Conveyor Blog

Today we shipped a set of AS65 conveyors that contained two unique modifications from our specials engineering department: a cutout in the frame and a gang drive system. Our customer requested the cutout to allow a robot arm to pass under the conveyor; even our normal low profile wasn’t enough in this case. Our specials engineering team added a set of idlers on either side of the cutout to raise the belt tight against the frame.

The gang drive allows the two conveyors to operate using a single drive, and ensures that their indexing is synchronized. The part being conveyed straddles the top of both conveyors. A shaft (under the slotted guard) transfers power from the motorized conveyor to the non-motorized one.

We welcome special applications like this, and have a team of specials engineers dedicated to finding the right solution for any application.

I’ve put together a brief video on our Automation Series conveyors so you can see some of the unique new features in action, especially the Tension Release Tail and the Pivot™ Rotatable Drive.

This is the first video we’ve put together in HD, so let us know what you think.

Low profile conveyors are often referred to as “mini conveyors”, but this conveyor we’re shipping today gives the concept a whole new meaning. At 13″ long, 4″ wide and 1.89″ high, it’s one of the smallest conveyors we’ve ever shipped — especially to South Korea.  소형 컨베이어 미국에서 만드는

The 125 Series belt conveyors shown here under a CO2 Air, Inc. dry ice press use a -45°F silicone release belt specified by Southern Industrial Equipment (SIE). CO2 Air, Inc. is a leading dry ice and liquid CO2 manufacturer shipping equipment worldwide. Chris Kupronis, an Application Engineer with SIE, said the extremely cold temperatures led to some challenges that had to be worked through. For instance they had to place heat tape on the holes so any condensation would not flash freeze on the conveyor. The silicone belt is also critical with the temperature as low as it is.

CO2 Air Inc. offers a new RF-1800HD press which is capable of making 1800 pounds per hour of one pound 5” x 5” x 3/4” ice blocks (the standard size piece). The press is designed to make up to 6 pieces per stroke. They were kind enough to mention that the QC Industries conveyors have been working very nicely where our competitors had failed.

“We love how the QC Industries conveyors hold up. They are a high quality conveyor and the InnerDrive system is simple to use and keeps the entire conveyor low profile, not just the frame area,” said Gabriel Perez of Xtreme Steam in Atlanta, Georgia.

We had a chance to catch up with Gabriel last week at West Pack. Xtreme Steam (and QC Industries) will be exhibiting at South Pack in Charlotte, March 19th and 20th.

In Gabriel’s demo he dumps chocolate and ketchup on the conveyor and the steam cleaning system cleans it away leaving the conveyor belt nice and dry. If you ever see Xtreme Steam at a show, take a minute to watch the demonstration; he does a great job. You’ll probably agree with me that this guy needs his own infomercial!

We came across this video that shows one of our 125 Series cleated belt conveyors used to transfer reams of paper into a shrink wrapping machine from Pro Pack Group.

We love seeing video of our conveyors in action. If you have videos you’d be willing to share, drop me a line at cthompson at qcindustries dot com.

One of our long-time customers, Tella Tool, is featured in the January edition (PDF link) of Metalforming Magazine. Our 250 Series Center Drive Conveyors form an integral part of their portable automated inspection stations, which have virtually eliminated the defective parts that were being delivered to Tella’s customers.

The inspection stations were designed by distributor Gem Automation to visually inspect automotive frame rails for improperly inserted nuts and bolts. The bad parts are pushed off the line into a locked box for later disposal. The stations can be moved quickly from press to press and configured to detect a wide variety of parts and features.

“Working with QC and Gem, we developed a conveyor arrangement that allows the parts to come out of the die in somewhat of an orderly fashion,” says Jim Szymanowski, Tella Tool’s sensor specialist. “Orienting the parts in a predictable way, to ensure that the key features fall repeatedly within the field of view of the vision system, was critical to preventing any bad parts from slipping through the system, and it proved quite challenging. But we were able to get where we needed to be.”

Next in our series of packaging applications in preparation for Pack Expo Vegas is this mini tabletop labeler from Re-Pack. QC Industries’ 125 Series Belt Conveyors are used to move the product through the labeling system. The small footprint of our conveyors make them ideal for applications like this, where overall footprint is of the utmost importance.

Next up in our Pack Expo Vegas series is this top and bottom labeler from Re-Pack. It uses two 125 Series conveyors. A label is applied to the bottom of the container through a gap between the conveyors.