Finishing Tech Cell - Articles
Finishing Articles
Results: 45
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Eight tips for effective grinding
It doesn’t matter how mind-bogglingly fast upstream processes are if it takes forever and a day for parts to make it through the grinding department.
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The finishing touch—selecting and using nonwoven abrasives
Nonwoven abrasives come in different types and compositions. It’s important to choose the right product for optimal finishing.
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Grinding, polishing, blending in hard-to-reach areas
Interviews with several tool and accessory manufacturers provide a broad perspective on capabilities for finishing in hard-to-reach areas.
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Automated deburring basics
Integrating the right automated deburring system requires a
comprehensive look at application requirements, including part sizes
and profiles, material grades, thicknesses, and required finishes. But once a shop has examined all of the variables...
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Finishing stainless steel for food-grade applications
Finishing stainless steel assemblies for handling food and beverage applications is more complicated than non-sanitary applications. Knowledge of the tools, consumables, and techniques is critical, but likewise the contractor must be familiar with...
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Automating the deburring process
A good deburring process will provide you with that by removing sharp edges, thus producing a better finish. An edge that is properly finished lowers material handling costs and increases workplace safety. Finding the right machine and automating...
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Coated abrasive fiber disc safety
Following recommended disc storage guidelines, using proper equipment, wearing the right personal protective equipment, and employing safe methods of operation can reduce the likelihood of disc breakage and personal injury when using coated...
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Finishing stainless steel pipe and tube
Finishing stainless steel tube or pipe can be tricky, especially if the product has quite a few bends, flares, and other nonlinear features. Learning about the tools and abrasives is the first step in developing a sound stainless finishing strategy.
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Gearing up to grind aluminum
Aluminum is a difficult material to process as it poses a unique set of challenges, particularly when it comes to grinding. The best way to ensure that you’re grinding process is efficient while also providing you with the desired result hinges...
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Changing up the daily grind
A manufacturer of aluminum radar arches found that a simple change in grinding discs yielded big results.
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The basics and benefits of modern deburring
When shops examine deburring technology, they have myriad options to consider. Carefully weighing the alternatives is paramount.
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Industrial hand-held grinding and surface finishing — A primer on brush and mirror finishing
The proper finish is important for product quality and durability. This article discusses the steps required to brush- and mirror-finish stainless steel, nonferrous metals, and aluminum using both linear and angle grinders.
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How to make grinding safer and more productive
When it comes to grinding, a more productive worker is often a safer worker, if given the right tools and training.
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Noting advances in powder coating
Customers are asking their metal fabricating suppliers to assume more production responsibilities as they look to reduce the size their vendor bases. As a result, more fabricators are becoming involved in powder coating, either doing it themselves...
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Finishing off oxide layer problems
General Sheet Metal Works, South Bend, Ind.,had a 0.25-in. part that forced them tochoose between stamping and laser cutting tofabricate the part. Luckily, the companydiscovered an oxidation removal machine thathelped to make laser cutting with...
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Critical surface preparation
An estimated 68 percent of all coating failures are attributed to poor surface preparation that could have been prevented. By using cleaning technology that can achieve near-white conditions, you can ensure that paint, adhesives, and other...
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Grinding and cutting safely
Hand-held angle grinders, which now are being used more frequently in industries besides metal fabrication and welding, can cause injury if used improperly and without following all safety guidelines. This article covers the safety practices...
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More than just southern hospitality
Since its inception in 1924, Plymouth Tube Co. has had a strong faith in the capabilities of its people. Its plant at Eupora, Miss., recently made some changes in the way management formulates strategic plans, and it now includes input from all of...
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On the level: An introduction to part leveling
Because of thermal distortion, a laser- or plasma-cut part may not perfectly flat. Here, parts leveling helps ensure parts maintain and exceed their flatness requirements.
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A 'weld-done' finish
Stainless steel products are used in all parts of our daily life. Certain surface finish expectations must be met, and one of the major challenges in stainless steel treatment is meeting these expectations. The biggest problem has been the time...
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Introducing TPJ's Industry Award Winner
TPJ-The Tube & Pipe Journal® recognizes that Lincoln Industries is an industry leader. Lincoln Industries' combination of business management, employee focus, and community participation has earned it the first-ever TPJ Industry Award.
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Avoiding a snag
A company specializing in perforated sheet overcomes deburring issues with an automated system using nonwoven fiber brushes.
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Got burrs?
Using a machine to remove burrs from and put a surface finish on sheet metal and plate, also known as deburring and graining, is more complicated than it seems. The factors that go into selecting and setting up a deburring and graining machine are...
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Cleaning cylinders internally and externally
Whether you are planning a full scale cylinder testing operation or just want to keep your cylinders looking clean and new, the Cylblast shot blasters from LS Industries are the answer. Other methods of cleaning cylinders are more expensive,...
