Fareed Mohmed · Engineering
Conveyor and Elevator Chain Selector
Chain pull · Power · Working load · Chains
Describe a chain conveyor or a bucket elevator and get the total chain pull, the head-shaft power and the design working load per strand. Then see which Rexnord and Link-Belt engineered steel, welded, cast and drop-forged chains can carry it.
This is a first selection that follows the Rexnord catalogue method. It does not choose attachments, sprockets, take-up or the drive, and drive-chain selection is not included. Confirm the chain with Rexnord before you order.
Start Here: Choosing a Conveyor or Elevator Chain
A conveyor chain is chosen on its pull, not on power in the way a drive chain is. You work out the total pull in the chain from the material, the weight of the moving parts and the friction, add allowances for the duty and the speed, and pick a chain whose rated working load is above the result. This page follows the method in the Rexnord and Link-Belt Engineered Steel Chain catalogue (468B).
Describe the conveyor or elevator
Choose a bulk conveyor class or a bucket elevator, then enter the length, rise, speed, material and sprocket teeth.
Fill section 01 →Read the chain pull and power
The tool works out the total chain pull and the head-shaft power from the Rexnord formulas, then the design working load per strand.
See section 02 →Shortlist chains
Every loaded chain whose rated working load is above the design working load is listed, with the chain’s own weight put back into the pull.
See section 03 →Check the reference factors
Friction factors, material factors, speed and service factors are printed so you can see what the tool used.
See section 04 →Confirm with the maker
Attachments, sprockets, take-up, wear strips and the drive are still to be chosen. Confirm the chain and its attachments with Rexnord.
Common mistakes
Conveyor Data
Enter the conveyor in metric units. The tool converts to the pound and foot units of the catalogue formulas, and shows the answers in kN and kW. Pick the type first; the fields change to suit it.
Worked example (from the catalogue)
A horizontal scraper-flight conveyor carries bituminous coal in a steel trough: 100 ft (30.5 m) between centres, 170 US tons/h (154 t/h) at 100 ft/min (30.5 m/min), with a 12-tooth sprocket, two strands of Rexnord SR196 chain rolling on steel, flights of 5 lb/ft, coal 6 in deep against the trough sides, 16 hours a day. The catalogue gets a chain pull of 3,395 lb and a design working load of 2,444 lb per strand, below the 2,600 lb of SR196. The button fills it in, and the shortlist should put SR196 first.
Shortlist filters
Chain Pull, Power and Design Load
The total chain pull Pm is the highest tension in the chain, taken for static conditions. The service and speed factors cover shocks and the pulsation of the chain over the sprocket. If the class changes between horizontal and inclined sections, work each section separately and add the pulls.
Chain Shortlist
Chains from the Rexnord and Link-Belt catalogue whose rated working load is above the design working load. Cast and drop-forged chains use the cast-chain speed factor. Tick the families you want in section 01.
Reference Tables
The factors the tool uses, as printed in the Rexnord and Link-Belt 468B catalogue. Speeds in the speed-factor table are in feet per minute (50 ft/min is 15 m/min, 400 ft/min is 122 m/min).
