Carpet rolls, floor mats and textile goods are hard on ordinary conveyors. Rolls are long, heavy and want to roll; mats are flexible and sag between rollers; and finished faces and backings mark, snag or crush when they are handled roughly. We build carpet processing conveyors and textile roll conveyors that move these products between processes gently, change their direction in tight floor space and carry trim scrap out of the way.
Custom Conveyor has built carpet processing conveyors for a floor-mat manufacturer and a carpet roll pivot conveyor for a foam and carpet products company. Those projects draw on the same non-marking roller, pivoting transfer and belt conveyor designs found throughout our project gallery, all engineered, fabricated and assembled in our Cedar Rapids, Iowa facility.
Talk to an engineer about your roll or mat line
Tell us what you run, from full carpet rolls to cut mats, and where it needs to go. We will help you lay out conveyors, transfers and scrap handling that fit your floor.
Carpet and Textile Conveyors We Have Built
Our carpet and textile work pairs product-specific projects with handling components proven in other industries.
Relevant project experience
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Carpet processing conveyors for a floor-mat manufacturer
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A carpet roll pivot conveyor for a foam and carpet products company
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A belt/roller pop-up transfer that pivots 30 degrees on a pneumatic actuator to feed out 120 degrees from its infeed direction, built for a tight floor layout
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Urethane-covered gravity roller sections installed end to end to move long, narrow parts between processes without marking them
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A bi-directional transfer: a 120-inch-wide by 72-inch-long roller bed belt conveyor that moves 800 lb products between neighboring assembly lines
Handling Long, Heavy Carpet Rolls
Broadloom carpet is commonly made 12 feet wide, and some goods run wider, so finished rolls are long, heavy and awkward to turn. A roll that is free to roll will not stop where you want it, and a roll supported at only a few points can sag at the core or crush its outer wraps.
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Cradled or V-shaped beds keep round rolls centered and stop them from rolling off the line
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Wide belts or closely spaced roller beds support the full length of the roll
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Rolls can travel lengthwise or crosswise; crosswise travel shortens the line but needs a conveyor as wide as the roll is long
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Stops, end guards and controlled speeds keep a heavy roll from building momentum at transfers
For heavy round goods, a shaped bed does the work that guides alone cannot; we built a V-configuration conveyor to move heavy springs between processing steps in a high-volume production line.
Conveying Flexible Mats and Cut Pieces
Floor mats and cut textile pieces behave very differently from rolls. They drape between widely spaced rollers, catch leading edges on gaps and wander without continuous support. Rubber and latex backings grip the conveying surface, which helps on inclines but works against you where a mat needs to slide against a stop.
Belt conveyors with a slider or roller bed give flexible goods full support, and the belt surface can be chosen for grip, release or non-marking contact. For inclines, rough top belting helps carry product upward, as on our caster-mounted mobile transfer conveyors, which move from station to station as production changes. For very light sheet at speed, our vacuum bed conveyor carries a 62-inch-wide lightweight substrate at 850 FPM without letting it lift off. Our guide to choosing a conveyor belt material covers belt surfaces in depth.
Pivoting and Transferring Between Processes
Carpet and mat plants move product through cutting, finishing, inspection, rolling and packaging steps that rarely line up in a straight path. Long rolls and wide goods make every direction change harder, especially in buildings with tight aisles.
Pivoting a conveyor section, rather than lifting or dragging a roll, is one way to redirect long goods in limited space, and we built a carpet roll pivot conveyor for a foam and carpet products company. Elsewhere, pop-up transfers and turntables change direction at a set point in the line. Our pivoting transfer combines a belt/roller pop-up with a 30-degree pneumatic pivot to feed out 120 degrees from its infeed, a configuration developed for a particularly tight floor layout at an appliance manufacturer. Browse our full range of transfer equipment for other options.
Protecting Surfaces, Pile and Backing
Carpet face yarn, mat logos and coated or printed textiles show every scuff, crush mark and grease spot. Contact surfaces should grip the product firmly enough to convey it without marking it.
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Urethane-covered rollers grip well and do not mark; we have built non-marking gravity roller sections for long parts and a powered non-marking roller conveyor that protects painted surfaces on heavy parts
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Belt covers matched to the product face, including non-marking silicone; our high-temp belt conveyor uses a non-marking silicone-covered belt with variable speed for a coating process
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Guides, rails and transitions without sharp edges or pinch gaps that snag loose fibers or fringe
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Drive and bearing placement that keeps lubricants away from the product
Supporting Cut-to-Length and Trimming Operations
Cutting carpet and mats to length, trimming edges and binding require the product to arrive square, flat and at a known position. We do not build the cutters or trimmers themselves; we build the conveyors that feed and receive them.
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Infeed conveyors that present goods squarely to a cutting or trimming station
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Indexing conveyors that stop product at precise locations, like our automation support system, which receives parts from one machine and indexes them into the next process step using non-marking contact surfaces
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Outfeed and accumulation conveyors that clear cut pieces so the cutter does not wait on material handlers
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Variable-speed drives that can be tuned to the process in real time
Our guide to conveyor system integration explains how new conveyors tie into existing machines and controls.
Handling Trim, Selvage and Other Scrap
Trimming and cutting produce a steady stream of edge strips, selvage and offcuts, plus fiber dust and lint. Left on the floor, that scrap becomes a trip hazard and a housekeeping burden; conveyed away, it can be collected in bins or fed to downstream recycling or disposal equipment.
We build conveyors that carry waste from processing machines to where it is collected, including a slide bed belt scrap conveyor that moves scrap from a processing machine into a bin placed for direct fork truck access, and a grip top incline conveyor that carries wood scrap from a saw line into a mulcher feed bin. We have also built a shredder feed conveyor for a plastics processor and a dust collection trailer fill system for a window manufacturer.
Carpet and Textile Conveyor FAQs
Related Resources
Explore related pages from Custom Conveyor.
Industries:Sheet Processing Tire & Rubber Manufacturing
Related equipment:Belt Conveyors Transfer Equipment Specialty Conveyors
Project examples:Vacuum Bed Conveyor Heavy Duty Rubber Conveyor Pivoting Transfer
Guides:Belt Conveyors vs. Roller Conveyors
Plan your carpet or textile handling line
Send us your product specs and layout, and our engineers will design, build and test conveyors that move rolls, mats and scrap without damaging your product.
Conveyors for carpet rolls, mats and textiles, built around your process.