[ddmckee54]

I used to work in a food processing plant, and I've seen a lot of conveyor belts in various widths, from 50+ inches down to a couple of inches. Buying the stock for the belts ain't cheap.

Have you thought about making your own custom belts? Used treadmill belts belts can be had for a few bucks, they are usually only a couple mm thick, and they are the right color. They can be split to the desired width, and then scarf joined to length. Winky's Workshop had an excellent video on how to make a custom flat belt using heat cured glue. A 90 degree scarf joint is the easiest to make, but will be a little noisier when the joint hits a pulley/roller. An angled scarf joint will be quieter as it runs over the rollers.

Don't forget to crown the pulleys/rollers, it makes tracking the belt much easier - crowning the pulley will make the belt want to self-center. A few turns of tape in the middle of the pulley/roller should be enough, just be sure to wrap the tape in the proper direction. A small slice of heat shrink tubing might also work. A softer material with a lot of grip on the drive pulley/roller helps avoid belt slippage, and be sure to make the idler pulley/roller adjustable for belt tracking. Also, you want to pile your product up in the middle of the belt when you load it onto the belt, keep it away from the edges. The product will spread out as it travels, every time it gets jiggled around a little it'll spread out.

If you do add ribs to the belt, I'd keep them as narrow as possible, and as far apart as possible. The ribs are going to make the belt stiffer and harder to drive around the pulleys/rollers. Make your drive and driven pulleys as large as possible, idler rollers can be small, but the end pulleys/rollers need to be big.

Don