O-Ring Belts
O-ring belts, also known as round belts or endless belts, are a type of round belt used for both light and heavy-duty low torque belt drive applications.
Quick links to O-Ring Belts Information
Applications of O-Ring Belts
In general, belt drives are used to transmit power or motion. O-ring belts are used in conjunction with round belt pulleys to transmit power across long distances.
These belts have a number of power transmission applications, including:
- Printing
- Commercial Sewing
- Live Roller Conveying (providing motion power to conveyors like lineshaft conveyors and powered rolling conveyors)
- Vacuuming
- Serpentine Drives
- Twisted Drives
- Quarter-Turn Drives
O-Ring Belt Design and Customization
O-ring belts are named after their circular cross sections, which are made from elastomeric plastic materials, such as rubber, nylon, or urethane. Of these, urethane is the most popular. Because they use such stretchable material, o-ring belt drives do not require belt tensioners. In addition, their material makeup makes them stable, resistant to abrasion and cuts, resistant to stress from bends, non-fraying, and non-marking. If manufacturers so choose or if you request it, the belts can be altered to exhibit a number of different characteristics, such as UV resistance, anti-static behavior, increased oil resistance, and different textures. O-rings are also available in FDA/food grade approved varieties. Also, elastomers like urethane are easy to color, so manufacturers can custom color your o-ring belts.
Manufacturers fabricate o-ring belting cross sections in a wide range of lengths and inner diameters, as well as surface hardnesses. Note that surface hardness may be measured using the Shore durometer scale. You may purchase your o-ring belts as continuous pieces of material, or they may be connected together in a system using glue, staples, or other connection hardware. Continuous belt material does tend to be stronger than spliced material. What is best for you depends entirely on your application and the stresses and environment to which the belts will be subject. To find out more, talk to a reliable belt drive manufacturer, such as one of those we have listed on this directory page.