Wood conveyors

mike_belben · August 17, 2018, 08:17:42 PM

Interesting.

Are the strips one full continuous length? How much spacing between them? Does the belt show wear at the contact points or is the plastic slippery enough?

I can procure long metal strips but plastic is more challenging. Will have to give that some thought. I wonder if tin roofing with coroplast over it could work.

Corley5 · August 17, 2018, 08:29:43 PM

I'll take some pictures when I get home Sunday. The strips are continous the full length.

Corley5 · August 17, 2018, 08:31:23 PM

They're not a full 24' long. They're shorter butted together.

Corley5 · August 17, 2018, 08:34:02 PM

This belt has handled well over 10,000 face cords. Extra wear over the strips is minimal.

rjwoelk · August 18, 2018, 12:11:05 AM

I have 3/4 inch plywood screwed to the frame work and then put 1/4 puckboard on top. it handles a 12 inch by 16 ft log. this is on the infeed side of the processor. The outfeed is a chain with paddles.

Pclem · August 18, 2018, 08:34:01 AM

Mine rides on solid flat steel on the top. No rollers or anything to take up the slack on the bottom. Just goes from front roller to back. Drive roller on top is fixed, adjustable on the bottom

mike_belben · August 18, 2018, 11:32:37 AM

I had to look up puck board and now wish id heard of it sooner. Storing handy link here for some cheap strip i could bond over angle iron runners for under belt supports.

Liner Protection Rolls

I think ive got a pretty good idea what im building but need to acquire the long side pieces before getting much further. So far 20footers of 1/8" 2x4 steel box is all thats turned up and id like it to be longer than that. I need to measure my belting roll too i guess.

Wood Shed · August 23, 2018, 08:29:41 AM

Never called it a conveyor, they are called an elevator around here (and by the manufacturer). Have been using this one ten years or more and it has served me well. Agree with most of the comments but can be useful as they were made to handle bales and ear corn. Most every farm had one back in the day. Find on that has been stored inside like this one, I still store it under roof.

Roxie · August 23, 2018, 02:42:24 PM

Yes, Wood Shed, we call them elevators too.

Here is an an old forum thread if anyone wants to walk down memory lane with me.

Firewood Conveyor in General Board

Corley5 · August 23, 2018, 03:09:19 PM

8) 8) 8)Thanks Roxie 8) 8) 8)
My experience with oiling the elevator chain was negative. Broken greasy/oily chain is much less than pleasant to repair ;) ;D I did it once and suffered the consequences until the oil wore/weathered off

moodnacreek · August 24, 2018, 08:44:18 AM

Conveyers for fire wood are best made with 78 chain, one strand down the middle, 2.609 pitch. Steel 7 tooth+ sprockets [1" thick] welded in the middle of the shafts running in pillow blocks +- 1 15/16". Steel flights welded to the chain about 24" wide. Always pull from the top. If you drive the lower shaft you are pushing the load rather than pulling it with a tight chain. Make the side 'boards' flared not vertical as it is better to spill than to jam up.

mike_belben · August 24, 2018, 09:59:22 AM

Thanks for that info. Wheres the best place to buy chain? I already have the belting and found a free source for 2 purlins so thats swaying me a lot.

Corley5 · August 24, 2018, 12:56:10 PM

No worries about tracking with chains. Cold sunny days cause tracking issues with a belt because of uneven heating from the sun.

mike_belben · August 24, 2018, 01:26:37 PM

Oooof.. You got me there. And the thing will live in a very inconsistent full sun to full shade spot.

Maybe ill save this for lumber or sawdust conveying apparatus. I do have some big used chain, sprockets, shafting and bearings up north buried in a container i cant access yet. Id planned on building a 2 strand live deck from it but can probably score a running one pretty easy. Few abandoned ones nearby.

mike_belben · August 24, 2018, 01:29:00 PM

Wait a minute. I dont live in the frigid north anymore. And i cut all my wood in summer anyhow. Back to a belt conveyor.

:D

Wallys World · August 24, 2018, 06:06:11 PM

Mike, Here's a picture of my conveyor. Haven't had muck time to work on it.

Single chain, came from a sawmill, gear box is off, 20 feet. Thinking about cutting it to around 14 -16 feet. Unless someone else wants to work on it.
Wally

thecfarm · August 24, 2018, 08:44:49 PM

WDH calls it the glacier North. :D The Ice Age is coming. Might of been 80° today,but the Ice Age is coming. ;D

moodnacreek · August 24, 2018, 09:12:54 PM

Quote from: mike_belben on August 24, 2018, 09:59:22 AM
Thanks for that info. Wheres the best place to buy chain? I already have the belting and found a free source for 2 purlins so thats swaying me a lot.

Have not bought 78 chain in years, last I heard it was around $7.00 @ foot. I have a slab drag. a slab wood conveyer, split fire wood conveyer, log infeed deck, fire wood in feed to prosseser and lumber green chain all built with wr 78 chain. You can make the sprockets from 1" plate if you can bore them to the shaft size center and cut the teeth with a torch. From experience I can say it's not worth doing with light chain or belting and it hardly costs more to build with the 78 chain.

mike_belben · August 24, 2018, 10:33:34 PM

Yeah thats spendy-ish. I can have all the belting i want for free. New, all different sizes. Made an agreement today to help hang some purlins next week and haul off the few remaining ones. Ill have to just see what i come up with. Ive got channel here that would make a nice tray for single chain to ride in but the chain is up north for the foreseeable future and id like to have this thing running before winter.