Fareed Mohmed · Engineering
Timing Belt Selector for Lifting
Load · Belts · Profile · Width
For a load lifted by timing belts, one on each side. Enter the load, acceleration, lift speed and safety factor. The tool works out the force in each belt, then finds which profile and width can carry it, checking both belt tensile strength and tooth shear on the drive pulley. It also gives the drive torque and power.
Ratings are the tensile loads and tooth forces published by Ammeraal Beltech for its PU Torque Steel belts. This sizes industrial lifts only. It is not for lifting people, and lifts over people or in public areas need a design checked to the applicable lifting standards. Confirm the final choice against your supplier's catalogue.
Start Here: The Selection Process
Ten steps from the lift to the part number, in the order the tool works. Read this once, then use sections 01, 02 and 03. Steps with a button link to where you enter or read that step. Step 9 is done outside the tool.
Define the lift
Write down what the belts carry and how the lift moves, before choosing any belt.
- Load mass: everything the belts carry, including the carriage, tooling and the payload
- Lift speed and acceleration (how fast it starts and stops)
- Number of belts, and whether the load is centred so the belts share it evenly
- Duty: cycles per hour, hours per day, and the environment
Work out the force in each belt
The worst case is the load accelerating upward, so the force includes acceleration: total force = mass × (9.81 + acceleration). Then share it between the belts: belt force = total force ÷ number of belts × load-sharing factor.
Apply the safety factor
Design force = belt force × safety factor. A lift needs a larger factor than a drive belt, because a broken belt drops the load.
Choose the belt fixing
How the belt ends are held decides which tensile rating is used.
- Open-ended, clamped at both ends: the usual lifting arrangement, with the full open-end rating
- Endless, welded: the weld halves the tensile rating, and only 6 teeth in mesh count
Choose the drive pulley
The drive pulley sets the belt bending and the pulley speed. The tool checks it against the catalogue minimum.
- Smallest teeth: T5 10, T10 12, AT5 and AT10 15, HTD 5M 16, HTD 8M 18, AT20 18, HTD 14M 28
- At least 6 teeth in mesh, which means about 12 or more teeth for a half wrap
- Pulley speed = 60000 × belt speed ÷ (π × pitch diameter). The tool warns above 4000 RPM, and above 3 m/s belt speed as high for a lift
Select the profile and width
The belt must pass two checks, and the smaller limit governs:
- Tensile strength: the design force must not exceed the allowable tensile load for the width
- Tooth shear on the drive pulley: specific tooth force × width × teeth in mesh
Width is chosen last, after the pulley, because the teeth in mesh decide what each millimetre can carry. The tool picks the narrowest standard width that passes.
Get the drive torque and power
The belt needs a motor and gearbox. Torque = mass × (9.81 + acceleration) × pulley pitch radius ÷ efficiency. Holding torque is mass × 9.81 × radius, and power = total force × speed ÷ efficiency.
Compare the catalogues
Each catalogue rates belts on its own published data, so the width can differ between them. Section 02 checks your lift against every belt from every brand, lists the ones that pass, and gives the reason each of the others fails. Section 04 shows the narrowest belt from each catalogue, and section 05A adds a MISUMI conveyor-method check (K = K1 + K2 + K3).
See which brands and belts pass in section 02 → See each catalogue in section 04 →Add the safety items the tool does not check
- A brake that holds the load when power is lost. A belt drive does not hold a load by itself
- Belt stretch and positioning accuracy, and shock from a stop or a jam
- Pulley flanges to keep the belt on, belt tracking, and regular inspection
- A way to stop the load if a belt breaks, where the application needs it
Finalise and order
- Take the profile, width and belt length from the result
- Use the brand part numbers as a starting point and confirm the exact code with the supplier
- Confirm the final choice against the supplier’s catalogue and your lifting standard
Six common mistakes
Brands that make this product
Filled gold: loaded in this tool and rated from the catalogue. Outlined gold: loaded for part numbers only, not strength-checked. Grey dashed: not loaded yet. Hover a brand for what is loaded.
Ammeraal Beltechrated
Gatesrated
Cross & Morserated
ContiTechrated
MISUMIrated
Brecoflexpart numbers
Optibeltpart numbers
Megadynenot yet
Mitsuboshinot yet
Bandonot yet
Tsubakinot yet
SITnot yet
Fennernot yet
Elatechnot yetTo use a brand that is not loaded, take the design force per belt from section 03 to that brand’s catalogue and follow the same steps: profile first, width last. The “Your belt” list in section 01 offers only the loaded brands.
See every hardware and brand →Brand names and logos are trademarks of their owners and are shown only to identify catalogues.
Lift Details
Choose from the lists, or pick "Type a value…" to enter your own number.
Your belt optional
Optional. Skip this to get the suggested belts below. Or pick a brand, model and width to see how that belt performs in this lift. The result appears at the top of the Result section.
Brands And Belts That Pass
Your lift is checked against every belt in every catalogue loaded: each brand, each profile and each standard width. A belt is listed when at least one standard width carries your design force per belt, with enough teeth on the drive pulley. It uses the same calculation method and belt fixing you chose in section 01. Each card shows how many belts in that catalogue pass. Click a card to see only that brand. Press Select on a row to load that belt into Your belt and see the full working in section 03.
