What is the difference between endless conveyor belts and mechanically fastened belts?

Endless conveyor belts are factory-spliced into a single continuous loop with no mechanical joints. They offer superior strength, reliability, and reduced risk of joint failure. Mechanically fastened belts, on the other hand, use metal fasteners and are often used to DIY repair or install a belt a belt in the field.

Which type of joint is right for me?

Factory prepared Endless Belts

Smiley Monroe manufactures high-performance, highly customized, hot vulcanized Endless Conveyor Belts to DIN 22102 standards, offering renowned joint quality and longer belt lifespan. Commonly endless conveyor belts work for our equipment manufacturers who fit the endless belt as the conveyor is being made. They are prepared in our factory to ensure a consistent high quality. Subsequently our belt warranty has been less than 0.1% over the last five years. Many of the top OEM's of bulk materials processing equipment use Smiley Monroe endless belts across their machine range including Terex Powerscreen, Metso, Kleemann, Keestrack, Astec Industries, Eagle Crushers and Propel. Fitting an endless belt is not always possible without taking out the conveyor cassette itself. In this case there are other options.

Mechanically fastened belts

When machines are operating in the field, endless belts can be fitted by a service or vulcanizing team when the conveyor belt needs to be replaced. This is costly, time consuming and weather and operating conditions can compromise the quality of the joint. For this reason, many operators opt to use metal fasteners or clips to create a joint. This DIY method is useful for changing out a section of a long conveyor belt, or when replacing a truly endless belt is not possible. There are some drawbacks of DIY fasteners however and the following issues may occur;

• Uneven tension across the joint can cause the clips to tear away from the belt over time resulting in joint failure
• Clips that sit proudly on the conveyor belt's top cover can cause damage to conveyor components such as belt cleaners

So how can you avoid these common issues but still have fast conveyor belt installation?

For faster installation, Smiley Monroe also offers ZIP CLIP® belts, a mechanically fastened conveyor belt solution in which the joint is engineered to match the tensile strength of an endless belts making them a permanent, fast-fit alternative. With ZIP CLIP® the joint is prepared in our factory, and the conveyor belt is supplied ready-to-fit making it a safer, faster solution compared to hot vulcanizing on site or a DIY clip option. For more information on ZIP CLIP® download our brochure here.

In Summary

• Endless belts are a great option for equipment manufacturers who like the finish of an endless belt joint
• DIY mechanically fastened belts are a fast, short term solution but joint failure is a common problem often will have a reduced belt lifespan due to poor joint tensile strength and clips coming away from the belt itself
• Smiley Monroe ZIP CLIP® belts offer a fast, long term mechanically fastened conveyor belt solution with the speed of mechanically fastened joints and the reassured joint quality of endless belts.