One of the first considerations when choosing a conveyor is the belt. How do you know which type of belt is right for your product and application? One major decision is whether you want a fabric belt or chain.
The choice all depends on what your specific needs are for your project and what product you are trying to move.
One nice feature of using a fabric belt is that they are able to be more tightly tensioned on the spindle making them more accurate. If you are moving small or delicate parts from one place to the next a belted conveyor would be good because of their small transfer abilities make damaging products less likely. They also can move at very high speeds while still keeping their precision.
On the other hand, chain conveyors are good for applications that call for product accumulation. Typically, chains have less friction than belts which is why using them from accumulation is ideal. For example, if you’re trying to move products to packaging stations where workers are hand-packing products you might want to consider a chain conveyor which would allow product to accumulate until they can be packaged.