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From the workshop, not the marketing department

Technical resources

Straight, practical chain guidance: how to identify, measure, specify and keep drives running. Written by people who handle chain every day.

Guides

Start with the problem in front of you

Each guide answers one real question, the kind that usually arrives with a machine standing still.

Reference

Roller chain size chart

Every BS and ANSI size in mm and inches: pitch, roller, width, plate, pin and breaking loads on one printable page.

Identification

How to identify an unknown roller chain

Three measurements, the ANSI eighth-inch rule, and the roller trick that separates BS from ANSI at the same pitch.

Maintenance

How to measure roller chain for wear

Check elongation properly, know the 1.5–2% thresholds, and stop a worn chain taking your sprockets with it.

Heavy-series roller chain with thickened side plates
Selection

Standard vs heavy-series chain

Same pitch, same breaking load. So what does H chain buy you, and when is the swap right?

Reference

BS to ANSI cross-reference chart

Pitch equivalents, roller diameters, and where the two standards are not interchangeable.

Worn, dirt-caked conveyor chain riding over a worn cast sprocket wheel
Diagnosis

Chain fault finding

Cracked plates, stiff links, chain climb: what each failure is telling you, and how to fix the cause.

Maintenance

Chain lubrication guide

Where to put the oil, how much, and which SAE grade, plus when oil is the wrong answer entirely.

Assembled attachment chain with spring-clip connecting links, close up
Ordering

Links, lengths & odd pitch counts

Spring clip vs cotter, even vs odd counts, and why single-pitch offset links break first.

Installation

Drive design: tension, alignment & sprockets

Centre distance, tooth counts, slack and alignment. Getting the drive right before the chain goes on.

Double-pitch conveyor chain with K-attachment platforms
Selection

Choosing the correct conveyor chain

Five questions in order: what carries the load, how much, in what environment, on what path, with which attachments.

MAXTOP high-strength HV roller chain
Selection

Case-hardened vs through-hardened pins

Two hardening routes, two very different failure behaviours, and when to pay for the upgrade.

Maintenance

Chain wear gauges: how they work

Go/no-go plates, sliding gauges and the rule method. What the 1.5% span means and when a gauge is the wrong tool.

The whole range, in one PDF

Download the full product catalogue

Every range in one document: roller, conveyor, sawmill and specialist chain with dimensions, attachments and sprocket data. Save it, print it, or send it to your designer.

PDF · 92 pages · 8 MB · full-resolution version (35 MB)

Merley Chains logo
Datasheets

One-page PDF datasheets, per range

The same figures as each range page — pitch, roller, plate, pin and breaking load — laid out to print. All of them are on the downloads page with the full catalogue.

Also worth a look

More from the workshop

Question not covered?

Ask it, if it's useful to you it's useful to others, and it may become the next guide.

Based in Malvern
Supplying UK industry from our own warehouse
Order by 1pm
Same-day dispatch and next-day delivery on stocked items, UK mainland
Cut to your length
Made to measure from bulk coil, links fitted, spec kept on file
Assembled in Malvern
Bespoke chain built up and modified in our own workshop