Result
Belt From Each Catalogue
Show every profile for every catalogue
Brand Part Numbers
Designations follow each brand's usual pattern, with width and length in mm. Endless belts are made to your length. Confirm lengths and widths in stock with the supplier.
Allowable tensile load for a 25 mm belt, by brand
Values in N for a 25 mm wide belt. Ammeraal and Gates are both steel-cord, open-ended ratings (Gates states 12 or more teeth in mesh), so those two are close to a like-for-like comparison. Cross & Morse gives a maximum belt tension, not an open-end or welded rating. The Optibelt belt has an aramid cord and is not comparable. For other widths, scale roughly in proportion to width.
MISUMI Conveyor Method (B-036)
From MISUMI’s Economy series technical data, Selection of Conveyor Timing Belts (B-036): Te, Td = K × Te, Table 5 allowable tension of joint belts, Table 6 minimum pulley teeth, Table 8 installation tension. Shaft load Fs = 2 × Ti. Allow for the centre-distance adjustment in Tables 7-a and 7-b. Confirm the final choice with MISUMI.
Belt Identification by Profile
With your drive pulley tooth count, each profile has a different pulley diameter and pulley speed. The narrowest standard width that passes both checks is shown for each profile.
The highlighted row is the narrowest passing belt, using the smaller pitch when widths tie. A dash means no standard width passes, or the pulley is below the profile's minimum teeth.
Width Check for One Profile
A width passes when both limits are at or above the design force. Margin is the weaker of the two limits divided by the design force.
Calculation Steps
How each catalogue is calculated
How It Is Calculated
Force in each belt
Total force = mass × (9.81 + acceleration), the worst case while accelerating upward. Belt force = total force ÷ number of belts × the load-sharing factor (1.0 even, 1.2 for 60/40, 1.4 for 70/30). Design force = belt force × safety factor.
Belt tensile check
The design force must not exceed the allowable tensile load for the width. Open-ended belts clamped at both ends use the "open end" rating. Endless welded belts use the "welded endless" rating, which is half of that.
Tooth shear check
On the drive pulley, tooth-limited force = specific tooth force × width × teeth in mesh. Specific tooth force falls with pulley speed and is read at the pulley RPM (belt speed ÷ pitch circumference) with linear interpolation. Teeth in mesh is half the pulley teeth for a 180° wrap, capped at 12 for open-ended belts and 6 for endless welded belts.
Drive torque and power
Torque on the drive pulley shaft = mass × (9.81 + acceleration) × pulley pitch radius ÷ efficiency. Holding torque is mass × 9.81 × radius. Power = total force × speed ÷ efficiency.
What is not covered
Belt stretch and positioning accuracy, clamp design, shock loads from a stop or a jam, pulley flanges, and brake sizing. A timing belt does not hold a load by itself. The drive needs a brake that holds the load when power is lost.
Belt from each catalogue
Each catalogue is rated on its own published data. Ammeraal Beltech has tooth-force and tensile tables for eight profiles. Cross & Morse publishes tooth shear strength by speed and maximum belt tension by width for T5, AT5, T10 and AT10, so its widths are the ones with a published tension. Gates publishes, for each width, an allowable belt force (open-ended and endless welded) and an allowable effective force at 12 or more teeth in mesh, for T5, AT5, T10, AT10, AT20, HTD5M, HTD8M, HTD14M and the stronger-cord HTDL14M. The tool scales the Gates effective force down in proportion when fewer than 12 teeth are in mesh, and uses the welded rating for endless belts. Gates stock sizes decide the part numbers. Cross & Morse rubber RPP belts and Gates rubber belts are not covered. ContiTech SYNCHROBELT HTD rubber belts (glass cord) are rated from ContiTech power rating tables, the teeth-in-mesh factor and length factor from its design data, and the permissible effective pull per width. This tool treats your service factor as ContiTech's overall service factor. The ContiTech open-ended polyurethane belts are not rated. The Brecoflex and Optibelt designations are built from their order patterns and are not strength-checked either.
MISUMI Economy series
Two MISUMI belt catalogues are added. MISUMI PU belt, steel core, uses the allowable tension MISUMI prints for open-end and closed-end belts in T5, T10, HTD 5M and HTD 8M; the Belt fixing field picks the open-end or the closed-end value, and MISUMI gives no teeth-in-mesh factor, so none is applied. MISUMI urethane belt, B-036 rule, takes 2/3 of the open-end urethane allowable tension in MISUMI’s technical data, the rule MISUMI gives for belts that do not simply convey. Section 05A applies MISUMI’s conveyor method itself: Te, Td = K × Te with K = K1 + K2 + K3, and the allowable tension of joint belts in Table 5. Rubber belts, pulleys and part numbers are listed in the brand table. Check part numbers and lengths with MISUMI.
Source
Ammeraal Beltech PU Torque Steel datasheets (T5, AT5, T10, AT10 NT, AT20, HTD5M, HTD8M, HTD14M). Cross & Morse Timing Belt Catalogue, polyurethane belts: tooth shear resistance table, design limits for maximum belt tension and stock lengths. ContiTech SYNCHROBELT HTD Synchronous Drive Belts catalogue (power ratings, factors, permissible pull) and ContiTech list of dimensions (stock lengths and widths). Gates Industrial Power Transmission catalogue (Synchro-Power PU stock sizes) and Gates TPU Product Catalog (allowable belt force and effective force tables). Always check current figures with the manufacturer.