# First post. Conveyor Belt



## FuzzNut (Jan 30, 2021)

Hello friends

I read that I’m supposed to do a little introduction so here it goes 

I’m Andrew, AKA FuzzNut. I work at a coal power station in WV. I work in operations and went to school for power plant operations at YSU. I don’t do very much major mechanical work here, just very minor maintenance. They don’t allow ops to do much.. like barely even changing belts lol. This being said I’ve always worked on vehicles w my dad, rebuilt dirtbike motors etc. I’’m also very into firearms, and was very happy to see a gunsmithign thread . I’ve reloaded for 5 yrs and done a fair bit of precision shooting. Also have some quiet pew pew devices. 

A few of the certified welders, some ex boilermakers of 15+ years taught me to weld here at work “under the radar”. I’ve done tapping and stuff in the past but most other machining is 100% new to me. Lots of guys here that are great machinists in the maint department have been teaching me some stuff but my thirst for knowledge led me here. 

I’m originally from Ohio. My pap was a pipe fitter, but other then that no one on either side of my family works metal. My dad has a really nice welder he got in 1985, but barely uses it and boogers things up. So almost all of my metalworking has been self taught, under some verbal direction. A few weeks ago I picked up a smithy 1220xl for a very good deal. I know it’s not the best because it’s a 3in1 and all that, but I had no lathe, no mill or drill press. All of my big jobs I had to do at work which is usually frowned upon on company time lol. Now I have at least a basic tool to make stuff. 

When I first came to the power plant I was 20, so they said “you barely have fuzz on your nuts!” .. so you see how that went lol. Kinda funny over the intercom anyways. 

Anyways enough about me; about the conveyor belt

So we are building a cabin at my camp on the Ohio river. It’s boat access only. We have to load the lumber from shore to boats, then from the boat to the top of the camp at the location of the cabin. The hillside we are going up is 20 steps, roughly 16-18ft elevation change. The cabin is going to be 24x16 2 story built on pillars a few ft off the ground. 

In 2x4s alone we need about 250 lol. 45 2x10 floor joists, 40 50lb bags of sacrete, and much more. a lot of lumber for 4 guys to carry. My dad(60) and 2 brothers (27,34). I’m 27 as well, I have a twin lol. 

So my solution is to build a conveyor belt. I want to build as much of it as possible form scrap metal and home machined parts. I have only bought a few drive belts and 12 1/2in bearings so far. I’ve seen some firewood conveyors and hay conveyors but most are not the scale I would need. I thought of other stuff like a shuttle or a winch to pull **** up but that’s too slow and not complicated enough. I’ve made all the beginner stuff on the lathe like a brass hammer, a little canister I played with making inside and outside threads, a metal scribe holder and some other little things. The first project I made to dimensions was wheels for a friends “annealeez” brass annealing machine. The plastic ones melted so I made some out of stainless for him. Cut my finger clearing some swarf, machine off of course. Right through leather work gloves. 

That being said working for the power company as some of you may know, they have their entire own section in the osha regulations. It’s very strict and I work around TONS of rotating equipment. I have a more then healthy respect for spinny thingies and I say TF back. No games there. I counted the other day, in rotating screw conveyors alone I work around 55 of them. I work around 6 high speed material handling conveyors. 

I’m rambling .. back to the belt. So I cut 5 pulley sets for 3L belts , 3/8 size V belt, at 34 degrees. As far as I could understand that was the correct-ish angle lol. I made 4 reductions of 3-1 and the main drive is going to be 200-1. Going to power it with a 9hp horizontal shaft pressure washer Briggs motor. As far as I could tell the output is 3000rpm. The head pulley is 13 inch which per rotation pulls 40.8in of belt. The head pulley at 200-1 is 15 rpm. This equates to about 50FPM belt speed. That is if the dimensions of my pulleys are correct. I’m a little worried about grip on the pulleys since I made them 1 inch to 3 inch pulleys, but that’s the metal I had available. Most of the metal I have is scrap from work, so that determines my dimensions lol. The pulley reduction system I set up needs changed a little because I don’t like how each belt is tensioned. I tested it just with a screw gun and everything seems to grip and turn ok. I cut the keyway slot with an end mill on both the pulleys and the shaft, so the pulleys have a rounded hole lol. 