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Vertical integration broadens company's horizons
Senior Editor Eric Lundin visited Industrial Hard Chrome, a chrome plater that provides chrome-plated components for hydraulically powered equipment such as graders and backhoes. He traces the company's development from a plater that provided its...
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Finishing stainless steel tube and pipe efficiently
One big challenge in stainless steel tube finishing is the growing expectations about the surface finish. Tools and abrasives have improved to achieve better surface quality in less time. At the same time, fabricators require finishing methods...
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Grinding the way to safety
More power in grinders gives rise to additional safety concerns. Having twice as much power in the same-size tool has especially increased the industry wide demand for nonlocking paddle switch grinders.
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Easing the grind of cost reduction
In early 2005 SPX CONTECH decided to evaluate the abrasive disks used in its 22 workcells for aluminum grinding in its Auburn, Ind., facility. By the end of the year the new disks had increased the number of parts processed and exhibited...
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5 tips for better finishing with steel brushes
Steel wire brushes are essential finishing tools in most metal fabrication shops. Fabricators can take five actions to help improve the performance and life span of these brushes: use the highest safe speed, periodically reverse direction; know...
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Anodizing aluminum
Manufacturing deep-drawn aluminum containers requires various fabrication steps and provides many opportunities to pollute. Anomatic Corp. provides an overview of its fabricating and finishing steps and describes its efforts at...
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Ask and you shall receive
Miller Welding & Machine isn't a typical job shop for a lot of reasons. This family-owned and -operated company, in business since 1963, employs almost everybody in the Miller family -- and tackled its complete inexperience in finishing by...
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How one shop benefited from abrasive waterjet technology
Triplex Systems found that using abrasive waterjet cutting technology combined with a hole-and-tab technique to fabricate its products helped eliminate machining operations and reduced costs.
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Catch it if you can
For tube producers who need a colored coating with no volatile organic compounds, powder coatings have been the only choice until now. A new process provides this type of coating in a liquid form. The coating dries nearly instantly under...
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Prefinishing trends towards growth
Since its introduction in the 1960s, coated coil has become the raw material of choice for some industries, and its demand has increased steadily, according to the National Coil Coating Association (NCCA). Coated steel and aluminum coil is...
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Choosing the right coated abrasive for plate finishing applications
Most plate fabricating companies need to select a coated abrasive to finish their parts. This selection process can be intimidating, as well as confusing, because so many types of coated abrasives are available.
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Blast Cleaning Equipment: What you need to know before buying
If you are a fabricator of metal parts that need to be primed or painted, then you more than likely will have to prepare the part surface before finishing to produce the desired end result.
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Fabricating technology advancements drive new plate finishing trends
The same industry forces of nature—globalization, economic conditions, quality demands, and safety and environmental regulations—that are pressuring metal fabricators to do more, better, and faster with less are blowing no less...
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Sanding Machine Finishes the Job
AAMS needed a way to polish aluminum and stainless steel handrails in two separate construction projects. To get the job done, they turned to a dedicated tube and pipe sander, which allowed them to accomplish the necessary finish in half the time...
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Reinventing the wheel - Chrome plater develops automated wheel polishing process
Kuntz Electroplating, a Kitchener, Ontario-based independent OEM chrome-plating supplier of automotive wheels and bumpers, the management watched as hundreds of its workers manually polished its wheels. Because this made it difficult for the...
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Cleaning metal parts
This article describes the characteristics of perchloroethylene and suitable applications.
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Taking the pain out of paint - Finishing—Part 2
This article highlights two of the accepted industry specifications, which are provided by the American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC) and the Society for Protective Coatings (SSPC). It covers many of the more salient topics, point by...
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Taking the pain out of paint - Finishing—Part 1
This article highlights two of the accepted industry specifications, which are provided by the American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC) and the Society for Protective Coatings (SSPC). It covers many of the more salient topics, point by...
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How one company organized its powder coating process
Learn how Gauthier Industries, a stamper and powder coater, organized its powder coating operation into control points to help regulate quality and efficiency as parts move through the finishing process. Areas discussed include pretreatment, the...
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Abrasive control factors for mass finishing systems
The article circulates around the different media styles for mass finishing systems, discussing the cost, weight, and ability of each style. The styles discussed are divided into several areas: Random versus preform shapes; ceramic versus plastic;...
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The evolution of coatings with low levels of volatile organic compounds: Where the industry stands in its quest for zero VOC
A lot of advancements have been made in liquid coatings over the past 30 years toward the ultimate goal of zero-volatile-organic-compound paints. Anyone having to meet environmental regulations could benefit from knowing what has been done and...
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