Problem: Customer had machine used to de-burr chips from product. The components moving through this machine were stainless steel and using a Forbo belt made in Germany. It was the belt that came with the original equipment. Unfortunately, customer had issue with the re-ordering of the piano hinged splice part. The lead time was over a month.
Solution: BHQ made call with Mulhern Belting specialist that suggested either a spiral laced or ziplink splice. This had the same advantages as the German OEM. It would not scratch the stainless steel pieces going through the machine. Customer decided on the zip-link. It had a simple push through pin installation and the belt could ship in five to ten days and decided to buy three of them for two active machines.
Benefits and Cost Savings: The application required a great deal of customer’s time to disassemble the pulleys and frame. The pin assembly did save him some labor hours. These machines could not be down for a month. The four to five day delivery time had the company making money for three to four more weeks then with the German supplied belts. Estimated downtime we saved customer over $50,000.