How to cut conveyor belt?

[J_J]

Yes, I use diesel for the lubricant. It seems to work better than water or soap. I haven't tried your stationary blade idea. It seems like it would be rather hard to anchor a blade well enough to pull against it with a tractor to cut this belt.

What if you buried an 8 X 8 post in the ground and mounted two pieces of 1/4 in , 3 X 3 angle, on top of the 8 X 8, with a 7 in sharpened blade in between, and a wedge. Mount the blade so tip is below the surface of the wood. IE, cut a slot for the blade. If you then built a frame that the mat could slide into and hit the blade at your mark, maybe, just maybe.

 

[Egon]

Remember those old steel wheeled tractors where the front wheel had the center steel rib?

Get one of those and sharpen the center rib, put lots of weight on it and drive down the belt to cut it!

 

[2manyrocks]

I wonder what it is about conveyor belt that a razor knife cuts it better than a circular saw sharpened to a knife edge?

They have those rolling razor cutters that ladies cut fabric with. Usually they put the material on a cutting mat and then roll the razor cutter over the fabric.

 

[schmism]

its simple really, 125w CO2 laser or water jet cutter will slice right through it like a hot knife through butter.

 

[tallyho8]

its simple really, 125w CO2 laser or water jet cutter will slice right through it like a hot knife through butter.

I noticed that the belt manufacturers sold lasers to cut the belts with but they only cut belts up to 1/4" thick.

 

[aczlan]

I noticed that the belt manufacturers sold lasers to cut the belts with but they only cut belts up to 1/4" thick.

There is probably a limit on how much power a laser can put out without you having to be certified to operate it. Thus they cant sell a more powerful laser (to cut heavier belts) without the right documentation from you, and they may not even sell it as they might not want to be through the hassle of getting certified for such a thing (which has very limited marketability).

Aaron Z

 

[2manyrocks]

Well how did they used to cut conveyor belts before lazers?

 

[tallyho8]

Maybe I'll have to contact the Discovery Channel and ask them to put conveyor belts on "How do they make it"?

 

[Maimintechnology]

I stumbled upon this thread today. We manufacture a round knife machine that would cut this conveyor easily. If you visit our website at Maimin Technology and click the "cutting machines" tab, take a look at the Cyclone machine. This machine was designed for this type of application.

 

[tallyho8]

I stumbled upon this thread today. We manufacture a round knife machine that would cut this conveyor easily. If you visit our website at Maimin Technology and click the "cutting machines" tab, take a look at the Cyclone machine. This machine was designed for this type of application.

Thank you for the information. The Cyclone 59 looks like it would surely do the job and would probably be worth it to someone who does this for a living. However, $4000 for a cutter is a little more than I wanted to spend to use probably one time for the rest of my life.


Sure beats the heck out of any Harbor Freight tool I have ever seen. Nice to know that something is still made in America.

 

[newmanewman]

try this or some thing more modern from Flexco, a conveyor belt splice supplier.
here is the URL Alligator Conveyer Wide Belt Cutter 5 32" to 3 16" 20 300 | eBay
The cutter is for making cuts across the belt to accommodate splicing. I don't see why one could not jig up a straight edge to cut a belt lengthwise.

 

[tallyho8]

Welcome to TBN. Thanks for replying to this 5 year old thread. As that cutter only cuts belts up to 3/16" and mine is 4 times that thickness at 3/4", it would not be useful in this application.

 

[almaryholm]

I would have overlapped the length of the belt with the previous piece and driven LONG ring sank pole barn nails through both layers along the overlap area to anchor and forgot the whole cutting idea ....

 

[RoMad]

Since were replying to an old thread, I will tell you how I cut 1/2" x 54" belt. I mark it with a drywall square and a piece of soapstone. I have an old sheet clamp that I put beside the mark and then I hook the clamp to my front end loader and pick up that side of the belt about 2 feet off the ground. I then put my foot on the other side of the mark to add extra side pressure and then I cut down my soapstone mark with my cordless sawzall. It works best with two people so one person can stay on the tractor and pick up a little more as you cut across the belt. It cuts so easy you have to be careful not to go faster than you can follow the line.

 

[tallyho8]

I had tried a jig saw with coarse teeth and a sawzall with a razor type blade on it and both gummed up quickly. I'm guessing that maybe you used a sawzall with very coarse teeth and at a low speed?

 

[PILOON]

Once needing to cut box stall matts I tried just about everything: jigsaw, grinder, box knife, circular saw etc etc.
What I found to work best was to flop the matt over a 2 X 4 and use a sharp or new box blade knife and a guide (like gypsum 'T').
Laying over the 2 x 4 forced the cut to split open as the blade advanced reducing friction.
Quite honestly once set up cutting 3/4" rubber mattes was like slicing tomatoes.(or butter with a hot knife)

 

[Tor Arne]

Sandwich belt between two planks and cut in the middle of the plank with a circular saw or chain saw

 

[newmanewman]

try this or some thing more modern from Flexco, a conveyor belt splice supplier.
here is the URL Alligator Conveyer Wide Belt Cutter 5 32" to 3 16" 20 300 | eBay
The cutter is for making cuts across the belt to accommodate splicing. I don't see why one could not jig up a straight edge to cut a belt lengthwise.

The Ebay item has a small blade, but new blades capable of 1 1/8" and 1 9/16" belt are available as is a track/grooved base plate to run the cutter in for a straight cut, from Flexco
URL: Flexco - Alligator 300 Series Belt Cutter.
Just nail the plate to the belt and cut 5', then reposition and nail again and cut, ad infinitum.

 

[tallyho8]

Once needing to cut box stall matts I tried just about everything: jigsaw, grinder, box knife, circular saw etc etc.
What I found to work best was to flop the matt over a 2 X 4 and use a sharp or new box blade knife and a guide (like gypsum 'T').
Laying over the 2 x 4 forced the cut to split open as the blade advanced reducing friction.
Quite honestly once set up cutting 3/4" rubber mattes was like slicing tomatoes.(or butter with a hot knife)

This is the only way I have found that works (while lubricating the blade with diesel) without buying a very expensive machine, but I can't agree that it is as easy as slicing tomatoes.:confused2:

 

[RedNeckRacin]

I don't know so much about cutting the belt lengthwise, but in a long-wall coal mine we just used utility knives to make belt splices on the section and mainline belts on everything up to 60" or 66" belt. If we had time to plan for it, I think fennerdunlop makes a belt splicing knife that clamps down onto the belt and you spin the handle at one end and it draws a knife through the belt in one pass. This was at least 3/4" belting btw. WD-40 was only used as a lubricant to drive in the rivets. Good sharp blades is the only good advice I have! Maybe hire someone gullible to do it for you?