IQS Newsroom Articles on Power Brushes
Power Brushes
Power brushes are metal or abrasive nylon filament brushes used to deburr
parts during initial phases of the surface finishing process. Designed for
precision cutting action, power brushes are mounted in several different shapes
which achieve specific precision deburring; wheel, cup, end, wide face cylinder
and internal twisted-in-wire are the most common power brush configurations.
The brushes are attached to grinders, lathes, drills or automated machinery
which spin at high speeds to achieve deburring and cutting action. A wide variety
of parts can be deburred using power brushes, from forged tools and machined
parts to stainless steel tubes and computer parts.
Fill material, or "filament", is crucial in power brushes, since
many industrial processes depend on the ability of a power brush to properly
remove burrs and sharp edges from parts so they can perform uniformly and safely.
Most power brushes have crimped steel, stainless steel, bronze or brass wire
filament; only the tips of the brush's wires have the ability to cut,
and as the brush is used the wires break and form new cutting tips, a process
which is aided by crimping the wires. Nylon abrasive filament is also used
in many applications which require finer or non-metallic deburring. This material
is made abrasive by impregnating nylon with silicon carbide, aluminum oxide,
or polycrystalline diamond abrasive grit which, depending on the size of the
grit, can achieve various levels of cutting, deburring, blending or polishing.
Both metal and abrasive nylon filaments may be "encapsulated" in
an elastomer coating to amplify cutting capacity.
With all the different types of configurations available, power brushes can
provide surface conditioning solutions for parts of virtually any size, shape
and material. Power brushes can be used for metal deburring, removing rust,
paint scale, or other coatings, gear and thread cleaning, surface preparation,
cleaning, finishing and weld blending. They work on most materials, including
aluminum, steel, carbide, plastic, wood and glass. Alternatives to deburring
power brushes are deburring
machinery such as tumblers, vibratory
finishers and multi-process deburring
equipment. These machines are generally effective, but they must usually be
purchased as large units which are far more costly than power brushes, which
can be attached to a manufacturer's pre-existing equipment or modified
to fit an already constructed assembly line. Power brushes achieve uniform
surface conditioning when used properly, and they offer a cost-effective solution
for industrial deburring and surfacing.