Formulas
| Case | Formula (lb, ft, in) |
|---|---|
| Class 1, 1A, 2, horizontal (Y/X below f1) | Pm = X(2f1W + f2M + h²/c) + MY |
| Class 1, 1A, 2, inclined | Pm = X(f1W + f2M + h²/c) + Y(W + M) |
| Class 3, 4, 4A, horizontal | Pm = f1X(2W + M) + MY + h²X/c |
| Class 3, 4, 4A, inclined | Pm = (M + W)(f1X + Y) + h²X/c |
| Power, horizontal | HP = 1.15 S Pm ÷ 33,000 |
| Power, inclined | HP = 1.15 S (Pm − P1) ÷ 33,000, with P1 = W(Y − f1X) |
| Rolling friction | f1 = fr × da ÷ dr |
| Material per foot | M = TPH × 33.3 ÷ S |
| Estimated chain weight | W = 0.0015 × total material weight on the conveyor (classes 1, 1A, 2, 3) or 0.0005 × it (classes 4, 4A), plus the flights |
| Design working load | Pm × service factor × speed factor, times 1.2 ÷ strands for several strands |
| Bucket elevator pull | Pm = 0.5 Pt + M K D + Y(M + W) |
| Bucket elevator power | HP = 1.15 S (M D K + M Y) ÷ 33,000 |
Friction of the chain
| Chain sliding on | Friction factor f1 |
|---|---|
| Steel track, unlubricated | 0.3 to 0.5 |
| Steel track, lubricated | 0.2 |
| Hard wood | 0.5 |
| UHMW polyethylene | 0.15 to 0.4 |
| Rollers | Dry | Lubricated |
|---|---|---|
| Cast rollers | 0.5 | 0.4 |
| Steel rollers | 0.4 | 0.3 |
| Low-friction bushed rollers | 0.25 | 0.25 |
Material friction factors
| Material | f2 (on steel) | c (trough side) |
|---|---|---|
| Aluminium chips | 0.4 | 27 |
| Ashes, coal, dry | 0.5 | 36 |
| Ashes, coal, wet | 0.6 | 55 |
| Bagasse | 0.4 | 200 |
| Cement, Portland | 0.65 | 12 |
| Cement clinker | 0.7 | 12 |
| Coal, anthracite, sized | 0.4 | 25 |
| Coal, anthracite, run of mine | 0.45 | 20 |
| Coal, bituminous, sized | 0.5 | 21 |
| Coal, bituminous, run of mine | 0.55 | 20 |
| Coke, mixed | 0.55 | 42 |
| Coke breeze | 0.65 | 36 |
| Grains | 0.4 | 23 |
| Gravel, dry | 0.45 | 12 |
| Gravel, run of bank | 0.6 | 11 |
| Ice, crushed | 0.15 | 34 |
| Lime, pebble | 0.5 | 28 |
| Sand, dry | 0.6 | 7 |
| Sand, damp | 0.85 | 6 |
| Stone, screened | 0.6 | 9 |
| Wood chips, pulp logs | 0.4 | 48 |
Service factor
| Load severity | Up to 10 h/day | 24 h/day |
|---|---|---|
| Uniform | 1.0 | 1.2 |
| Moderate peaks | 1.2 | 1.4 |
| High peaks | 1.5 | 1.8 |
Speed factor
| Teeth | Eng./welded 50 | 100 | 150 | 200 | 300 | 400 ft/min | Cast 50 | 100 | 150 | 200 | 300 | 400 ft/min |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 | 1.4 | 2.0 | 2.9 | 4.4 | – | – | 1.6 | 2.3 | 2.3 | 5.0 | – | – |
| 7 | 1.1 | 1.4 | 1.8 | 2.3 | 4.0 | – | 1.3 | 1.6 | 2.0 | 2.6 | 4.5 | – |
| 8 | 1.0 | 1.3 | 1.5 | 1.8 | 2.5 | 3.6 | 1.2 | 1.4 | 1.7 | 2.0 | 2.9 | 4.2 |
| 9 | 1.0 | 1.2 | 1.4 | 1.6 | 2.0 | 2.6 | 1.1 | 1.3 | 1.6 | 1.8 | 2.3 | 2.9 |
| 10 | 0.9 | 1.1 | 1.2 | 1.4 | 1.7 | 2.0 | 1.0 | 1.3 | 1.4 | 1.6 | 1.9 | 2.3 |
| 11 | 0.9 | 1.0 | 1.2 | 1.3 | 1.5 | 1.8 | 1.0 | 1.2 | 1.3 | 1.5 | 1.7 | 2.1 |
| 12 | 0.9 | 1.0 | 1.1 | 1.2 | 1.4 | 1.6 | 1.0 | 1.1 | 1.3 | 1.4 | 1.6 | 1.9 |
| 14 | 0.8 | 0.9 | 1.0 | 1.1 | 1.3 | 1.4 | 1.0 | 1.1 | 1.2 | 1.3 | 1.5 | 1.7 |
| 16 | 0.8 | 0.9 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.2 | 1.3 | 0.9 | 1.0 | 1.1 | 1.2 | 1.4 | 1.5 |
| 18 | 0.8 | 0.9 | 0.9 | 1.0 | 1.1 | 1.3 | 0.9 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.2 | 1.3 | 1.5 |
| 20 | 0.8 | 0.9 | 0.9 | 1.0 | 1.1 | 1.2 | 0.9 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.1 | 1.3 | 1.5 |
| 24 | 0.8 | 0.8 | 0.9 | 0.9 | 1.0 | 1.2 | 0.9 | 0.9 | 1.0 | 1.1 | 1.2 | 1.3 |
Explanatory Notes
The method
The page follows the catalogue’s six steps: the class of conveyor, the total chain pull, the design working load, a tentative chain, the attachments and a check with the real chain weight. Steps 5 (attachment links) and the sprocket and drive choice are left to the catalogue.
