What’s New SHAKE ‘N BAKE

LEP Chemical, a major chemical manufacturer in the United Kingdom, has come up with a rather remarkable solution to the time-consuming problem of repairing conveyor belts which develop tears and rips during operation. So simple and inexpensive is this novel solution, maintenance personnel can hardly believe what they see. (They are used to repairing belts using other, time-consuming methods which require careful attention to temperature, curing time and the application of a primer.) “We told them you can’t repair a belt with Shake `n Bake,” says Jack Dumas, president of Memsco, an engineering consulting company in Irvington, N.Y. “But, hell, they showed us you can.”

Terry Colley, general manager of lep, was in Toronto, Ont. recently and demonstrated the product to The Northern Miner Magazine. To make a repair, a repairman simply dries the belt with a blow torch, sprinkles some orange, granular material on the tear; heats it until it turns to a liquid, filling the tear; waits for it to cool (about 15 seconds to one minute, depending on the ambient temperature); then sprinkles some black, granular material on top of the orange material; heats it until it melts; then waits 15 more minutes for it to solidify before starting up the belt again.

The orange material is a patented, petroleum-based polymer which has the necessary flexibility and bonding characteristics for a good repair while the black material adds abrasion resistance.

“This very simple method was developed by a lep chemist about a year ago,” Colley says. “He has 35 years of professional experience in research, so when we gave him the problem, he came up with a solution in just five weeks. It takes just 15 to 30 minutes to repair a foot-long tear.” It can be done by one man with no special tools under any weather conditions; and the conveyor can be back in operation within minutes.

Lep developed the method to tackle a huge market in the United Kingdom, mainly for British Steel, which has been using the product for about a year. The product was so successful, the company says, that it was marketed in the rest of Europe. Now the company is working its way into the big North American market where there are at least eight million metres of new conveyor belt installed every year. Most belts require some kind of maintenance attention in the first year, Colley says.

They intend to prove the product in the tough mining market before tackling other “softer” applications. The company plans to build a manufacturing plant in the U.S. and have it operating by year-end.

The product costs about $5 per cubic inch and is available in Canada through Ronald Smith of dhm Metal in Ayer’s Cliff, Que. It will be distributed in western Canada by Stephen Coffin of rim Engineering, a consulting firm in Prince Rupert, B.C. and in Ontario and Manitoba by David Hough of Toronto.