The head pulley is 2 13 inch wheels with the inside lip cut off. Spaced apart 20 inches is the plan, I’m cutting the belt to 20 inches wide. The belt is old coal feeder belt, 3/8 thick. I made hub attachments and welded them in, have a 1 1/8 shaft to drive the head pulley and 2 high speed bearings for it. The belt length is going to be 64ft, 32 ft loop. Will take about 40 seconds per rotation, might be too slow. 

I plan on using something similar to an old lawnmower blade engagement lever to tension the final drive belt. At work we have a tensioner on a small inspection drive motor for a 250ft steep angle bucket conveyor, maybe 30hp motor, that’s manually activated like that. Of course it’s massive with like a 8 ft lever sweep but that’s how it works. I turned down a little idler pulley and made a 4ft lever already for all that. This way I can start the motor then ease the tension on to the drive pulley and slowly start the belt. 

I don’t have much plan for a tail pulley or a way to tighten the whole belt up yet. At work 2 of our belts use massive counterweights that pull back on a tail pulley that rides on a sled track, to maintain tension under different loads and belt deflections. The other ones use just all thread jack bolts to pull the tail pulley away from the head to tension. I’ll probably drive pipe or something in the ground at the tail to have something to pull against. 

I want to build a brake system. Conveyors at work have a rollback clutch that engages to prevent a loaded belt from rolling back. I don’t care that much if it rolls back, but it may blow apart my pulley drive system or something if it does. I thought of a few brake systems such as taking a mechanical lever on an old car rotor, making a ratcheting one way system like a come-along, or even using an old boat winch I have (probably wouldn’t hold up). 

My main questions are :

Has anyone ever built a conveyor of this size, or any at all 

What is your best idea on a brake system to stop and hold the head pulley of the belt. 

Any ideas on tensioning the whole belt conveyor, or a way to make a tail pulley

Best way for uploading pictures on this forum? 


I also need to think of a way to make center supports. I figure 3 or 4 would be fine, thought about just using 2 pieces of pipe, one maybe 2 inch over a 1.5inch piece that will spin freely and just rest it under the belt. Put a few attachment points to the sides and drive pipe in the ground. That would get me by for as long as it needs to run. 

Sorry if this post was long, Working a double shift and things are slow lol. I’ll add pictures from my laptop when I get home 


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## C-Bag (Jan 30, 2021)

I’ve built a lot of conveyors but for fruit packing houses. Personally I would do a cart with inflatable tires and an electric winch. Conveyors are great but what you’re talking about would be involved and possibly expensive as we always used gear reduction boxes and you’d need a lot hp with a big box to haul all of that. And then what do you do with it after you’re done? My buddy who lives in the mts was faced with the same thing and we made a cart with rubber tires and 2x6’s for the wheels to run on. He had to transfer downhill so his was all about braking, not so much about pulling it up. Ended up with one of those Harbor Frieght 4wd bumper winches. Has ended up using the rig for other stuff as it was fairly easy to break down and store for other jobs.


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## FuzzNut (Jan 30, 2021)

C-Bag said:


> I’ve built a lot of conveyors but for fruit packing houses. Personally I would do a cart with inflatable tires and an electric winch. Conveyors are great but what you’re talking about would be involved and possibly expensive as we always used gear reduction boxes and you’d need a lot hp with a big box to haul all of that. And then what do you do with it after you’re done? My buddy who lives in the mts was faced with the same thing and we made a cart with rubber tires and 2x6’s for the wheels to run on. He had to transfer downhill so his was all about braking, not so much about pulling it up. Ended up with one of those Harbor Frieght 4wd bumper winches. Has ended up using the rig for other stuff as it was fairly easy to break down and store for other jobs.



Sounds like a good plan you guys worked out for your buddy ! I thought about doing that, but it’s not complicated enough for me 

I want a very high rate of failure. If I don’t try, I’ll never learn! 

Mainly all the components will be scrap stuff from work. The only thing I have in it is time. Time equates to experience! 

