Conveyor belt problems are like bad cheese: they stink and they can really clog up your system.

But the experts on Binkelman’s Conveyor Maintenance team can help you through all sorts of trouble, including conveyor belt mistracking, blockages, material carryback, belt slipping, belt tears and splice separations. Comforting, right?

Tracking Issues

When your belt is out of alignment, you may notice that it’s running off at the head or tail pulley or that it’s pulling to one side of the conveyor. Mistracking can lead to several problems, from shortened service life due to uneven belt wear to shutting down the entire line.

Tracking issues are caused by:

Common Solutions

Blockages

A blockage is any obstruction that slows or stops a conveyor belt from efficiently moving products or materials from here to there. Blockages on a conveyor belt can damage the accumulating items and force a system shutdown.

Common Solutions

The Binkelman Conveyor Maintenance crew can prevent a conveyor belt problem like blockages by  inspecting your conveyors on a scheduled basis. We’ll keep it all movin’ for you.

Material Carryback

If some of the material on your conveyor belt is staying on your conveyor belt instead of completely discharging properly (or at the end of the conveyor), you’ve got a carryback issue. But you’re not alone. Carryback is one of the most common conveyor belt problems. It can lead to material waste, build-up under your line and idler, pulley and belt damage.

The problem can be caused by low-quality scrapers or scrapers that have been incorrectly installed.

Common Solutions

Belt Slippage

Conveyor belts that aren’t properly tensioned can fail. When they’re either too loose or too tight, belts can slip, leading to pricey problems with the belt or motor.

Regular conveyor inspections can alert you to impending slippage and related damage. A few things to look for:

Common Solutions

Belt Tears or Splice Separations

Improper splices, material build-up on pulleys and your material’s impact on the belt can all lead to rips, tears and splice separations in a conveyor belt, which can stop your operation in its tracks. But those problems can be prevented with regular inspections, the right types of splices and proper belt tensioning.

Common Solutions

What Should I Do If My Conveyor Belt Gets Damaged?

Ideally, you’ll never need to worry about actual damage. Partnering with our team for regular inspections and maintenance can reduce the chances of that. But if you ever do need emergency repairs, you can count on Binkelman for a quick response. Since we specialize in conveyor operations, we know what’s at stake and we’re committed to your success.

Conclusion

The solutions to any conveyor belt problems you may be having are a phone call away. Your Binkelman Account Rep and our Conveyor Maintenance team will work together to ensure that you stay up and running.

The small family farmers of a century ago could not have imagined how agriculture would change in the decades to come. And while some mourn the passing of those simpler times, no modern farmers can argue with the technology that’s made their efforts easier and yet more productive.

The improvements in conveyor belts are part of that technological growth. They’ve led to more efficient harvesting and sorting, as well as fewer labor-intensive tasks and reduced labor cost.

Binkelman’s partnership with Continental and our decades of focus on the agriculture industry make us a reliable source for the information, conveyor belts and related products you need.

Efficient Harvesting and Sorting

Conveyor belts make harvesting and transporting certain crops a relative breeze compared to older methods. They quickly but gently move fruits and vegetables from the field to a central sorting and packing site, resulting in less crop damage and faster time to market.

For example, with Continental’s premium bucket elevator and seed belts, you’ll enjoy precision positioning of potatoes. The exceptionally low electrical resistance and superior oil resistance properties of Pathfinder® Plus provide excellent operational safety and long life.

Designed to withstand harsh operating conditions, Pathfinder ®Plus is perfect for grain elevator, grain storage and grain transfer applications.

The tensile force required to break a 48-inch Pathfinder® 375 PIW belt is 180,000 pounds. Permanent elongation averages 0.8% at 100% of rated operating tension.

Count on Pathfinder® Plus for:

We can tell you more about the specific conveyor products that make harvesting and sorting more efficient.

Fewer Labor-Intensive Tasks

Finding reliable workers is not getting any easier, but by reducing your operation’s labor-intensive tasks, you may make working on your farm more appealing. Using conveyor systems to automate as many processes as possible can also make your farm more efficient and profitable.

