Solid steel belts can be tracked on a conveyor by several different methods. The belt can be delivered  plain, which requires some external tracking method, or can be furnished with v-ropes attached to the bottom side which either rides in grooves or on the outside of the rotating drums or sheaves.
 

Rubber v-ropes

Different methods are used to attach a v-rope to the stainless steel belt, In most cases the attachment can only stand at low temperature up to 80° C (176° F). If the attachment gets exposed to higher temperatures, the v-rope gets loose and cannot track the steel belt any more. For the use at high temperature, a spiral v-rope was developed which is made of the same material as the steel belt and welded onto the belt.

Contibelt has developed the unique Converope^(TM) technique for attaching the v-rope to the steel belt. The direct vulcanization method is using un-vulcanized rubber which is vulcanized directly on the steel belt. The v-rope material can be furnished with temperature resistance up to 135° C (275° F) and for special applications up to 180° C (356° F).
 

alternatives to rubber v-ropes:

Spiral v-ropes
 

properties:	made of the same material as the belt.
advantage:	Useable at higher temperatures
disadvantage:	Loud noises when running Expensive The welding spots get loose, the v-rope gets loose after some time Edge cracks after some time because of the welding spots Worse repairability

Automatic guiding system
 

advantage:	Useable at any temperature No v-ropes which can get loose, proper tracking of the belt
disadvantage:	Very expensive Heavier conveyor (pulleys instead of wheels)