This whole conveyor thing is basically a big project for me to burn myself out on the lathe, but hopefully learn a lot about machining. If it fails, oh well. 

Plus I have 64 feet of coal feeder belt sitting in my yard, a 200-1 belt reduction box and head pulley already built lol 


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## brino (Jan 30, 2021)

That sounds like a very ambitious project!

Sorry I have no advice on implementation.

For photos, I usually:
1) clean them up a bit (change lighting, crop, etc.)
2) downsize them to something more suitable (ie. smaller to upload, often to 1920x1280 or 1600x1200) 
3) I then simply drag and drop the photo file to where I want it in the post.

Welcome to the group!

-brino


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## C-Bag (Jan 30, 2021)

Do you have or access to belt lacing setter and belt lacing? Because you will more than likely have to cut an re lace the belt. is your belt straight if you lay it out. Often belts are tossed because they are stretched on one side. If it’s not straight it will never track right. 

We had support rolls every 10”s or so. They we usually pvc ends pressed into conduit and on 1/2” hex rod. We bought pre made side rails because the support roll holes had to be drilled very accurately or they would cause the belt to mis track.

Have fun.


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## FuzzNut (Jan 30, 2021)

hillside in question



Head pulley mk1
	

		
			
		

		
	




Pulley speed reducer mk1. Gonna change it I don’t like The belt tension
	

		
			
		

		
	




Tensioner 




I cut the pulleys from the same 3in shaft



tensioner at work I’m going to try and replicate


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## FuzzNut (Jan 30, 2021)

Oh yea, and the belt. I have 2 splices and by the time I trim them to 20in from 32 I should be able to scab together the last


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## mmcmdl (Jan 30, 2021)

Hey Fuzznuts , welcome to the site .  Sounds like an interesting project you have going on . Do you have the frame and rollers for the conveyor ?

We've been looking for a place in WV for a lake house or river front place for some time now . 15 years ago we ended up going north to the Adirondacks but our search has gone back to the Almost Heaven State . Ellenburg , Rowlesburg . We just sold property in Berkley Springs .


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## brino (Jan 30, 2021)

Absolutely beautiful cabin location!

I know you've said you want to build something overly complex......and I salute you for that!
In my day I would just haul everything up myself the week before the build team showed-up.
Even if I only did a single 2x4 per every 5 minutes it would still be a fun week.

Now however, I would consider hiring a couple young guys for the weekend.
Promise them a place to sleep, burgers and steaks and a box or two of beer.
Let them shlep everything up the hill.

I guess my age is showing......

-brino


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## mmcmdl (Jan 30, 2021)

C-Bag said:


> Personally I would do a cart with inflatable tires and an electric winch.


Sounds like a lot less work to me . Most likely he has a 4 wheeler and now has an excuse to put a nice winch on the front of it .


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## Boswell (Jan 30, 2021)

Welcome to the Site Fuznut.  sound like a interesting project with plenty of opportunities to learn stuff. Looking forward to seeing some picture as you work though the issues.


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## FuzzNut (Jan 31, 2021)

mmcmdl said:


> Hey Fuzznuts , welcome to the site .  Sounds like an interesting project you have going on . Do you have the frame and rollers for the conveyor ?
> 
> We've been looking for a place in WV for a lake house or river front place for some time now . 15 years ago we ended up going north to the Adirondacks but our search has gone back to the Almost Heaven State . Ellenburg , Rowlesburg . We just sold property in Berkley Springs .



I live up in the Fairmont area. It’s really nice around morgantown cheat lake, grafton Tygart lake, Sutton lake, summersville lake is really nice. A lot of them are state property though and you can’t get lakeside housing. A lot of nice houses along tygart river. Some along the west fork river but it’s muddy, and of course the mon river. All I know is northern WV lol 

As for frame and rollers, nope I have to make it all. The old idlers at work are very heavy, like 100lb, and usually completely shot 


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## FuzzNut (Feb 1, 2021)

Broaching keyway on lathe, not recommended. Wow that was horrible. Killed 2 2AH batteries on my screw gun lol. 7 weeks til project deadline. Feeling the crunch a little 








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## FuzzNut (Feb 4, 2021)

SNOW sucks to work in. No heat in shop either. It’s 11 degrees this morning. Was 18 when I zapped thag stand together last night. Says high of 40 today, I hope so anyways. 