Food Safety

Since conveyor belts can be set up in many agricultural environments, they can be used to quickly move all sorts of fruits, vegetables, nuts and grains to sorting, processing and storage areas. Food-safe conveyor belts keep crops cleaner, reducing the chances of contamination and helping the farming operation stay compliant with relevant regulations. And when it comes right down to it, food safety should be everyone’s primary concern.

Reduced Labor Costs

Conveyor belts make a dramatic difference to farm workers, easing the intensity of their labor. The conveyors can also cut injuries caused by lifting and repetitive motions, keeping workers safer and on the job. That leads to fewer labor shortages and all the associated costs, which is an important benefit for the farm’s owners.

And since conveyors reduce the number of workers needed in the field, management can reallocate people to handle other important tasks, helping the operation to run more efficiently.

Precision Planting

With precision agriculture, farmers can use conveyor belts to plant seeds at the ideal depth and spacing. That allows the farm to make the best use of its resources, while encouraging optimal crop growth, higher yields and less waste.

Oil-Resistant Covers

Pathfinder® Plus and CONTI® Agriflex™ covers provide superior oil resistance. That’s important to combat the potentially damaging effects of whole and crushed soybeans, oily grains and mineral oil dust suppressant sprays.

CONTI® Agriflex,™ a new offering from Continental, uses a combination of compound and fabric reinforcement innovations to deliver superior results.

Conclusion

However you use conveyors in your agricultural operation, you can trust Binkelman’s experienced team to provide the belts and related parts you need. And our expert conveyor maintenance team can keep you running with both regularly scheduled service and emergency repairs.

Talk with your Binkelman Account Rep for details.

What if, sometime in the future, you’re on a big-time game show and the emcee asks you to name more than 15 types of industrial hoses and describe their applications?

If you don’t memorize this entire article now, you won’t be able to provide those answers then, which means you won’t win the his-and-hers motorbikes, and you’ll feel like a real dope on national TV.

Of course, knowing about industrial hoses and the environments they’re made for will help you on the job, too. So, take a look at this info below. And if you ever need assistance with any type of industrial hose down the road, you can always reach out to your pals at Binkelman.

Black industrial hoses on a table

Air and Water Hose

Despite their name, air hoses carry more than just air. They can also be used to transport water and mild chemicals. Since they’re made from durable rubbers, they’re strong and flexible and typically have a long service life.

Common uses:

Water hoses are basically the same as your garden hose at home, just larger and tough enough to handle higher internal pressures. The exterior needs to withstand rugged work sites, sunlight and ozone, too. Water hoses are often found in construction, agricultural and mining environments.

Common uses:

Chemical Hose

When transferring corrosive or otherwise hazardous materials, use a chemical-resistant hose. Made from a polyethylene base, chemical hose is reinforced with a synthetic material lining and a steel wire helix that maximizes its corrosion resistance, while allowing for easy function. It’s often used in the pharmaceutical and food processing industries.

The most common application for chemical hose is transferring acids and solvents.

Dock and Barge Hose

Work in a marine environment? You might need dock hoses. They’re heavy-duty suction and discharge hoses used to transfer materials from vehicles or containers on land into storage tanks on ships and barges and vice versa. The category of dock and barge hoses also includes heat-resistant molten sulfur hoses, as well as hot tar and asphalt hoses.

Dry Bulk Material Hose

Used to transfer both wet and dry bulk materials, dry bulk material hoses feature a static-dissipating tube that helps prevent cuts and abrasions. The hoses can be attached to a suction-powered, pneumatic-powered or gravity-powered material handling system.

Common uses:

Ducting Hose

Ducting and ventilation hoses are flexible, lightweight and highly abrasive. They’re used to remove the fumes and gases from different substances, as well as dust, sawdust, wood chips and shavings, loose bulk materials and granules.

Fire & Mill Hose

While both fire hoses and mill hoses can convey water, only fire hoses are tested and FM approved for use in fire-fighting environments. Fire hoses can also carry fire-retardant foam. Mill hoses are constructed differently than simple garden hoses in order to tolerate higher water pressure and harsher environments. Mill hoses are also more economically made than fire hoses.

