MANUFACTURING

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0001] The invention relates generally to abrasive finishing and deburring tools and methods of making such tools.

BACKGROUND ART

[0002] Abrasive tools utilizing flapping tapes or straps extending radially from the hub are well known in the prior art. One such device known as "Fladder" uses rotating tools composed of layers of ring-shaped abrasive wheels which is the subject matter of United States Patent No. 4,518,452, issued to Hundelbol with abrasive straps extending outwards radially and forming a cylindrical brush-like tool. A plurality of such rotary tools can be used simultaneously as discussed in United States Patent No. 6,015,334, to achieve the highest efficiency and uniformity of material removal and at the same time provide for a simple method of accessing of all types of pockets, holes, edges and structural parts. This type of a tool is specifically desired in aerospace manufacturing processes and is extremely efficient. [0003] There are a variety of abrasive brushes with bristle like abrasive extremities. For instance in United States publication No. 2008/0189923, assigned to 3M, an abrasive filament includes abrasive particles imbedded into a polymeric matrix which can be moulded. The United States application uses wires and rollers to hammer the surface and provide cleaning by impact.

[0004] United States Patent No. 5,903,951, assigned to Minnesota Mining and

Manufacturing Company provides moulded bristles.

[0005] United States Patent Nos. 5,643,068 and 5, 197,998 assigned to Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company and United States Patent No. 5, 125, 192 assigned to Dynabrade, Inc., generally teach tools where abrasive filaments are provided as a stack of flat abrasive sheets of variety of shapes with slits separating it into strap like members. l [0006] In United States Patent No. 5,423,718 assigned to Jason, Inc., grooves are provided in the direction of the length of an abrasive tool drum for insertion and anchoring of the folded abrasive sheets. Another example of a slotted support drum structure is described in United States Patent No. 5,083,840, also assigned to Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company.

[0007] A variety of prior art references are related to utilization of helical patterns of winding of brush filaments around the drum, namely United States Patent Nos. 3,688,335 by Clark and 2,782,439 by Ballard. The method for preparation of flattened brush filament and its winding is described in United States Patent No. 2,294,480 by Rohweder et al ; an abrasive wheel with helical outer surface is described in United States Patent No. 2, 1 15,209 by Mulholland et al. United States Patent No. 6,390,708 assigned to L'Oreal teaches a variety of helical grooves provided for fixation of brush bristles assemblies.

[0008] Folded abrasive filaments made from flat sheets and arranged into abrasive disks are described in United States Patent No. 3,727,353, assigned to the United Aircraft Corporation.

[0009] One of the more common abrasive finishing wheels known from the prior art is a flap wheel. Typically, flap wheels are formed by a radial array of sheets of paper or rayon cloth with a layer of abrasive grit such as aluminium oxide resin bonded to one side. Such tools are useful for contoured polishing, cutting and blending of ferrous and non-ferrous metals, plastic and wood. However, such tools can only be run in one direction. The layer of adherent abrasive to one side of the cloth tends to wear the cloth or paper of the adjacent flap.

[00010] Limitations of such tools in the art remain due to their high cost, resulting from labour intensive manufacturing processes.

[00011] Turning now to methods of continuous manufacturing of such tools, United States Patent No. 2,879,631, by Peterson teaches a brush and method of manufacturing, including steps of slitting the precursor sheet or tape of abrasive for providing abrasive straps, folding the precursor and mounting it on a support element by using the openings cut in the precursor close to the folding line, where the support element is then wound around the tool drum. Although useful, this method has operations of mounting the folded abrasive on additional support element, which are difficult to automate.

[00012] In United States Patent No. 2,783,095, by Ballard, a method of forming a helical groove using rubber strap wound around brush drum is taught.

[00013] Finally, methods of describing abrasive sheets stacking or winding operations assisting cost reduction are presented in United States Patent Nos. 2,626,414 and 5,922, 160. [00014] The prior art lacks instruction regarding an arrangement where a folded filament is wound around a drum in a helical pattern to provide an anchoring effect by buckling inside a supporting groove.

[00015] The present invention satisfies this need.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[00016] One object of the present invention is to provide an inexpensive abrasive brush suitable for deburring or finishing operations in aerospace manufacturing.

[00017] It is a further objective to provide a method of manufacturing of such brushes, in a continuous manner, which is economic with respect to waste, low labour input and accommodating from a production point of view to allow a variety of brush shapes useable in numerous machines and equipment presently available on the market.

