If you own a production plant, you must ensure that your conveyor belts are running as smoothly as possible. From small food packets to high-end cars, conveyor belts carry it all. No production house can run without these simple yet efficient machines. Though conveyor belts are very simple and easy to use, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t look after their maintenance. In fact, you should look after their maintenance all the more so that it can save you from a lot of undue costs during the time of failure. You must ensure proper care of conveyor belts, not only for the long-life of a conveyor system but to avoid errors in day-to-day operations. Proper care will also reduce the risk of injury to both goods and human life and improve the entire belt system’s reliability and accuracy. To reduce costs, save time, and keep an operation running efficiently, follow these maintenance tips.
HIRE A MAINTENANCE TECHNICIAN
Let’s put it this way when you fall sick, would you want to go to a good doctor or go to a pharmacist and buy any medicine that he gives you? The answer is always going to be former. This is because a good doctor has studied and knows all the nitty-gritty of your sickness. Similarly, a sound technician is aware of the belt’s nuts and bolts and can prevent the small problems from becoming big. Most of the time, companies tend to hire a technician with low skills and underpay. This only leads to lost sales and unhappy customers. Hence always hire a technician who can tell you which pulley needs to be adjusted and what part of the belt will have to be trained.
CHECK THE LOAD LEVELS
A lot of times, the problem of too much load goes unnoticed. Conveyor belts are overloaded many times, especially in small-scale industries. Since the budget is low, these industries try to get the most of every run; this creates stress on the conveyor belt, and production gets affected. The overload leads to wear-and-tear of the conveyor belt. Ensure always checking the load levels; you can prevent grinding and extra work simply by reducing the load. Ask your conveyor belt supplier to help you understand the recommended load level for your particular conveyor belt.
LUBRICATION AND CLEANLINESS
You must run a regular inspection to find debris or grounded particles to make it to the internals and ruin the whole belt. Debris or other particles can ruin the bearings and pulleys by clogging them. This buildup of waste and particles can introduce some slack to the tracking of the belt. Clean the debris and other particles as and when you find them. Just like cleanliness, lubrication is important too. If you have an automated conveyor belt system, then you need not worry because they take care of lubrication automatically but if you are using a more straightforward approach, then make sure that the components are well lubricated.
STAY ALERT
Preventive maintenance of the conveyor belt is easy if you stay alert. You don’t need to own X-Ray machines to check the internal moving parts. You need to look for visible marks, fracture points, misalignment, or an uncanny sound. If you can observe this daily, you will be able to prevent potential accidents. So stay alert, make a checklist and perform this test before any operation. Preventive maintenance of conveyor belts can be a daunting job, but if you can take care of it at the right time, you can prevent accidents and extend the life of your conveyor belt.
