How long should a primary conveyor belt cleaner blade last in a mine?

Answer:
⚠️ Only if the specific cleaner and carbide tip are explicitly designed to tolerate that splice. Otherwise, it can be a high-risk combination.

Rigid carbide tips can catch raised mechanical fasteners. The impact may chip the carbide, bend the cleaner, damage the fastener or tear the belt.

Before using carbide, inspect:

• fastener type and profile
• splice condition
• whether fasteners are properly recessed/skived
• belt-cover damage
• cleaner blade relief capability
• tensioner response
• belt speed
• direction of travel

Some segmented cleaner designs use independently moving blades or specially engineered tips that are compatible with certain mechanical fasteners.

Compatibility therefore belongs to the complete cleaner system, not merely the material “tungsten carbide.”

If the splice is raised, damaged or inconsistent, a resilient PU primary cleaner is generally more forgiving.

Never solve carryback by increasing carbide pressure against a questionable splice. Repairing the belt/splice and selecting the correct cleaner geometry is usually safer and more economical.

Answer:
🛠️ Use the minimum controlled pressure that produces stable cleaning, and set it according to the cleaner manufacturer’s tensioning specification.

More pressure does not automatically mean a cleaner belt. Excessive tension increases friction, blade temperature and wear and can accelerate belt-cover damage. Too little tension is also harmful: material can pass or wedge between the blade and belt, creating streaks and uneven wear.

As a general engineering reference, low-pressure elastomer pre-cleaners may operate around 14 kPa (about 2 lbf/in²) blade-to-belt pressure, but many commercial tensioners are adjusted by spring length, torque, indicator marks or a specified dimension rather than by directly measuring pressure.

After installation, look for:

• uniform contact across the cleaning width
• no chatter or bouncing
• no excessive blade deflection
• no hot spots or burning smell
• minimal carryback downstream
• even wear across blade segments

If you constantly need to re-tension the cleaner, investigate the mounting geometry, spring/torsion unit, belt vibration and blade compound.

A correctly designed spring, torsion or pneumatic tensioner should accommodate normal blade wear while maintaining useful contact.

Answer:
📐 For a conventional elastomer primary cleaner, a commonly used engineering reference is a positive-rake attack angle of approximately 30–45° relative to the tangent of the belt at the blade contact point. However, this should never replace the installation dimensions specified for your exact cleaner.

Different cleaners use different blade profiles, pivot locations and tensioning systems. Some curved blades are designed to maintain a consistent cleaning angle automatically as they wear. Other models use manufacturer-defined pole-center dimensions rather than asking installers to measure an attack angle directly.

The cleaner is normally mounted against the head-pulley face below the material discharge trajectory, allowing scraped carryback to fall into the discharge stream.

During installation:

1. Lock out and isolate the conveyor.
2. Confirm head-pulley diameter and belt thickness.
3. Mark the manufacturer’s mainframe/pole centerline.
4. Set both mounting brackets symmetrically.
5. Confirm blade contact across the material path.
6. Apply the specified tension.
7. Rotate/jog only under the site’s approved commissioning procedure.
8. Inspect the contact pattern after initial operation.

Do not increase angle or pressure simply because some material remains. A primary cleaner removes the bulk carryback; fine residual film is normally handled by a secondary cleaner.

Answer:
⚙️ A primary or pre-cleaner is normally installed on the face of the head pulley, just below the material trajectory after discharge.

This position matters because the belt is supported by the pulley while the scraper contacts it. The scraped material can also fall back into the main discharge stream instead of accumulating along the return conveyor.

Do not choose the mounting point only because there is convenient steelwork nearby. The correct location depends on:

• head-pulley diameter
• belt thickness
• cleaner blade geometry
• discharge trajectory
• chute clearance
• pole/mainframe position
• tensioner travel
• access for future blade replacement

A common installation mistake is mounting the cleaner too far from its designed pivot location. The blade may look correct when new, but the contact angle changes badly as it wears. Cleaning efficiency then drops and maintenance personnel compensate by adding excessive tension.

Before fabrication, obtain the cleaner’s dimensional installation drawing and verify it against the actual head pulley.

A photo, belt width and pulley diameter are helpful, but site dimensions around the chute and mainframe remain essential.