[00018] According to one embodiment, a brush drum is provided, made from a polymeric foam by a cutting operation said as hot wire or hot knife cutting. The foam has a helical groove on its outer surface with inverted V-shape in cross section. An abrasive filament is prepared from a precursor abrasive tape or sheet(s) (rejoined, if needed to form a continuous tape) by cutting a pattern having extremities or straps integrally formed from the precursor. These patterns can be cut by laser, progressive die or by any other suitable methods, including, but not limited to: water jet cutting, slicing, etc. The pattern may have a mirrored shape or can be single. In the case of the mirrored shape, the pattern is folded and fed as a continuous piece into the groove by its folded edge. Perforations provided along the center line make folding easy and also determine the way the edge will buckle inside the V-shaped groove providing filament anchoring inside the groove without the need for an adhesive, thus significantly simplifying manufacturing process and reducing the overall cost.

[00019] For a single pattern (non-folded), notches or perforations may be provided near the continuous edge for assisting buckling inside the groove.

[00020] The inverted V-shape groove is not limited to an exact V-shape, but rather provides freedom for the edge of the filament to buckle inside the groove, restricting its width after buckling to achieve a desired frictional junction between the abrasive and the material of the drum. It is desirable that abrasive precursor be folded in such way that the abrasive particles are facing the drum material inside the groove, thus providing good traction.

[00021] It is important to note that the groove can be either integral with the drum or formed by a variety of methods, including winding over the drum, an additional piece forming the helical gap, injection moulding, spraying, 3D printing, etc.

[00022] The groove may be formed during the drum manufacturing process, for instance moulding, or, in another embodiment formed afterwards by cutting with a hot knife of a desired profile. Using a hot tool for forming the groove in foamed polymers aids in partially closing the pores and increases the strength of the walls of the groove. [00023] Securement of the ends of the filament in the helical groove may be simply achieved by pins inserted in the drum material through the ends of the filament, generally perpendicular to the surface of the filament and groove containing it.

[00024] The shape of the perforation (or notches in case of a single, non-folded filament) defines the pattern of buckling on the edge of the filament inside the groove and can vary with design. A thin knife-like tool can be used to assist insertion of the filament into the helical groove with the tool being aligned and slideably positioned inside its folded line next to the filament entering point. It is desired that the leading edge of the tool be tangential to the inner radius of the groove and its tip does not extend into the area of edge buckling, immediately realised upon onset of winding. The filament edge bends to follow the radius of the groove. [00025] The width of buckling "Δ" (theoretically, the dimension through the middle of the abrasive sheet) is defined by two radii Rl and R2 of the helical groove and the pitch of buckling (defined by the width of the extremities "a") or the pitch of the perforations, if not the same with width "a".

Generally, Δ can be determined from the following formula:

A=a*SQRT(l-(Rl/R2) ^A 2).

[00026] For instance, if a=6mm, Rl=54mm, R2=60mm then A=2.6mm. Thus, accounting for the added thickness of the filament equal to t=0.5mm (example only) and in order to provide good anchoring of the filament, the maximum width of the V- shaped groove should be less than 3.1mm.

[00027] In order to assist buckling and make the shape of buckled edge persistent and repetitive, an additional pre-bending operation may be employed as well as specialized shapes of the perforation or other designed cuts made in the precursor.

[00028] As an additional means, a cord can be passed along the folded edge of the filament to add strength to the filament, especially for high rotational speeds causing centrifugal force and thus high forces on filament extremities. Alternatively, adhesive or glue and reinforcing cord can be used for highly durable products in demanding applications. [00029] The abrasive brush of present invention can be either disposable or reusable since the drum and groove do not wear during tool operation and a new filament can be used to refurbish the brush. The brush can be manufactured at a fraction of the cost present systems like the Fladder (supra) offers and therefore can encourage use of this simple yet effective deburring method and increase its acceptance within the aerospace industry reducing the overall costs of production of aluminium and titanium parts. It can also promote its use in deburring and finishing operations in general metal working and wood/plastic working industries.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[00030] Figure 1 is a general view of the hub (core) of the rotary brush made in a shape of a cylinder with a helical groove;

[00031] Figure 2 is a general view of the hub (core) of the rotary brush made in a shape of a cone with a helical groove;