That metal is only 1/16th, just for testing purposes. I’ll reinforce with heavy angle or channel when the time comes 







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## mmcmdl (Feb 5, 2021)

Fuzz , you would've crapped your pants if you saw what was in the dumpster today . Full 40 ft of roller conveyor with gearbox , motor , complete . We are down sizing . Wish I would have known earlier . I pulled out a 3 ton Dake AP and tagged it before it went into the dumpster though . I hope it's still their tonight as I'm packin the pickem-up truck tonight !


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## FuzzNut (Feb 6, 2021)

mmcmdl said:


> Fuzz , you would've crapped your pants if you saw what was in the dumpster today . Full 40 ft of roller conveyor with gearbox , motor , complete . We are down sizing . Wish I would have known earlier . I pulled out a 3 ton Dake AP and tagged it before it went into the dumpster though . I hope it's still their tonight as I'm packin the pickem-up truck tonight !



Oh damn! Not sure if roller conveyor would go up a big hill, but interesting!! 

Got a few things done today. Tensioner setup, some supports for pulley box 

Waiting on a carb for my motor. Hoping to test at least this head pulley setup for alignment and stuff next weekend 







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## mmcmdl (Feb 6, 2021)

Will be following along with the build .


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## FuzzNut (Feb 9, 2021)

Welded head pulley solid. Ended up welding the drive pulley on after I keyed it as well. Was going to put a set screw or two so it could be removable, but decided to just zap it since I can just bust the bearings loose and pick the whole thing off the structure. 







Been debating on different setups for a belt tensioner. I had a few ideas with jack bolts and all thread with an angle track to ride along.. then i thought 

Wait a minute, I can walk up 2 flights of stairs and walk across the floor to see how the pros did it !!






Square tubing with a threaded rod inside, basically like a vice 

Do your guys prints look like 6yr old work too .? 












The left one evidently I didn’t have aligned properly when I welded the nut to the tubing. I’m gonna cut it off tonight at work and turn another nut down when I get home to try again. 







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## FuzzNut (Feb 12, 2021)

The opposite pulley side rim was bent when I put it on, I figured I could just straiten it once I got it all together. I did that the other day at work. I have oxy fuel bottles but my oxy regulator blew out and I haven’t fixed it. 

Then I cut some small notches and set angle down in to bridge the gap. 





Little coat of paint for good measure 






I I stretched some rubber gasket. Material over it all but I’m not real sure about it yet .. we will see 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	





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## FuzzNut (Feb 16, 2021)

My drive motor was a pressure washer. I had a few different ones but I picked this one to try because it runs the best. It’s only 3.5hp, not sure if enough. 

Anyways I cut the pump driveshaft off and tried to match the taper on a piece of round stock. I set the collar up in the tail stock while still holding the round stock that I tapered. Then I tacked 3 spots around it w the mig. (Prob not best to weld over your lathe but I didn’t know how else to get it concentric)

Brought it to work and burned in 2 passes with 7018 3/32 rod at 90A. A little hot but I wanted to be sure I got enough penetration, and I covered with 1/8th rods so I could turn the weld off. 







So I tried grabbing the outside of the collar but I couldn’t get it very true, and I want it true to the motor shaft not the outside of the coupling. I turned a little piece of brass w a few thou interference and drove it in .. hopefully pretty strait. I marked where it was in the chuck after turning down to hopefully have the same grab. 





I was gonna make an adjustable mount but I decided to just weld a solid bracket to bolt the motor to.

I kinda wish the collar was deeper to go further back on the motor shaft, but that’s how the pump was too anyways. 







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## FuzzNut (Feb 16, 2021)

Not what I wanted to do at 17 stories high 13 degrees F outside in the snow 

Who needs day jobs anyways

Lime handling conveyor, supposed to run 500 tons an hour but when it’s cold it’s easy for the rubber lagging on the head pulley to slip when loaded. Solution is a few cans of belt dressing sprayed on the head pulley to make it sticky again.. lol 







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## mmcmdl (Feb 16, 2021)

Until it hardens and becomes slicker than owl poop !