Common uses:

Food Handling Hose

Obviously, adhering to high safety and sanitary standards is key with food and beverage hoses. Made of USDA and FDA-approved materials like synthetic rubber or PVC, food and beverage hoses are designed to transfer both solids and liquids.

Common uses:

Lay-flat Hose

As the name suggests, lay-flat hoses default to a flat state when not filled with water or another fluid. That makes them easy to roll and store when they’re not being used.

Common uses:

Material Handling Hose

Manufacturers, farmers and food processors all need to move large amounts of material from one place to another. That’s often accomplished with material handling hoses. To avoid clogging, the hoses must have a smooth, abrasion-resistant interior, along with a pressure or vacuum rating, plus good flexibility that allows the hoses to be positioned in tight spaces. Material handling hoses can also be designed to handle heavy-duty applications.

Common uses:

Mining Hose

There are several types of mining hoses. The type you need is determined by your application. Hard-wall suction hoses, for instance, are used for pumping and transferring abrasive slurry, gravel transfer, mineral processing and general material handling.

Oil Field and Petroleum Hose

These types of hoses need to be tough on the outside to withstand the rugged conditions found in drilling, production, refinery and delivery sites, and resilient on the inside to tolerate the chemicals they transport.

Common uses:

Steam Hose

Since working with steam is so dangerous, the hoses used to transfer it are designed to protect workers by tolerating extreme temperatures (up to 450°F) and high pressures (250 psi). Made of synthetic rubber, EPDM or metal, steam hoses are built to a higher safety factor, 10:1 rather than the standard 4:1. They’re used in refineries, chemical plants, shipyards and steel mills.

Common uses:

Teflon Hose

Teflon hose is also known as Polytetrafluoroethylene, or PTFE for short. Teflon hose is flexible, chemically resistant and able to repel water. It also has low-friction and electrical insulating properties.

Teflon hose is most commonly used as a liner for rubber hose or stainless steel braided hose.

Suction and Discharge Hose

Made with a variety of rubber compounds or PVC, suction and discharge hoses are semi-rigid and feature a metal or PVC spiral reinforcement that prevents collapsing. Suction and discharge hoses are used to vacuum liquid materials from a non-pressurized source.

Common uses:

Industrial Hoses Available at Binkelman Corporation

Every one of those industrial hose types (and others) are available now at Binkelman. And, of course, our in-house hose pros are ready to custom-build the hose assemblies you need to your precise specifications.

Contact your Binkelman Account Rep to place an order or for more details.

Since that fateful day in 1946 when Binkelman materialized fully formed from a large puff of smoke, we’ve been the region’s leading supplier of bearings.

“What kind of bearings?” you ask. How ‘bout ball, spherical, cylindrical, mounted, tapered, cam, linear and precision bearings, all from leading manufacturers? We also provide technical and application support to keep your bearings happy.

Common Types of Bearings: Advantages and Applications

Let’s do what that sub-head above suggests and learn about the most common types of bearings, their advantages and applications. C’mon! Bring your friends. It’ll be fun.

Ball Bearings

Do you have a load-bearing application that uses moving machine parts and requires reduced friction? Sounds like you need ball bearings. While they handle both radial and thrust loads well, they don’t tolerate heavy weight.

There are different types of ball bearings, too, including self-aligning ball bearings, deep-groove ball bearings and angular contact ball bearings. They’re all:

Applications

Among the most widely used bearings, ball bearings are found in products as varied as bikes and skateboards, vehicle transmissions, computer hard drives and medical equipment.

Trivia: Despite her last name, “I Love Lucy” star Lucille Ball wanted nothing to do with ball bearings. “They can all go to Hell,” she once shouted during a season two rehearsal.

Cylindrical Roller Bearings

Since their primary rolling element is a cylinder, the load carried by cylindrical roller bearings is distributed over a larger area. That allows the bearing to tolerate more weight. It’s that design, though, that makes the bearing best suited for radial loads, not thrust loads.

Applications

You’ll find cylindrical roller bearings all over the power generation and transmission industries. They’re in rotary dryers, cement processing equipment, and pulp and paper machinery. Our pals in the aggregate, mining and construction worlds rely on them, too.

Trivia: Discarded cylindrical roller bearings make terrific hamster wheels.

