Brush manufacturing machines support multiple applications, including polishing, edge radiusing, deburring and honing. Typically, brushes are constructed from a wire core and an insulated bristle head. A variety of brush sizes and shapes are available for different applications. Some types of brushes are a single-piece, while others are composed of individual segments that are assembled together during production. Various brushes are used in a range of industrial applications, including cleaning and deburring metals and removing skins from nuts or seeds. The brush segments can be a variety of materials, with different fill density and diameters.
The Boucherie Borghi Group specializes in producing brush machinery to manufacture flat, twisted-in-wire brushes and round head toilet brushes. Their equipment is designed to deliver maximum performance, quality and versatility with minimum maintenance requirements and an affordable investment cost. Their machine portfolio includes a wide range of configurations, from the entry level SMART V2 (2 filling tools and 3 drills with continuous work cycle, 5 axes) to a high-performance machine that can produce a complete range of flat brushes, brooms and tank brushes (STAR V2).
Rotary-blade trimmers are often employed for trimming wheel or tufted-in-wire brushes. These machines feature one or more workstations with a combination of flagging units, cleaners and beaters. The resulting brush is trimmed to a specified size with minimum operator labour. The WOMAtec brush trimming machine BFK2/E3-Tr is designed for finishing push brooms or multi-level brushes up to 900 mm (36″) in length. It has 2 clamping stations that can hold simultaneously two brush heads and features a system of rotary-blade trimmers, flagging units, cleaners and beaters to provide an even finish with high efficiency over the entire surface area of the brushes.
For a more aggressive finish, a brushed stainless steel wire can be used. The wires can be either 0.025″ or 0.014″ in thickness. Thinner wires are more flexible and able to resist fatigue, while thicker wires offer greater aggressiveness.
When working with stainless steel, a deburring machine must be configured to handle the material’s toughness. The contact drum, which holds the abrasive material in the machine, can be serrated to an angle of 30 or 60 degrees. Thirty-degree serration is better for light finishing, while 60-degree serration is more aggressive and recommended for stock removal or heavy dross from plasma cutting.
In addition to deburring, abrasive-head brushing machines can also be used for etching and roughening, such as in the fabrication of metals or for the smoothing of pressed parts. These machines can be configured with a hard-faced contact drum, such as those used in plasma cutting, to reduce the chance of creating secondary burrs. A soft-faced contact drum, which is more forgiving of the material, is better suited to abrasive-head brushing on softer metals, such as aluminum.
Precision brushing machines with long-segment, height-adjustable brushes are used to finish metals and pressed products in industrial environments. These machines deliver a superior finish, which is difficult to achieve with conventional brushing machines, without inclining or forming secondary burrs. The machines can be equipped with viewing windows to monitor the operation of the abrasive head, ensuring a quality finish for each and every run.