Grooved Conveyor Rollers
Round-belt (O-ring) driven rollers for line shaft and roller-to-roller conveyors;
single, double-O, or multi-groove; pressed-groove or injection-molded pulley-groove;
galvanized steel, zinc-plated steel, or 304 stainless steel.
Two Grooved-Roller Constructions
Round-belt drive grooves are made in two ways. Choose the right construction based on your conveyor layout, drive method, and roller position.
Round-Belt Drive โ Line Shaft & Roller-to-Roller
An elastic polyurethane round belt (O-ring) seated in the groove drives the roller by friction โ taken from a line shaft, or from a motorized roller. With a double groove, each roller carries the drive on to the next, so a whole powered zone runs from a single drive, without chains or flat belts. In line shaft and roller-to-roller conveyors, the grooved roller is the driven roller.
Specifications & Selection
Material Options
Other finishes to order โ nickel or chrome plating, or PU/PVC covering.
How We Make Our Grooved Rollers
Where Grooved Conveyor Rollers Fit
Explore More
- Engineering guides: bearing housings for driven rollers and mounting options for your frame.
- Closest relative: Poly-V drive rollers — belt-driven with a multi-rib Poly-V belt for firm, positive powered transport.
- Where they run / not sure which type? grooved rollers on powered & accumulation lines; or compare all conveyor roller types.
Frequently asked questions
A grooved conveyor roller is a conveyor roller with one or more grooves that seat an elastic round belt (O-ring), so the roller is driven by friction from a line shaft or an adjacent roller. It is the driven roller in line shaft and roller-to-roller conveyors.
Choose by how the drive is carried. A single groove drives the roller from one belt โ basic line shaft or single-belt drive. A double-O groove takes the drive in on one belt and passes it on to the next roller on the second โ the roller-to-roller daisy chain that powers a whole zone from one drive. Multi-groove puts several belts on one roller for higher driven load or multiple parallel belt lines. Single and double-O are the most common.
Pressed-groove has the groove rolled into the steel tube (all-metal, any position, many diameters and R-profiles). Pulley-groove uses an injection-molded plastic pulley (ร50 / ร60, R5) pressed onto the tube end โ quieter, but only at the end and not separately replaceable.
Pressed-groove covers ร38, ร42, ร48, ร48.26 (1.9โณ), ร50, ร60 mm with R3 / R4 / R5 profiles (R5 most common). Pulley-groove is ร50 / ร60 with an R5 groove.
There’s no fixed belt-to-groove pairing. The R-number is the groove’s radius โ its depth: an R5 groove is a 5 mm-deep half-round, 10 mm across. The belt diameter is chosen by whether the O-ring should sit below the tube surface: if it must not stand above the tube (so it can’t catch the load โ common when the groove is mid-tube), use a smaller belt, e.g. ร4โร5 mm in an R5 groove; if standing slightly proud is acceptable, ร6 mm also fits. We can also press the groove a little deeper to keep a chosen belt recessed. We supply ร3 / ร4 / ร5 mm polyurethane O-rings; R5 is the most common groove.
No โ like a Poly-V head, the pulley is pressed on and cannot be swapped on its own (customers usually do not have the pressing equipment). Custom sizes require new injection-mold tooling.
Galvanized steel for general-purpose, cost-effective duty; 304 stainless for washdown, food, and corrosive lines. For cost, a stainless tube can be paired with carbon-steel ends.