Tapered Roller Bearings

Since tapered roller bearings tolerate both radial and thrust loads and greater amounts of weight, they’re often used in the hubs of car wheels. Enjoy this concise list of some of their better qualities:

Applications

Our customers working in the agriculture, automotive, construction and mining industries use tapered roller bearings. They’re also found in aviation, railroad and wind energy environments.

Trivia: What’s the world’s greatest TV show? BattleBots, of course. When you’re watching in bemused horror as a pair of remote-controlled warriors beat the non-living tar out of each other, just know that there may be tapered roller bearings at work underneath their cold, metallic skin.

Double Row Bearings

Built with two single row bearings arranged back-to-back, double row bearings are the right choice when the load being carried is too heavy for a single bearing. Double rows can tolerate both axial and radial loads in either direction and in tilting moments. One drawback: Double row bearings are not self-lubricated since they’re not available with seals or shields.

Applications

Look for these beauties in the aerospace, military and food processing industries, as well as in medical, textile and photo processing environments.

Trivia: Because they’re wider, double row bearings are often bullied and, therefore, suffer with self-esteem issues.

Spherical Roller Bearings

Looking for dual-directional movement versatility? Who isn’t, right? Spherical roller bearings are what you need. They reduce the friction between two components and allow for misalignment.

Take your pick from sealed bearings or non-sealed/open bearings. While the self-lubricated sealed models tend to last longer, you’ll enjoy high load tolerance either way.

Applications

Spherical roller bearings are tough cookies. They’re designed to perform in severe conditions, including as part of mining and construction equipment, in the textile industry and directly on the surface of the sun.

Trivia: The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has never – not once – awarded an Oscar to a spherical roller bearing. #Outraged

Discover Types of Bearings at Binkelman

Your Binkelman Account Rep can help you choose the bearings that are right for your applications, all while singing one of several catchy little tunes about inadequate lubrication.

In December, our President / CEO Dan Kazmierczak announced that he will be retiring after 50 years of service to Binkelman. The company will remain in family hands, though.

Dan’s son Brian and daughter Rebecca will assume ownership in 2024. Get to know our new owners below.

Rebecca Conrad

Rebecca has been with Binkelman for 25 years. After graduating with a Business degree from Miami University, she moved to Chicago where she worked with the consulting firms Price Waterhouse and Hewitt Associates.

Since joining our team in 1999, she’s learned the business by working in different departments, including customer service and then as an Account Manager. While she always had a hand in marketing and event planning, she took on the Marketing Director role full time in 2018.

Rebecca has volunteered with many organizations. She served as a board member for the Anthony Wayne YMCA and assisted with fundraising for many youth sports teams. She was the first and – to date – the only female president of the Toledo Country Club, which was established in 1897. She currently sits on the board of The First Tee of Lake Erie.

“I’m very excited about working with my brother Brian to continue building on our parents’ legacy,” said Rebecca. “They grew a company with the highest reputation in our industry and I’m proud to help carry that forward.”

Brian Kazmierczak

After earning his degree in Computer Science from DePaul University, Brian served as a Systems Support Specialist for Boldt Metronics International near Chicago.

He worked at Binkelman for a few years on IT systems and programming custom software. He then founded Rubber Tree Systems as a side project, eventually growing the company to include more than 1,200 distributors. Brian sold the successful company after 17 years at the helm. Rubber Tree still serves the fast-paced tech industry.

“During my time at Rubber Tree, I worked closely with hundreds of distributors across the country,” said Brian. “I saw a lot of great businesses and observed the cultures of companies with five employees and those with thousands of team members. I think the culture at Binkelman stacks up against the best of them.”

Brian added that “this is an exciting point in our company’s timeline. I want to congratulate my dad on 50 years at Binkelman. What a fantastic achievement! I was lucky enough while growing up to watch both my mom and dad develop all aspects of the business, from finance, customer service, supplier relationships and employee engagement. A lot of what they taught me helped me build my own company. It’s nice that I’m now bringing that knowledge back to Binkelman. I’m looking forward to this new chapter in my career, as well as continuing to deliver quality products, services and support to our valued customers.”

