Rusmail Conveyor Archive News 15/09/03:

• See what Rusmail Conveyors are doing to help our clients solve their handling problems.

*Lift Conveyor Project

• As part of our last News update we briefly mentioned a lift conveyor project we have just started. We are pleased to report this has now been completed and installed. Here are some pictures of what we supplied:

• The end customer is one of Europe's largest vinyl floor covering producers. Their problem is to cost-effectively move the large rolls of wrapped vinyl material into tall stillages for onward transfer within their operational process. The rolls exit their wrapping machine at working height. The top of the stillages, however, in which the rolls are collected are approx. 500 mm above this level. We were asked, therefore, to design a conveyor unit that could be automatically raised and lowered approx. Half a metre and also could be tilted in either direction in the full-height position to tip the rolls off the conveyor into the appropriate stillage. We used pneumatic cylinders, two large units for the lifting and four small units, two either side, for the tilting operation. The conveyor itself is 5 m long x 450 mm wide, one of our QD style powered belt conveyors, using an integral drum drive motor.

• The unit was partially assembled and tested in our works and fully assembled and run tested at site. Because the plastic wrapping around the rolls is not always tight, 'bunching' of the plastic material stopped some of the rolls from rolling off the conveyor at the original tilt angle. The angle has now been increased and the unit is operating very successfully.

*Special Pulley Type Belt Conveyor

• Our second unusual application required a conveyor to move electric blankets as part of an electrical continuity testing operation. We have just received a repeat order for this special pulley type belt conveyor. It is 2,000 mm wide and 1,200 mm long with six 20 mm diameter pulley belts driven off a common drive shaft using a 0.37 kW motor. The blankets are moved at 15 m/minute. The conveyor normally 'pulls' the blankets through the electrical test unit as part of the quality assurance checks, although the conveyor is designed to be reversible. More details will follow in our next News Update.

*Mezzanine Floors and Tight Angles:

• We have just installed a conveyor system for a major catering supplies company in their central warehouse. Orders received are rapidly processed, and picked items are handled in plastic boxes. The boxes are moved by the conveyor system to a high-level mezzanine floor via a powered belt and roller line and then onto a long decline gravity roller section. A second line moves boxes down to an intermediate mezzanine floor via a combination of gravity and powered roller and powered belt conveyors. Each line has its own set of controls. The following pictures illustrate the system installed, which on the 'up' line had to be fitted into a very confined space with special attention being given to incline angles and transfers.

*Maintenance & Spares:

• Spare Parts - Depending on how critical your conveyor(s) are to your production operations, it may be worthwhile purchasing regular maintenance spares. We recently supplied a small conveyor, which is a critical item - if it fails; the whole production stops and spares had been overlooked at the order stage. Now it has been appreciated how critical this conveyor is, a set of maintenance spares, including belt, integral drive motor etc. have been ordered. Don't get caught out - plan ahead!

• These are further examples of how we may be able to help you with your particular handling problems - please contact us with your enquiries by phone, fax or e-mail.