Units
The formulas are printed in pounds, feet, inches and horsepower. The tool converts your metric entries, calculates in those units and converts the results to kN, kW and mm. Rounding can make a result differ slightly from a hand calculation in the catalogue.
Chains loaded
164 chains from the catalogue: 68 engineered steel with rollers, 34 engineered steel without rollers (including the elevator series), 32 welded steel, 23 cast and 7 drop forged. Each has the pitch, the rated working load, the weight per foot and, where printed, the recommended maximum speed with a 12-tooth sprocket.
Chains not loaded
Attachments, sprockets, buckets, the live-roller and double-flex chains and the combination, S-series drop-forged and some cast chains are not loaded. The ultimate strength is left out of the tool: where a printed value did not fit the working load it is dropped.
Drive chains
This page covers the conveyor and elevator method. The catalogue’s drive-chain selection tables (pages 94 to 102, by design horsepower and speed for 9, 12 and 15-tooth sprockets, with hub sizes) are not loaded. The Chain and Sprocket Selector handles roller-chain drives.
Speed
The catalogue gives the recommended maximum rpm of the chain for a 12-tooth sprocket and says to scale it by the teeth. The tool checks the chain speed against that, and the catalogue also says not to exceed 450 ft/min (137 m/min) for drive chain. The speed factor is not tabulated above 400 ft/min or for 6 and 7 teeth at high speed; the tool then shows no design load.
Cast and drop-forged speed factor
The catalogue’s speed-factor table has one column for cast chain and one for engineered and welded steel. The tool uses the cast column for drop-forged chain as well, which is the more severe. Ask the maker if that matters.
A printed value
In the speed-factor table the 6-tooth cast value at 150 ft/min (2.3) is no higher than the 100 ft/min value (2.3), and is lower than the steel value at 150 ft/min (2.9). The tool uses the table as printed. Avoid 6 teeth at speed.
Service factor and temperature
The catalogue prints the temperature factor in the same table as the load severity but does not say how to combine them. The tool multiplies them. Above 260 °C the catalogue says to contact Rexnord.
The class 3, 4 and 4A formula
The printed formula includes a term for material rubbing on the trough sides (h²X/c) even for carried material. The tool uses it as printed and it is zero if you set the material depth to 0.
Not covered
Take-up and catenary sag, wear strips, curved (double-flex) conveyors with their turn factors, reversing under load, and temperatures above 177 °C beyond a flag. For these, use the catalogue and the maker.
Sources
All figures were read from the Rexnord and Link-Belt Engineered Steel Chain catalogue (Conveyor, Elevator and Drive Chains, catalogue 468B, the 5050 edition) in October 2026. Confirm every chain and attachment with Rexnord before you order.
Method and factors
Design and Selection, pages 103 to 113: conveyor classes, the chain-pull formulas, friction factors, service and speed factors, the worked example and the bucket elevator formulas.
Chain data
Engineered steel with and without rollers (pages 10 to 14), welded steel (pages 36 to 40), cast chains (pages 47 and 50) and drop-forged chains (page 56).
Materials
Engineering Data, pages 124 and 125, for the typical weights of materials.