Sure, the temptation to craft your own pulleys from the wood scraps in your backyard shed may be strong, but resist it. Wooden pulleys are so 1850s. Instead, focus all your pulley interest on the Binkelman Pulley Assembly Center.

We stock drum and wing pulleys in many sizes, along with shafting, couplings and bearings. That should be cool enough, but there’s more.

Authorized Dodge representatives have trained the Binkelman assembly team. And with our rigorous quality assurance process, you can be sure the pulleys we assemble will live up to even the highest standards.

Since we maintain such a large selection of conveyor pulleys and provide quick delivery, you’ll always have easy access to the essential conveyor components you need, including idlers and conveyor belt. We can even ship conveyor pulleys loose or as an assembly. And, of course, the Binkelman Conveyor Service team can install all of those components as well.

Since the Binkelman team’s got all your pulley assembly needs covered, you can spend your spare time on other manly pursuits, such as throwing axes or training hawks to beat up people. The pulleys you need are just a phone call away.

Ultra-High-Molecular-Weight Polyethylene. You couldn’t shove more hyphens into that name if you tried.

Some of the guys in our back room thought it might be those hyphens that make UHMW such a strong material. We didn’t have the heart to tell ‘em that’s dumb.

UHMW does have many applications in many industries, though, including aggregate, ore and mining, agriculture, food and beverage handling, concrete, forestry and others. We can access UHMW for you in several forms, from full, half and quarter sheets to extruded rod stock, dowelled rod stock, tubing stock and more.

What can UHMW do for you? That’s a great question. Thanks for asking. Let’s take a look.

Aggregate – Sand & Gravel Industry

Duravar® UHMW-PE makes it easier to move wet sand and smooth and fine aggregate over metal surfaces. It also reduces or even eliminates corrosion and wear on your equipment.

Use UHMW-PE in these applications:

Bucket Conveyors                            Chain Wear Plates

Conveyor Belt Rollers                     Belt Wiper Blades

Filter Scrapers                                   Idler Pulleys

Rope Guides                                      Filter Liners

Shaker Screen Guides                    Wear Bars & Plates

Chain Guides                                     Chain Sprockets

Belt Scrapers                                      Filter Plates

Filter Wipers                                      Idler Rollers

Rope Pulleys                                      Shaker Screen Bar

Filter Guide Shoes                           Wear Guides

Ore & Mineral Mining Industry

When your surfaces are lined with Duravar® UHMW-PE, you’ll notice less sticking, holdup and bridging, as well as faster product flow and movement, lower energy consumption and quieter underground mechanical operations. All without the need for lubrication.

Incorporate UHMW into your drag bucket liners, slurry pump parts and any of these application:

Guide Belt Scrapers                         Idlers & Pulleys

Chain Wear Plates                           Conveyor Bucket Liners

Guides & Skirt Boards                     Impact Pads & Bumpers

Belt Rollers                                         Sprockets

Scrapers & Wipers                           Agitators

Liners & Plates                                  Shoes & Tracks

Even More Uses for UHMW

Sawmills use UHMW for their log decks. Asphalt and cement plants use it for bin and chute liners. Sugar plants line screw conveyor troughs with UHMW. And what would a list like this be without a mention of potato farmers. They use it with gravity wagons, transitions chutes and conveyor belts.

Your Binkelman Account Rep will talk your ear off about UHMW if you let him.

When you’re dealing with costly, unexpected downtime – no matter what the reason – you need a partner that prioritizes and actively prepares for emergencies.

That’s Binkelman. Here are a few reasons you should call us.

We define an emergency as any scenario in which a customer’s production process stops because of  unexpected downtime. A recent example: a fire at a customer’s facility damaged several conveyors. Our team came into the shop that same day (a Sunday), cut and slit four conveyor belts and delivered them within three hours of the customer’s initial call.

We know that most emergencies involve conveyor belts and pulleys, bearings, gearboxes and/or motors, so we make sure we have quick access to all those parts and that we have the experts standing by to install them.

At the start of each year, we publish an internal on-call schedule, assigning a point person to cover each of the 52 weeks. When an emergency call comes in, the point can quickly source the needed products – if they’re not already in one of our warehouses – and put the repair process in motion.