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## FuzzNut (Feb 21, 2021)

Changed the tensioner. Before it pushed in on the belt and didn’t have a tight groove. It kept flipping the belt upside down when under gas power. So now it’s pulling out on the belt to tension it, and I used a different pulley and bearing setup. Tracks a lot better. 






This video was before I had the tensioner all the way set up. 






My dad wanted me to make face up pusher dogs like a towboat has for the pontoon so we can push a little work flat wooden barge we have, so that took a day. Our boat club has a little work barge we can use but I doubt it’ll be in the water that early 










Bunch of crap going on with work and now a funeral to go to in NY, haven’t worked on anything in 3 days. March 20th is when it needs to be ready by .. hope i make it lol 


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## FuzzNut (Feb 27, 2021)

First run. Needs some tweaks, but pretty cool 

Hard to build for a slope then test on flat ground lol 








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## FuzzNut (Mar 4, 2021)

Attempting to make a guide idler to feed onto the tail pulley 





It got late when I finished, didn’t get pic of finished product. Made it kinda like a shuttle with a T handle on all thread to move the whole assembly side to side. 





Attempting to make some rollers out of PVC. Seems to work pretty awesome and the bearings were only like $1.50 each. 






That square aluminum tubing my brother got from work when they were disassembling some projector stands. Really strong stuff with T slots. Will make for quick and easy adjusting for height on site. Going to make 4 of them. 

Needless to say after the conveyor is done being used he wants it back lol. 






Need to cut the rest of the belt and splice. Trying a full scale test soon 


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## FuzzNut (Mar 11, 2021)

Update 






Redid pulley drive system. Didn’t like how hard it was to adjust and had to take entire thing apart to put new belts on 

The pulleys are getting really hot, not sure if I have a lot of slippage or what 

Working on it today gonna do full length test hopefully


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## Dabbler (Mar 11, 2021)

really nice work fuzznut!  great photos!


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## FuzzNut (Mar 17, 2021)

It’s official ! I’m out of time. 

If I had a few more weeks I could have perfected it. I made more pvc rollers and put a feed side and return side idler on. It was working decent but I need about 6 more rollers. The big problem is making a structure strong enough to hold the rollers up. Will end up using about 30 2x4s. They are freakin $7 here right now.

We are starting building Friday and I’m on midnight shift. Not gonna be able to get it done. 







Was a fun project anyways. I ran a few revolutions out of it full length, but it needed more support. 

I do have 2 10ftx2ft grocery loading dock rollers at the camp that would be perfect to support the belt. I just won’t have enough time to set it up and make use of it by Friday. Camp is 2.5hrs away and I’m on midnight til thurs morning. 

I need to think of another use of the belt lol. Although one of my sheds have a dirt floor, so it’ll make a nice hillbilly floor. 

I took a vid but evidently I bumped stop it’s very short lol 









						Conveyor test
					






					youtube.com
				




I learned a lot and enjoyed piddling with it anyways 


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## brino (Mar 17, 2021)

FuzzNut said:


> I need to think of another use of the belt lol. Although one of my sheds have a dirt floor, so it’ll make a nice hillbilly floor.



There's your answer.........gravel slinger!

-brino


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## macardoso (Mar 17, 2021)

Spent most of my college weekends driving down to WV to follow whatever river was flooding and get some good whitewater. WV is a stunning state. Haven't been back in a few years and I miss it!


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## FuzzNut (Jun 9, 2021)

You all prob thought the cabin claimed me! 

Really wish we had a conveyor to carry all this crap LOL. 2 days strait of carrying, 4 loads on the pontoonboat + 24ft pontoon deck. At one point I had it figured we had 3500lb on the pontoon deck, almost sunk. 

Got it framed that week and wrapped w house wrap. Put metal up a few weeks later. Good enough to stay in for the summer now ! 




















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## Boswell (Jun 10, 2021)

Looking good.


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