Conveyors and Material Handling Equipment
Belt conveyors
A belt conveyor is a study in tracking and tension. The head pulley drives, the tail pulley returns, and the take-up maintains tension as the belt stretches. Troughing idlers shape the carrying side, return idlers support the slack side, and impact or transition idlers protect the loading point. Belt tracking is corrected by adjusting idlers and pulleys so the belt moves toward the side it is drifting from; the return side reverses the logic and trips up many candidates. Lagging improves grip, but over-tensioning a belt overloads bearings, pulleys and splices.
Other conveyors
Screw conveyors use flights on a shaft with hanger bearings, and they should not run empty for long. Bucket elevators rely on proper bucket spacing, boot tension and a clear discharge. Chain and roller conveyors need lubrication at the pin-bush interface and wear checks on sprockets and rails.
Safety
Nip points between belt and pulley, chain and sprocket, and screw and trough must be guarded. Pull cords, emergency stops and start-up alarms protect people who work along the line, and startup must always be signalled.
Rule of thumb
If a belt tracks off on the return run, the belt moves toward the side it is running from - adjust the return idler on the opposite side to conventional carrying-side advice.
Traps
Applying carrying-side tracking logic to the return side; adding take-up to stop slip when the real cause is a worn pulley lagging; leaving guards off during a test run.