[00032] Figure 3 is a general view of the hub (core) of the rotary brush made in a shape of a barrel with a helical groove;

[00033] Figure 4 shows one variant of the symmetrical foldable pattern of the precursor of the abrasive filament cut from a tape;

[00034] Figure 5 illustrates the process of winding of the folded filament around the drum; [00035] Figure 6 is a cross-section of the drum with anchoring pins for the ends of the filament and with central bore for securing on the spindle; [00036] Figure 7 is cross-section along line 7-7 of Figure 6 of the spiral groove with folded filament in it and illustrating anchoring effect of the buckled edge of the folded line of the filament due to frictional/clamping forces; [00037] Figure 8 illustrates in greater detail effect of buckling of the filament's folded edge;

[00038] Figure 9 provides greater details of the perforation assuring folding of the filament precursor and buckling of its edge;

[00039] Figure 10 is another variant of filament made from a non-folded abrasive precursor and having notches at the edge to be inserted and buckled inside the groove, and [00040] Figure 1 1 illustrates the continuous process of manufacturing of the abrasive brush.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

[00041] Referring initially to Figures 1 through 3, there is illustrated a variety of shapes for the brush cores 4, namely: cylindrical (Figure 1), conical (Figure 2) or barrel type (Figure 3) with helical grooves 5 made on outer surfaces and bores 4 aligned with central rotational axes 6.

[00042] End zones 19 of the grooves are used for anchoring the ends of the filament, generally denoted as plurality of extremities 9 with end radii 10 made by cutting abrasive tape 7 (Figure 4) with slits 8, further described in the following figures.

[00043] Figure 5 schematically illustrates the general process of winding the filament 9 over drum 1 with the assistance of a feeding knife 17 aligned within fold line 12 (Figure 4) of filament 9.

[00044] Referring now to Figure 6, pins 20, also presented in Figure 1 1 , are shown after insertion in drum 1 through the end part of filament 9 and generally perpendicular to its plane.

[00045] Figure 7 illustrates a cross-section of an inverted V-shape groove per Figure 6 where folded edge 12 is buckled into a shape 13 also shown in greater detail in Figure 8. Alternatively, a cord 18 can be used to reinforce the position of the filament 9 inside the groove 5.

[00046] The theoretical width of buckled edge 12 is denoted by "Δ", which, as mentioned above, is related to the ratio between radii Rl and R2 winding of filament 9 around drum 1. In essence, the depth of the groove 5 relative to the diameter of drum 1 and to the width "a" of the filament extremities 9 along with the width of the groove, define the end rate of buckling and level of clamping. [00047] Perforations 1 1 (Figures 8 and 9) or notches 14 (Figure 10) provide intentional weakening of the filament edge 12 and assist in provoking the automatic buckling of the edge 12 inside the groove. These perforations can also be used in feeding and indexing during laser cut or other cutting processes. [00048] The manufacturing process (Figure 1 1) can be continuous and includes feeding the abrasive tape 7 from a precursor roll 15, cutting or slicing to achieve desired pattern of filament(s) 9, removal of unused parts 16 of tape 7, folding along line 12 aligned with perforations 1 1 , feeding into the groove 5 using knife 17 or other means and fixing the ends of filament 9 by pins 20 or other anchoring or securement means.

[00049] One method of making drum 1 from foam material (example of which may be Polystyrene or Styrofoam® of 2-6 lbs/ft ^A 3 of density) is by using a hot wire. Slot 21 , shown in Figure 1 1 can be used for assisting such cutting and also can be used to secure drum 1 on the axle (not shown) necessary for winding and provide spring like effect to the drum 1 to equalize tension of the filament after winding. The final dimension of bore 4 can be assured by an additional finishing operations with conventional or specialized tools applicable for bore finishing in polymeric foams. [00050] Another desired method for making the inverted V-shape groove from the same material is by using a hot knife of an appropriate shape while the drum precursor is rotating with an axial feed rate generally equal to the pith of the helical groove. As mentioned above, all the operations can be done simultaneously or sequentially.

[00051] Similar to the abrasive flap wheels known from the prior art, the tools of Figures 1 through 1 1 may be driven for rotation in either direction and since the abrasive material always has a higher coefficient of friction with the surface to be finished compared to the backing material, the filaments 9 are twisted and automatically face the working surface, providing high efficiency abrading and self- cleaning.