and showing the small strip I have to cut to finish the job. It's actually 66 feet long because I have it extended out both ends of my barn about 3 feet.

Willl · Feb 28, 2009

Redbug said:
do they sell cut off blades that would fit a 4 inch angle grinder?

Yes.

But they won't do well on his belts.

J_J · Mar 1, 2009

tallyho8 said:
Today I tried to cut a scrap piece with my old chain saw with a blade that wasn't too sharp. I got a little smoke, the belt and chain heated up a lot and the chain got so loose I had to stop. I cut about 2 inches. I think I have to keep it wet down as I cut with water or a lube such as diesel. I am going to sharpen my blade tomorrow, tighten it and get my wife to spray the belt as I am cutting it and see if that works. I'm also going to get that jigsaw blade with the knife edge and try it.

The photo is the belt in my barn used as floor mat and showing the small strip I have to cut to finish the job. It's actually 66 feet long because I have it extended out both ends of my barn about 3 feet.

Have you tried the battery powered skill saws with a knife edge blade. Spray the cut line with water and cut away. A meat slicer blade might work.

2manyrocks · Mar 1, 2009

If the blade sharpened recip blade doesn't doesn't work, I'm thinking along the same lines JJ is suggesting. Unfortunately, I can't think of where you'd find a cutting blade like this.

When we used to cut vinyl siding, we'd take a fine tooth plywood cutting circular saw blade and put it in a circular saw backwards, and maybe that would work. It would be an experiment because I flatly don't know if it would work. However, I've sawed out holes in tires to make them drain water with a fine tooth holesaw, and that gives me some hope that a fine tooth circular saw blade might work.

J_J · Mar 1, 2009

2manyrocks said:
If the blade sharpened recip blade doesn't doesn't work, I'm thinking along the same lines JJ is suggesting. Unfortunately, I can't think of where you'd find a cutting blade like this.

When we used to cut vinyl siding, we'd take a fine tooth plywood cutting circular saw blade and put it in a circular saw backwards, and maybe that would work. It would be an experiment because I flatly don't know if it would work. However, I've sawed out holes in tires to make them drain water with a fine tooth holesaw, and that gives me some hope that a fine tooth circular saw blade might work.

Install an old plywood blade in the skill saw, and turn it on. and have someone use a 4 1/2 angle grinder to sharpen the blade to a knife edge. While you are cutting , spray the rubber with water.

studor · Mar 1, 2009

Have you tried a skill saw with a carbide blade turned backwards? Cuts aluminum, might just work on rubber -- just a thought -Like 2manyrocks suggested the blade backwards is not aggressive but does cut a lot of materials without burning. The other thing that would probably work is the horrible freight fein multi tool knockoff---On sale for $50
regards

2manyrocks · Mar 1, 2009

HF? Has desperation truly set in? Are we stranded on a deserted island with only HF?

PILOON · Mar 1, 2009

As a lubricant, try liquid dish detergant.
Problem is that rubber wants to grab the blade and that creates heat.

Cutting horse stall matts once using jig saw and liquid soap.
It worked best of all attempted methods, however I forget what blades I used but I recall trying many 'til I did find one that worked better than the others.
I suspect that it was about a 6TPI.

I do know that hydraulic hoses are cut using a 'toothless' friction blade, sort of a very sharp disk.

Negligence · Mar 2, 2009

I laid conveyor belt down in our barn. About 3/4" thick, very tough, heavy material. I picked it up from a quarry operation where they used it to get rocks/etc out.

I sprayed the mat down with WD-40 first where we wanted to cut, then took a razor blade, scored it a couple times and it cut easily. It was actually easy.

You can also use a reciprocating saw.