Flexco’s engineering solution has reduced downtime during the belt changeout process at a major iron ore facility.
When an iron ore port in Western Australia faced a critical belt changeout requiring the connection of two different belt specifications, it needed a solution that was fast, safe, and engineered.
The traditional dummy splice method would require 10 to 12 hours of downtime, and connecting belts with different cord pitches and diameters presented unique technical challenges.
The site’s conveyor specialist had been considering alternatives for months to help drive the company’s initiative of decreasing downtime in a safe manner.
The port facility regularly changes belts on its stacking conveyors due to cover wear and damage, but this time it was switching to a different belt specification to standardise to a more common belt type.
The old belt featured a cord pitch of 19.4mm with a cord diameter of 7.6mm. The new belt had a much tighter cord pitch of just 12mm and a smaller cord diameter of 5.6mm. Both were rated ST2500 and measured 1800mm wide with a 29.6mm overall thickness, but internally they were completely different.
Historically, the site used dummy splices for belt changeouts, using a generic vulcanised splice designed solely to withstand pull forces during the belt installation process. The connection only needs to survive long enough to get the new belt into position before being cut out and replaced with a permanent splice.
This process was familiar to every belt splicing crew member on site. A team of four or more would remove covers, clean cords, layer in uncured rubber, and vulcanise the assembly. On an 1800mm wide belt, the process typically took 10 to 12 hours. That’s more than a full shift dedicated to creating a temporary connection.
The bigger concern for the port was predictability. Most dummy splices lack official ratings, and their strength depends on multiple variables including the skill of the splicers, the condition of the belts, environmental factors, and how well the vulcaniser maintains temperature.
For connecting two different belt specifications, dummy splices become even more problematic because creating a reliable vulcanised connection between two belts with different internal structures is inherently difficult.
Like most large-scale mining operations, every hour a conveyor sits idle represents significant lost revenue. A typical iron ore conveyor might move 3000 tonnes per hour, and that could quickly lead to potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost production during downtime.
Flexco hard metals industry specialist, Jason Coe, told ABHR the technology was a world-first design that aims to significantly speed up the steel cord splicing process.
“Reliability is important,” he said. “Flexco’s history is built around mechanical belt fasteners. It was our very first product when we began in 1907, so it made sense for us to engineer the industry’s first steel cord belt fastener.”
The engineered solution
The port knew its upcoming belt changeout could take even longer than the usual 10 to 12 hours if it used traditional methods. It began having discussions with solutions providers, including a meeting with Flexco about the FXC steel cord belt fastening system.
The FXC’s documented safety factors and potential time savings aligned with the port’s operational needs, so the site decided to trial the FXC for the next belt changeout.
Working closely with the site’s maintenance team, Flexco’s engineering department developed a custom pull plate solution specifically designed to connect two belts with different cord specifications.
The challenge was straightforward. FXC mechanical fasteners come in different sizes to accommodate different cord diameters and pitches. The new belt with its 5.6mm cords needed size one fasteners and the old belt with its 7.6mm cords needed size six fasteners. These fasteners don’t mate directly together.
The customised solution used specially-engineered pull plates, allowing each belt end to get its appropriately sized FXC fasteners. Then, the pull plates would attach to those fasteners and connect to each other via industrial-grade low profile shackles and chains.
The complete system featured three main component types. The FXC pull plate and joint assemblies provided a strength rating of 4.61t per assembly with a 3.8-times safety factor over the calculated peak belt pull requirement. With four assemblies on each belt end, the total strength reached 70t.
Kupler Shackles provided a 6t rating with a four-times safety factor, while Grade 100 chain slings carried a 7.5t rating with a 4-times safety factor.
The total pull strength requirement for the job was calculated at 18.32t. Every component in the system exceeded this requirement substantially, with the FXC connection providing 3.8-times the required capacity.
This level of documented engineering gave the port confidence that the connection would safely withstand all pull forces during the belt changeout process and manoeuvre easily around pulleys and the four troughing roller setup.
The installation process
The Flexco team arrived on site knowing they needed to demonstrate the system to a splicing crew who had years of experience with traditional methods. The new belt was already lapped out, and the winding equipment was ready, but maintenance work was still underway on the head pulley and building scaffolding.
After explaining the maintenance work didn’t affect where the belt would be prepared, Flexco and the belt crew came together at the conveyor, walked through the FXC system component by component, showed the engineering calculations, and explained the 3.8-times safety factor.
With Flexco’s guidance and its distributor’s belt crew’s confidence in the system, they started preparing the belt end of the new belt. This already offered a downtime advantage because dummy splice belt ends must be brought together in an enclosed area before they can be prepared, protecting the belt preparation from environmental factors.
Power crimping went smoothly once the ferrules were properly positioned and the W-Blocks moved freely. The fasteners, bolts, and nuts completed the assembly without issues, and the team left the bolts unground in case adjustments were needed when connecting to the old belt end.
It took a total of three hours and five minutes to install the new belt end. Since the old belt had the larger 7.6mm cords and older covers, preparing this belt end took a slightly longer than compared to the new belt end. Harder rubber covers and the bigger cord diameters made removing the covers and hooking the cords more difficult, but the crew sped up as their technique improved.
Installing the FXC components took an hour. In total, both belt ends took seven hours and 20 minutes, compared to 10 to 12 hours for a traditional dummy splice.
The results
With both belt ends prepared, the crew used a crane to lift the old belt end out of the system and position it on top of the conveyor, requiring about four separate lifts. The belt end was fed through the 25t capacity pinch drive and attached to the powered belt reel system.
The new belt end was pulled into the take-up area using a 5t capacity winch drive. Because the winch had only a single point of pull, the team used just the two middle pull plates with long chains to distribute the load evenly. The 24 ferrules attached to the two middle pull plates had a combined capacity of approximately 35 tons, providing a seven-times safety factor over the winch capacity.
Once the new and old belts were connected, the belt crew positioned themselves at critical points throughout the operation and the FXC moved through the system smoothly, as the FXC components, pull plates, shackles, and chains transferred loads as anticipated with every part performing exactly as was engineered.
The crew completed both belt ends in approximately six to seven hours of actual work.
However, the real advantage lies in advance preparation capability. The new belt end could have theoretically been prepared weeks earlier during normal operations at zero downtime cost, as only the old belt end required work during the actual shutdown window.
With advanced preparation, the potential time comparison becomes 10 to 12 hours for a traditional dummy splice versus two to four hours for the FXC during the shutdown, a 67 per cent to 80 per cent reduction in critical path downtime. The belt splicers, who initially were hesitant about the FXC system, were enthusiastic by the end and confident they could work faster on subsequent installations. The management team at the port now had documented engineering, proven performance, and measurable time savings, all of which were enough to justify initial and future investments.
The success came from documented engineering that provided credibility, custom solutions developed collaboratively for specific challenges, hands-on support during installation, and most critically, a system that performed flawlessly under real loads.
For mining operations facing tight maintenance windows and pressure to reduce downtime, Flexco’s FXC steel cord belt fastening system offers a proven alternative to traditional methods.