Yes, we work quickly to fix emergencies, but we’ve also joined with leading manufacturers to apply technology and smart solutions to proactive equipment maintenance. We’re working to be able to alert a company’s maintenance team about potential equipment failures well before they happen.

At Binkelman, we approach our customers’ emergencies with a team philosophy. All of our employees are willing to pitch in to make sure you get back up and running and that we exceed your expectations.

Contact your Binkelman Account Rep for more details.

 

Conveyor belt with technicians in the background

Pat Pieton (pronounced PEE-ton) is someone you should know and not just because his last name suggests that he has 2,000 pounds of urine inside of him. (He claims he doesn’t.)

As the leader of the Binkelman Conveyor Maintenance team, Pat brings decades of experience to each project. There’s a lot of knowledge trapped under Pat’s hat, so let’s see if we can get at some of it.

What are the services you provide for clients?

Pat: Everything conveyor-related: belt replacement, mechanical and hot vulcanizations, plus general troubleshooting. We install belts, saddles, Dutchman, rollers, bearings and pulleys. We work on conveyor tracking issues and, in some instances, we can remove the old rolled belt from the customer’s property.

What’s one of your team’s specialties?

Pat: We’re very versatile, especially when it comes to installing new conveyor belts that need hot vulcanized splices or mechanical splices (Flexco or Super Screws). Our team is broken into two groups: one handles conveyor belt installation and the other focuses on conveyor maintenance and repairs.  With the two teams we can divide and conquer or combine our resources when needed. Having two teams is very unique and allows us to safely and efficiently accomplish tasks that other belt installers can’t take on.

What is your typical response time to a customer’s request for service?

Pat: Our Belt Crew needs a day or two’s notice and the Conveyor Crew needs a day. We know how expensive downtime can be, so we always work with our customers to get them up and running as quickly as possible.

Any truth to the rumor that your body can store a super-huge amount of liquid waste?

Pat: Next Question.

What’s new and improved with the Conveyor Maintenance team?

Pat: We’ve added a conveyor repair team to handle welding, fabrication and general conveyor troubleshooting, repair and maintenance. Each member of that team has several years of aggregate maintenance experience.

And we purchased two state-of-the-art vulcanizers, a service truck with auto crane, a shop welder and a plasma cutter to support both service teams.

Binkelman is committed to conveyor maintenance for the long haul and we’re proving that by investing in the people, the training and the equipment to provide the best service in the area.

Contact your Binkelman Account Rep for assistance.

Blue and black conveyor pulley

Hey! Let’s talk about conveyor pulleys! C’mon, it’ll be fun!

At Binkelman, we carry Dodge conveyor pulleys for two reasons: 1) they’re great pulleys and 2) someone at Dodge has embarrassing pictures of us and a donkey at a Christmas party, so…

Drum Pulleys

Available in many common sizes or custom-made to your specs, Dodge heavy-duty and mine-duty extra drum pulleys are known for their high performance. They meet or exceed CEMA application standards for use with conveyor belts rated up to 750 PIW by 131 kN/m. Drum pulleys are definitely the most outgoing of all the Dodge pulleys, which means they’re a hoot at parties.

Wing Pulleys

Dodge wing pulleys meet or exceed CEMA application standards for use with conveyor belts rated up to 450 PIW by 78 kN/m. They, too, are available in stock or custom sizes and highly regarded for their performance. It’s rumored that, inside each wing pulley, the Dodge team hides a treasure map that leads to a pirate’s booty somewhere in the Caribbean Sea. We’re not sure we believe that, though.

Bushings and Hubs

Dodge bushings and hubs – also known as hubs and bushings – are designed to endure rugged environments, while extending the service life of your conveyor pulleys. Dodge’s XT bushings can be used to replace bushings on other brands of conveyor pulley products. And hubs can be used in fan rotors, impellers and agitators that need to be mounted securely to the shaft. Together, bushings and hubs – or hubs and bushings, if you prefer – pack a dynamite one-two punch that we think is outta sight!

By the way, the Binkelman team can work with Dodge to build an entire pulley assembly for you or replace just the pulley. Pretty neat, right? Contact your Binkelman Account Rep for assistance.