A steel cord conveyor belt is the right choice when one flight has to carry high tonnage over a long distance, or when the calculated belt tension exceeds what an EP fabric carcass can hold at the required safety factor. This 2026 guide covers the construction of a steel cord carcass, cord designs from 7x7 to 7x37, ST grades from ST630 to ST7500, and the cover classes that decide how long the belt actually lasts. It explains how to select width, cover gauge and edge type, why vulcanised splices succeed or fail, which quality records a buyer should demand with the belt, what drives the price per metre, and how to build an RFQ that makes competing quotations genuinely comparable. It is written from the shop floor by a factory that has built these belts since 1988.