Felt Belts & Endless Belts
made from needle felt

At the beginning of the 2000s, we expanded our production range: BWF Protec installed the first belt needling machine for the production of endless needled felt belts. This type of felt belt is mainly used in the aluminium industry as a conveyor belt for run-out tables (aluminium extrusion), but felt belts are also used in the metal processing industry or for thermal transfer printing, for example.
In 2014, the old "felt belt machine" was replaced by a new, state-of-the-art system.

Why Endless Needled Felt Belts?
The advantages

Due to the seamless processing and the special properties of a needle felt, an endless needled felt belt offers various advantages over woven fabrics or belts made endless with connectors.
We would like to emphasise these in particular:

  • Felt, especially needle felt, offers high durability and high abrasion resistance.
  • The surface of a felt belt is gentle on sensitive parts even when highly compressed, thus preventing sensitive aluminium profiles from being scratched, for example.
  • High tensile strength and low elongation make endless needled felt belts durable and low-maintenance.
  • Endless belts made of felt are available in a wide range of fibres, thicknesses and weights. The quality of the felt belt always depends on the area of application and the customer's specific requirements.
  • No weak points in contrast to "endless made" belts, which are joined from a felt strip by the metre by sewing, welding, gluing, etc. The joint is the weak point in terms of heat resistance and strength.

The Key Data on Our Production Options
You can buy a felt belt in the following range

Here is an overview of our production options for our endless needled belts:
Thickness range
4 - 25 mm, customised productions up to 80 mm
Density range
0.15 - 0.45 g/cm³
Width
up to 2,200 mm (depending on the felt quality)
Length
1,780 - 25,000 mm
Stucture/blend
pure-grade, fibre blend, sandwich construction
Finishs
Finishing on one or both sides (e.g. PU finish, antistatic finish), colour application on one side

Where Do You Need a Felt Belt?
The areas of application

Customers who buy felt belts from BWF Protec are at home in various branches of industry. Here is a brief overview of the main areas of application for endless needle felt belts:

  • Aluminium industry: Here, endless needled felt belts of the BWF EXTRU-LINE® brand (in addition to endless needled felt rollers) are used on run-out tables in aluminium extrusion. You can find further information on use in the aluminium industry under references HTM Handling.
  • Thermal transfer printing: wide endless felt belts for use on thermal printing calenders (sublimation printing on fabrics). Due to the working temperatures, endless meta-aramid belts are usually installed here. Other properties of the belts: uniform thickness and even, soft belt surface for good printing results.
  • Conveyor belts in the metalworking industry, e.g. for laser cutting machines. Even when in contact with sharp-edged metal parts, an endless needled felt belt proves to be very resistant to damage.
  • Further applications: Pasting belts for the production of lead batteries, compacting belts, sanfor belts
[Translate to English:] Metallverbinder für endlose Nadelfilz-Bänder

Belt Variants
Extras for needle felt belts

If required, we offer various special versions of our endless felt belts. For example, we can install metal connectors (clipper joints) in the otherwise endless felt belt to make it easier to fit the belts. Other additional variants that we offer are

  • felt belts with tracking guide (sewn, glued or welded)
  • laminated belts, e.g. for smaller diameters
  • heat-resistant timing belt belts for transporting particularly heavy aluminium profiles

The application defines the design of the felt belt.

Endless Belts
for HTM Handling
Discover potential fields of application here

Interesting Facts About Endless Felt Belts
FAQ

When we talk about felt belts, we are usually referring to our endless needled belts. These felt belts are needled together on our so-called belt machine from several layers of nonwoven to form an endless belt up to 210 cm wide until the final thickness and strength is achieved. The length (circumference) of the belt is also defined here. This felt belt is then cut on our cutting table into several belts of the required final width.
When we talk about "felt tape on a roll", we usually mean felt strips that we cut from our needle felt by the metre. You can find more information on this under the category "ready-made parts".

As is usually the case in technical applications, the colour only plays a subordinate role, as this also depends on the fibre.
In the aluminium industry, for example, it is quite common for a felt belt to be green (para-aramid/preox blend), orange (PBO), yellow (para-aramid) or white (meta-aramid or polyester), as this automatically results in the temperature zone at the run-out tables.

Sandwich construction means that, for technical and/or economic reasons, the felt belt is made from several different layers of different nonwovens, so that, for example, the top layer consists of PBO nonwoven and is followed by a layer of para-aramid. This structure of different felt qualities is then often abbreviated to AB or ABA or ABC or is called a sandwich construction because of its appearance.

Common PU back coatings (usually in black) give the endless felt belt a better grip on rubber swivel castors. This ensures that the belt functions properly even when transporting heavy aluminium profiles. In addition, the belt surface on the back is sealed and can no longer run off.
The coating has no effect on the elongation or strength of the felt belt.

Do you have questions about our products?
Contact us for further information.

Your contact partner at BWF Protec