“The abrasive fi laments work like fl exible fi les, conforming to workpiece contours, wiping and fi ling across part edges and surfaces to deliver maximum burr-removal rates along with an ideal surface fi nish,” said Sun. Among a variety of abrasive ny- lon brush tools available, Sun has adopted the NamPower line offered by Brush Research Manufacturing (Los Angeles, CA). According to Sun, Orange Vise utilizes a variety of deburr- ing tools, including a 45° chamfer. Although the tool doesn’t typically leave a burr, when it begins to wear—even slightly— it can. Based on this possibility, Orange Vise required an em- ployee to inspect each part and handle any burrs by hand. Now the company automatically deburrs chamfered holes and edges using the NamPower abrasive disk brush in ad- dition to chamfering with a 45° milling cutter. The redundant operation of brushing adds minimal cycle time, improves surface fi nish, and ensures burr-free parts. In fact, abrasive nylon fi bers offer improved compliancy to the contours of even very complex workpieces, preventing damage while ensuring consistent fi nishing quality. “A prob- lem with wire brushes is that the bristles tend to shoot out, they don’t really stay put,” Sun said. “When they bend, they often stay permanently deformed.”
Sun said that using abrasive nylon brushes has eliminated the need to use other tools in automated applications, such as chamfer tools for deburring, and face mills for surface polishing. “This tool is also applicable when tumbling would be
required to achieve extensive deburring,” Sun said. “While tumbling can certainly produce a nice surface fi nish, it can also create minor defects on parts because they come into contact with one another. Although it may take an extra minute or two to completely fi nish workpieces in the machine using the abrasive nylon brush technology, in my experience it is usually worth it in terms of quality and costs.” “We have two different patterns of these brushes, one is called the Dot Style, while the other is called Turbine Style,” Sun said. “We use the Dot Style for deburring highly contoured workpieces with a lot of peaks and valleys. It is particularly economical for light deburring operations when short cycle times are important.” According to Sun, the Turbine Style brush has a more ag-
gressive pattern and is used mainly for medium and heavy de- burring applications. This style of brush is better suited towards fl atter workpieces with fewer contours and can be used to simulate a milled fi nish without actually removing any material. “We weren’t expecting to use brushes so much, but we’re fi nding more and more uses for them,” said Sun. “We
use the same brushes for aluminum, steel, cast iron and stainless steel without having to swap them out very often.” One such application, and one of its primary purposes, is for edge blending.
Shops using CNC and other automated machining equip- ment can benefi t signifi cantly by adopting this type of abra- sive brush technology. Said Sun: “With this type of equip- ment working into the evenings and weekends, it’s really desirable to get the fi nishing operations done straight out of the machine. While some shops running three shifts—if they have the personnel and the capacity—they may still prefer to use their machines producing parts—not deburring. But for many operations it’s actually more effi cient to let the machine do everything inline, so that the part comes out ready to
Brush Research’s line of NamPower abrasive disk brushes are designed to allow CNC operators to automate the deburring process to achieve ideal surface fi nish.
wash and box for delivery to the customer. That can really make a big difference, because you’re using any unutilized machining hours, plus you’re automatically producing parts with consistently high quality.” Composed of fl exible abrasive nylon fi laments bonded to
a fi ber-reinforced thermoplastic base, NamPower abrasive disk brushes contain a unique combination of both ceramic and silicon carbide fi laments. The end result is deburring and surface fi nishing in a single operation. These brushes work well with nonferrous, cast iron, mild steel and ductile iron, stainless and alloy steels, titanium and high nickel alloys. For more information, from Brush Research Mfg. Co. Inc. go to
www.brushresearch.com or phone 323-261-2193.
July 2015 |
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