When the going gets tough, UsFlex keeps going
Battered by heavy, often razor-sharp rocks slamming into and tumbling along its surface, cutting and gouging into the rubber, it is easy to understand why even the thickest and heaviest industrial conveyor belts used on heavy quarrying and mining applications often only last a few months. Such lifetimes can easily be even shorter when rocks or other foreign objects become trapped, pierce the outer cover and rip through the carcass like a hot knife through butter. A surprising number of operators regard repeated belt repairs and replacements on primary applications as an occupational hazard. What makes this attitude so surprising is that there is a specialist belt readily available from stock, which takes such operating conditions so easily in its stride that the months turn into years. I refer, of course, to the now legendary Dunlop UsFlex range.
What usually happens now is that a stream of technical features and benefits are fired at you like bullets out of a machine gun. But not this time. Instead, I want to tell you about some real-life experiences that testify to the legend that is Dunlop UsFlex. For example, a colleague visiting a large mine in Western Africa discovered that his customer had just replaced the Dunlop UsFlex 1000/2 14+4 RE belts that had been running for 4 years with a new set of UsFlex belts. When asked why the maintenance manager proudly explained that the reason he replaced the belts was NOT that they were worn out. In fact, the opposite was true because the belts still had plenty of working life left in them. What happened was that the maintenance manager decided to replace them because otherwise, the mine’s financial management would cut his budget. The used UsFlex belts were still in such excellent condition they were put into stock as emergency spares. So in short, the customer replaced the belts because they were too good!
Stronger than steel?
It is not difficult to understand why Dunlop UsFlex belts last so long when you hear about amazing tales of strength like this one that recently occurred on a primary conveyor in a major granite quarry in Scotland. Several large pieces of granite became jammed against the tail pulley (see photo). The force was so strong that it dislocated the complete steel construction on which the tail pulley was mounted. Amazingly, the Dunlop UsFlex 1000/2 belt did not break. Instead, it simply kept on running.
These kinds of remarkable experiences are nothing new. They have been happening for years. Dunlop UsFlex continually proves itself to be the toughest belt out there. True, they are not cheap to buy but they are the cheapest to run because that is what they are designed to do; they run and run and run. Surely, the question is not whether you can afford them, but whether can you afford NOT to use them?
Les Williams
