Flexco: When every second counts!

Flexco has redesigned its Novitool Aero Splice Press – users can now splice conveyor belts even more reliably in just a few minutes

Every second costs money – and companies can really suffer financially when their plants unexpectedly come to a standstill. This is why Flexco has redesigned the Novitool Aero Splice Press and launched it onto the market. Users can now splice their PVC or PU conveyor belts – such as those used in the food industry – in just a few minutes. Thanks to the solution’s splice setting memory, high-quality results can also be consistently achieved – a particular boon for service companies.

All of the components for the splicing process are integrated into the press. The service technician simply removes the Novitool Aero from its box, plugs it in and starts working – a great time saver. During the redesigning process, Flexco technicians also widened the effective heat zone from 130 to 150 millimeters. This makes it even easier for the operator to position the splice within the press. He then uses two quick-clamping bars to anchor the material, completing the preparations for the splice.

Temperature, time and the pressure generated by the built-in compressor can be regulated by one single controller. The operator can separately regulate the temperatures for the upper and lower heating plates. This improves the quality of the splice for belts with fabric inlays or belts with very thin thermoplastic coatings. The temperature controller has a scrolling display with clear text messages to help the user navigate through the settings. The operator can also set the dwell time to the second. Other convenient features are an automatic dwell time countdown and a preheating cycle. Preheating is performed step-by-step and is 100% controlled. This improves the result if thicker or less thermally conductive belt materials are required. The faster processing also makes heating and cooling much more efficient and the splicing operation takes place automatically.

Flexco has integrated fans in both the top and bottom plates and has installed ventilation openings, all of which cool down the splice more quickly. “Our tests have shown that the faster the belt cools down, the better the splice holds,” says Michelle Graves, Product Manager at Flexco. This not only speeds up the work, it also improves the quality of the splice – and repair downtimes are reduced to a minimum.

In addition to entering the required data manually into the press, the Novitool Aero can now store more than 1,000 splice settings, which can be imported via a USB port. This is particularly convenient for service providers, since they can group the settings into relevant categories such as ‘customer’, ‘belt manufacturer’ or ‘material’. This ensures a consistently high splice quality, despite changing operating personnel. The Novitool Aero is available for belt widths of 625, 925, 1225, 1525, 1835 and 2135 millimeters.