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.

radioman · Mar 2, 2009

2manyrocks said:
HF? Has desperation truly set in? Are we stranded on a deserted island with only HF?

go with craftman saw then.

zzvyb6 · Mar 2, 2009

I've used a chainsaw to cut/rip steel reinforced belting. You need a ripper blade to shread out the kerf. Otherwise the chain will plug. I score the material first to guide the saw and use a friend to run a leaf blower to remove the chaff because it gets messy. Lots of crumbs. Best technique is to roll it up to the diameter of the saw and cut thru the roll instead of trying to cut 60 lineal feet. I donated my old Homelite 14" XL to this mission.

I use the same techique to remove tires from rims when the tire is rusted on and its just not worth the trouble of being careful about saving the carcass. I just cut the thing off. Sometimes I'll need to get out the torch to finish the bead so I don't hurt the pretty little shiney saw chain thingy.

tallyho8 · Mar 9, 2009

In the last week I have tried the chainsaw again, knife blades on a jigsaw and a plywood blade ground to an edge on a circular saw with no good results.

I figured that there is no easy way to cut this belt.

Finally I went to Lowe's and bought a good comfortable Cobalt razor knife and some of their titanium coated razor knife blades. I tested it ripping a 12 foot section of this belt using diesel for lubricant on the blade and it only took me about 30 minutes to cut it and I wasn't even worn out when I finished. The blade wasn't even dull after 12 feet. My regular blades are usually shot after 12 feet.

I figure I will cut my 65 foot belt this way, stopping for a rest after about every 12 feet. Maybe I can get it done in only two days.

Thanks to everyone for their suggestions. I believe that some of these belts are tougher than others and what works on some may not work on others.

2manyrocks · Mar 9, 2009

I'm sorry for my suggestions that didn't work.

tallyho8 · Mar 9, 2009

2manyrocks said:
I'm sorry for my suggestions that didn't work.

No need to be sorry. I asked for suggestions and appreciated all of them that I got. Some of them may work for others cutting a different composition belt than the one I have.

At least I gave my neighbor something to smile about. I thought he was going to bust out laughing when my chainsaw blade started smoking thick black smoke.

2manyrocks · Mar 9, 2009

Thank you.

shepherd · Mar 9, 2009

they make smooth saw blades for the skil saw to cut hydrualic(sp?) hoses that should work. go to the local company that makes hydrualic(sp?) and find out where they bought their blade

tallyho8 · Mar 10, 2009

It seems to me that the problem cutting it with a blade is that the cut does not open up allowing the blade to move freely. Instead it exerts hard pressure on each side of the blade causing high friction and overheating. If there was a way to pull the cut pieces apart, like I do when I'm ripping a 2x8 with my saw by putting a wedge in the cut area to pull it open as I cut, then a regular saw would probably work.

When you're trying to cut an object that weighs over 1000 pounds it is always much harder to control and maneuver than a little handheld object.

J_J · Mar 10, 2009

Did you put any liquid on the rubber as you cut.

Have you tried pulling the matt with a tractor against a stationary blade, with someone guiding it through the cut, with liquid on the cut. I am almost positive that rubber compounds cut better when wet. Put a wedge behind the wedge.

tallyho8 · Mar 10, 2009

J_J said:
Did you put any liquid on the rubber as you cut.

Have you tried pulling the matt with a tractor against a stationary blade, with someone guiding it through the cut, with liquid on the cut. I am almost positive that rubber compounds cut better when wet. Put a wedge behind the wedge.

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.