Factors to consider before splicing your belt.

by Chip Winiarski

Belt skivers remove a conveyor belt’s cover to prepare a belt for countersunk fasteners. A skiver is specially designed to help ensure quick, safe, and accurate cover removal at various depths. It eliminates imprecise and potentially dangerous cuts that can result from hand-knife skiving. It is also a cleaner and faster alternative to a router, since the skiver removes the top cover as one continuous strip, and does so in only a few minutes. This makes skivers an invaluable tool for belt repair process.

Mechanical conveyor-belt splicing, usually involving hinged- or solid-plate fasteners (clips) attached to the belt with bolts or rivets, is widely used in heavy-duty operations because of its relatively low cost, as well as ease and speed of installation. However, abrasiveness and density can vary widely, increasing the potential for premature splice wear and failure.

Why skive?

There are many reasons why it is important to skive a belt. In most cases, skiving will save both time and money throughout the production process, and it does not weaken a conveyor belt. All of the strength is found in the carcass, and the cover is in place to simply protect it.

When you skive a belt, you replace this protective rubber with the belt fasteners that will protect the belt and keep it moving to maximize production. You do not want to remove all of the cover, but rather leave 1/16 of an inch in place to provide protection from elements such as water and sun.