Conveyor Systems

Conveyor Systems Buying Guide

Gravity does the work here. Every conveyor on this page is unpowered, which keeps the buying decision simple. On a level roller line the push needed to start a load moving is roughly 3 percent of its weight, so a 200 lb tote takes only a few pounds of hand pressure to send down the rollers. Pitch the line downhill and gravity takes over: a common starting point is about half an inch of drop per foot of length, less for heavy loads that would otherwise run away, and more for light or irregular items that stall. Because there is no motor, there is nothing to wire, no controls to spec, and no powered-equipment training to schedule. The trade is that a person or gravity has to supply the energy, so these lines fit short runs, packing benches, dock work, and the gaps between other machines rather than long automated transport across a plant.

Roller conveyor: match the spacing to your shortest box. The straight gravity roller section is the workhorse, and Vestil sells a standard length here for around 854 dollars. The one rule that decides whether a roller line works is spacing: keep at least three rollers under the load at all times, which means the roller centers can be no more than a third of your shortest package length. A 12 inch box wants centers of 4 inches or tighter, or it drops nose-first into the gap between rollers and stops. Roller conveyor suits firm, flat-bottomed loads such as cartons, totes, and small crates. Anything with an open bottom, a rim, or a soft sag rides better on closer centers or on skate wheel, so measure your worst case, not your average, before you set the pitch.

Expandable roller conveyor: the line that comes to the trailer. When the conveyor has to move to the work instead of the work moving to it, the expandable roller conveyor is the answer, priced around 3,375 dollars with a 200 lb per section rating. It concertinas out to bridge a dock to a trailer, then contracts and rolls out of the way when the truck leaves, and it curves so a single unit can swing between two dock doors or track around an obstacle. This is the tool that empties or loads a trailer one carton at a time without an operator carrying anything more than a few feet. Watch the capacity: at 200 lb it is built for boxes and parcels, not palletized freight, so keep heavy skids on the pallet jacks and stackers and let the expandable line handle what people would otherwise hand-stack.

Ball transfer platforms: move and rotate at the station. A roller line moves a load one direction. A ball transfer platform moves it any direction. Vestil builds these as a flat grid of load-bearing balls, each sitting on smaller support balls so it rolls 360 degrees under light push, in sizes from 18 by 28 inches up to 40 by 48 inches and roughly 534 to 1,190 dollars depending on the footprint. The point is manual positioning: slide a box square to a taping head, spin a part to face the operator, or merge two lines where packages have to be nudged onto a new path. The same three-contact logic as rollers applies, so keep at least three balls under the load, which the tighter grids do easily. These platforms pair naturally with a lift table when the job is to hold work at the right height and turn it, not carry it somewhere.

Pop-up transfers and single balls: build the surface you need. Two products let you shape the transfer yourself. The pop-up ball transfer platform, about 516 to 940 dollars in 19 by 32 and 40 by 48 inch sizes, sits flush until it is raised above the surrounding roller line, at which point the balls lift the load clear and let it move off at a right angle before dropping back. That is how you divert or turn a package off a straight run without a mechanical pusher. The strips and single ball transfers, from about 6 dollars for one ball up to roughly 125 dollars for a 60 inch strip, are the raw components: drop them into a workbench, a chute end, or a custom fixture to add low-friction, multi-direction movement exactly where a full platform will not fit. Between the two, most odd transfer points can be solved without a custom machine.

Capacity, safety, and where conveyors sit in the flow. Rate every section over your heaviest real load with margin, the same discipline as any lifting gear, and remember that a platform rated for boxes is not rated for a full pallet. Even unpowered conveyors fall under ASME B20.1, the safety standard for conveyors and related equipment, which covers guarding at pinch points, keeping hands clear of moving rollers, and safe loading practice, so brief anyone working a line and guard transfer nips where loads change direction. The last question is how loads reach the conveyor and leave it. Cartons come off a truck by hand or on the expandable line, but pallets and heavy unit loads still need forklift trucks, pallet jacks, or hand trucks and carts at each end. A conveyor is the middle of the flow, not the whole of it, so plan the handoffs before you plan the line.