Need a Conveyor

Just a little bit every day. I'm working out where to mount the 1/2hp motor. I'm trying to keep this thing as portable as possible. So that means it can be tossed in the bed of a truck. I decided I am going to mount the motor on the top about 18 inches above the belt on the driving end. I should be able to keep it out of the way if I build some kind of funnel to keep feeding the dirt onto the belt. The professional conveyors use a fancy motor with a 90degree gearbox. I'm on the cheap belt and pulley train. I thought the C purling might be floppy, but after welding in 6 cross members, shes pretty stiff!

 

Can you imagine having small scoops mounted on the belt so it also does the digging as well?.

 

lol.. shit, I wish Mark!

 

Had a change of plans. I decided to stick the driving wheel at the top of the conveyor. This way when its outside 9ft in the air, the motor is outta my hair at the top. On the bottom, I'm building a hopper in case my aim sucks. It just slides on the rails and is removable.



Motor lives 11" above the belt. Plenty high enough for the crap to go by. That plate is 1/4" and big enough to support a larger motor if my 1/2hp wont handle it.


I gotta shorten the shafts and cut one more key way, but everything slides around to tension V belts without screwing with the main belt.




Got the belt laced today. Only cost me a flight review. That was a great trade!



I really struggled with mounting the motor up here, but if it was on the bottom, it would be a pain when I transport the conveyor. As it is, 2 guys can still pick this up and chuck it on a trailer. Fingers crossed this works. lol



That's it for now, tomorrow I'll buy a dozen belts at AZ and might get to fire it up!

 

The top mounted motor looks like a good move. You might consider some sheet metal shrouding to keep debris out of the final. I’d suggest some reinforcement for your motor mounting plate like 3” channel or 2” angle, at least on the long edges. That might be overkill, but it would reduce vibration and undue strain on your welds.

Pete

 

I didnt get stupid yet welding the top plate in case I have to make adjustments. I'll put a rain shield on it when I skin the hopper.

ratio is currently 1:18, the belt pulley will be turning just under 100rpm. The conveyor is pretty long so that should keep it not so steep I'm thinking. I have plenty of motor choices laying around, but conveyors I've seen were 1/2 or 3/4 horse. Will see, there shouldn't be much weight on that belt.

Pulleys are 1",6",2",6" https://www.blocklayer.com/pulley-belteng.aspx The final rollers are 5.5" so I'm guessing around 2mph???

 

First run! Not too shabby. Think it's gonna need a couple of rollers in the middle.
I could actually stand to slow it down a touch.

https://youtube.com/shorts/BYB6PyjCKi4?feature=share

 

Slow your roll. Now this looks more like a proper speed to me. I only changed one 6inch pulley for an 8inch.
I have a ratio now of 1:24. Roller work continues... I need this done! I wanna get to diggin!

 

Added 4 sets of rollers running on ball bearings. It gives a gentle curve to the belt. I think it's about time to get a concrete saw.

 

Rollers were a good add. They'll help spread the load out. Less likely to tear the belt when you over load it

 

Woah fancy!

 

really nice!

 

Thanks guys! After pricing these out, I said I can build that! No one in my town rents them and even if they did, I'm sure I'll be digging too slow to warrant the bill!

When I'm done, I'm pretty sure someone will want it

No concrete saw this weekend. This bastard showed up in my driveway and it's got some serious airbag issues I gotta resolve. I hate MB with a passion! There is this curse that follows that 3 pointed star with me. Note the cargo strap around the tow truck's tire?? Yeah, it was one of those nights. Nice car, 2000 S430 with only 40k miles. It's a friggen time capsule, too bad it's got the ugliest wheels ever made. The wife wants to keep it, I said no F'ing way!

 

Three prong's reputation has gone down the toilet with some of the stunts they've pulled over here in Australia: fixed prices, being sued by the dealer network, sales dropping to a ten year low during a car supply shortage.

 

The last good ones were pre chrysler. Late 1980's cars were amazing machines. Anything newer than that included brand new today are total shit! I spend a lot of time driving 2021-2022 C class and when given the choice, I grab the camry and give the benz to the boss. TOTAL JUNK!

Oh a lighter note, I changed out the airmatic compressor and valve block on this 430 and she's back in the air. Took it for a trip around the block, first time it shifted I thought I dropped parts on the road! First time it's moved in 5years under it's own steam. Next trip through the gears and all was well, I gotta say, it rides and drives like a dream. Now as long as it doesn't need viagra in the morning, I'm home free. Car still needs a few more things, then it's off to the detailers and someone else's driveway!

 

Nice job on the conveyor. That's the day gig, design build of bulk material handling equipment....I'm late to the party here for any design or engineering help but it doesn't look like you needed it.

 

Thanks.. I'm not too smart, but I can monkey see, monkey do with the best of them. Trick is, I gotta at least SEE IT!

 

You might need to see if you can source some more rubber belting to rivet around the drive pulley on your conveyor. The tail pulley doesn't need to be as sticky, but the drive/head pulley needs to be a sticky as you can make it. That thing is so smooth your belt will probably slip with any type of load on the it. I also think you'll find that you need a little more ooommph than 1/2 horse for a drive motor, use as big of a motor as you can - dirt is heavy. I don't think any of our grain transfer conveyors are less than 25Hp, but we're moving a lot more, and a lot faster, than you are trying to do. The flights of you belt aren't very big so you'll need to keep the angle of the conveyor fairly low. We transfer a butt-load of grain on smooth belts, but the angle of those conveyors is low, maybe 5-10° max. Too steep and the crap just rolls back.

Don

 

All great suggestions Don. Thanks for pointing these out. For now, I'm gonna wait and see how it does under real use and modify it as I go. It's getting loaded by hand, but I still might rivet some kinda scoops onto the belt to make up for the low profile flights on it. It will depend on the angle I need. Fingers crossed.