Method and apparatus for cutting belts from a belt sleeve material

A cutting system comprising:

• a belt sleeve comprising a body with a width between laterally spaced sides and which is to be cut at a predetermined cutting location on the body to form an individual belt;
• a support subassembly around which the belt sleeve is trained;
• a cutting subassembly comprising a cutter having a cutting edge to engage and cut the belt sleeve at the predetermined cutting location,
• the cutting subassembly further comprising a base element which carries the cutter and which is repositionable to move the cutting edge in a lateral direction relative to the belt sleeve;
• an imaging subassembly for generating an image of the actual lateral relationship between the cutting edge and the predetermined cutting location;
• and
• a control system for a) comparing the image of the actual lateral relationship between the cutting edge and the predetermined cutting location to a reference image showing a preferred lateral relationship between the cutting edge and the predetermined cutting location b) determining a deviation between the actual lateral relationship between the cutting edge and the predetermined cutting location and the preferred lateral relationship between the cutting edge and the predetermined cutting location, and c) generating a signal indicative of the deviation which can be processed to cause the base element to be repositioned to reduce the deviation between the actual lateral relationship between the cutting edge and the predetermined cutting location and the preferred lateral relationship between the cutting edge and the predetermined cutting location.