Can You Dress Wire Wheels?

Nah, buy 'em by the case. The damn things shed needles like a porcupine in a hound dawgs mouth. I think if you check, you'll find the max RPM reccomended is exceeded by most pencil grinders. A little metal fatigue flings them off the arbor. Remember your PPE.

Would ultrasound or some other method achieve the results you want?

Amen, brother. I put on a very fine wheel a while back. The goggles worked good for my eyes, but I kept getting the dang things sticking in my cheeks. Finally went to a full face shield. They must glue 'em in with adobe mud.

You can dress them but it is almost impossible to make them keep their little shoes on...

GA

I doubt that you can dress the wire wheel, but changing work practices may help. Do you use the brush in a stationary setup (like a small bench grinder) or a die grinder type hand held application?

If it's a bench setup, where the components are grasped by hand & then held against the rotating brush...

Train users to:-

1. not over sreess the bristles through applying excess pressure when linishing the components. &

2. slowly move the component across the full width of the brush, not continually holding it in the middle section. Just like a grinding wheel, the brush will prematurely wear in the centre if subjected to excess pressure or continuous use in only the centre of the bristles.

If it is used in a hand held unit, then avoiding excess pressure will most likely improve wheel life.

Tony

lighter pressure... the heavy center wear is from " grinding " with the wire wheel..the idea being the " brushes " sweep the material.. not stuff the material into the wire wheel till the hub is contacted.. & yes... even under idea conditions : they wear out kinda quick

Check with the tool jobber about use of nylon bristles impregnated with mild abrasive or of the sort.

Hi,

change wire type to martensitic hardened 1.6356 in Europe or ? M300 in the US,

this is highest strength steel (2400MPa) with still high ductility (18%) that is available,

these have a sufficient clamping, brazing, welding that ensures no loose needles,

if worn out (not so fast) then regrind with an ordinary small or large grinding stone, surface velocity recommended above 10m/s, no cooling necessary.

These high quality brush wheels are available with diamond or CBN impregnated wires that will further prolong useful life.

RHABE

Is it possible to turn either the workpiece or the wheel by 90 degrees so that the whole width of the wheel is in contact with the workpiece, rather than just the centre of the wheel being in contact?

That way, the wheel should wear evenly across its width.

Just a thought.

Warning: I know nothing about this sort of thing.

Could you use two ¼" wheels and keep swapping them side to side.

Thanks for the suggestions. Since we cannot have contamination on our parts, we could not use any type of abrasive to clean them. However, I think we should implement further operator training on using the entire face of the wheel instead of just the center. And I will definitely look into using two 1/4" wheels, and high strength wire. Again thanks for the suggestions.

Have you tried dressing the wheel with an abrasive stone or file? I really don't see why it wouldn't work...other than possible contamination.

That would be a good idea if you didn't know what was wrong with the wheels to begin with. Adobe mud would be better than what is used in the manufacture of these nasty little 'flingers'. Goggles and a full face shield are required in nuclear envirionments. Most of the crew also dons thier Carhart shirts, even at 90+deg. F, 'cause you have to unscrew the wire from your forearm when they disintegrate. NEVER get your face in line within 90 degrees of the rotational axis.

Experience is the best teacher? Luck!! (no such thing)

Have some, Carl

Yes...Yes... I just unscrewed one from my forehead the other day...brushing rust off of bicycle hub...I whipped out the face shield after that...

You can dress them with a 4 1/2" angle grinder w/a regular depressed center grinding wheel. Run both devices & work at 90⁰ This will require the use of full PPE!!!

I would like to know more about the operation, Stationary or hand held grinder...

Cup brush, knotted end, rated speed...

polishing or deburring?

Material?

Could you use a 'mule skinner' wheel? These are wire wheels which are then encased in a resin that stops the bristles breaking & flying off. I think that this would wear more evenly because the bristles would not splay out in use. Would the resin contaminate your parts.

I have no idea why they are called mule skinners.

This may seem way out there, but have you considered using electricity to dress the wire wheel. By experimenting with voltage, amperage, and whether to use ac or dc, you may find a spark that just trims the wheel. I once accidentally ran a wire wheel into a live wire, and it sure trimmed the wheel! Thank goodnes the tool was grounded, so I didn't get hurt.