Dave Smith Solutions:The Origin of the Toyoya Quality System

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AMERICAN TOOL, DIE &StampingNEWS

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March/April 2010 Volume 38, No. 2

Dayton Delivers New Type of“Special” Tooling to Manufacturers

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mall parts requiring debur-ring, edge blending or othersurface finishing can present

production challenges to manufactur-ers. Often, production is taken off-stream where hand-held tools arenecessary to perform the intricate sec-ondary finishing many of these compo-nents require. This action frequentlyresults in reduced productivity and in-consistent product quality. Even in in-stances where the process is fullyautomated, specifying the appropriatefinishing brush for the applicationplays an integral role in improving thetool’s overall performance and life span.

A miniature deburring brush cansolve both the productivity and qualitychallenges involved when manufac-turing parts of various small sizes,contours and materials. These toolsare generally best suited to addresstight tolerances, edge blending, de-burring and other finishing require-ments that have a direct impact onoverall functionality.

Precision Planting, Inc. (Tremont,IL), an industry leader in agriculturalseed planting equipment, manufac-tures a variety of systems that are de-signed to solve exact seed spacing andplacement issues. Because the accuracyof seed placement is heavily reliant onprecise timing, it is critical that the sur-face finish of the seed ejection compo-nent be void of even the slightestvariations and irregularities.

“One of our newest systems hastubes that are injection molded, andwe had great concern about removingthe residual flashing that was createdby the molding process,” explainedPrecision Planting engineer DerekSauder. “It may be only .002 to .005inches thick. While not very long, theridge of the flashing is rough and

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Parts | Finishing

Precision, Perfection and Enhanced Productivity for Small Parts ManufacturingProper brush selection allows manufacturers to reduce cycle time, automate intricate surface finishing operations and deliver consistent quality

By Ed Sullivan

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would cause problems in the perform-ance of our part.”

Mr. Sauder explained that the com-ponent is used in planting seed forcorn, beans and other crops. In opera-tion, the part has a vacuum applied toone side, and the other side contains

the seed. “The seed is held by vacuumagainst a hole in the part,” he said. “Ifwe didn’t remove the flashing, it maygrab onto the seed and cause it not torelease properly.”

In the initial phase of development,the part would not perform without theflashing being removed. Getting theseeds to accurately release was onlyachieved when an abrasive nylon brushfrom Brush Research Manufacturing(Los Angeles, CA) was incorporatedinto the manufacturing process.

“So, we knew the miniature nylonbrush was necessary,” said Mr. Sauder.“It worked quite well, so I was confi-dent that we had a good solution. Wehad tried the injection molded piecewithout the nylon brush, and it didn’twork as well.”

Mr. Sauder added that while thenylon clean-out brush does not speedup part production, it is automated andtherefore highly efficient.

“It has allowed our products to be-come the most accurate planting equip-ment in the market,” he said. “Ourproduct is well-known and has a finereputation in the marketplace, and thisprocess helps us attain that. It is eco-nomical and gives us good results.”

The application will certainly affectthe choice of miniature brushes and in-cludes variables such as contours re-quired, the type of material, and the

amount of material to be removed.Other factors that apply to brushesused in automated applications includeRPM of the machine tool, feed rates,and optimum wear-life of the brushes.

Brush Research Manufacturing de-signs and produces miniature finish-ing brushes in an assortment ofdesigns, sizes and materials. Whilecustomers typically know what size ofbrushes are required for their applica-tions, Brush Research Manufacturing’sengineering department is availablefor consultation to ensure that themost suitable style of brush is selectedfor any given application.

There are several types of miniaturebrushes available today that vary notjust in size, but also in filament type.Carbon steel, stainless steel, brass,nylon and abrasive filled nylon arecommonly used. Abrasive filled nyloncan contain silicon carbide, aluminumoxide or diamond abrasive.

GENERAL PARAMETERS“Overall, the specification of a brush

involves the task at hand, (e.g., debur-ring or surface finishing) the speed atwhich it must be accomplished, the sizeof the feature being worked, and thematerial the brush is working on,” ex-plained Mike Miller of Brush ResearchManufacturing.

Mr. Miller said his firm manufac-tures miniature brushes for bores rang-ing in size from as small as 0.024 inchesand varying in lengths and tip styles.Filaments options include nylon, car-bon steel, stainless steel, brass andabrasive filled nylon. Brush ResearchManufacturing’s newest brush is filledwith diamond abrasive nylon and willcut harder materials, deburr faster andlast longer, providing a unique level offlexibility and longer tool life.

The popular Brush Research Man-ufacturing Flex-Hone® is available inminiature sizes as small as 4 mm.(0.156 in.). Sometimes referred to asthe “dingleberry hone,” the Flex-Hone is a ball-style hone that featuresglobules or balls of abrasive grit per-manently laminated to the end ofnylon filaments.

“For any application with a bore size

Parts | Finishing

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of 4 millimeters or greater, this is al-most always the preferred tool,” Mr.Miller said. “One reason is that it ismore abrasive at the point of attack,whereas an abrasive nylon brush willhave abrasive grit particles interspersedthroughout the filament. The ball-stylehone is about 95% pure grain abrasiveright at the point of need, so it reallydoes an effective job.”

Miller added that the ball-style honeis not recommended for working onthreads, whereas abrasive nylon is veryeffective for removing burrs and pol-ishing thread peaks and flank angles,particularly in tapped aluminum holes.

“This type of operation can be auto-mated,” Mr. Miller said, “although sizes1/16 in. and smaller may best becleaned up by hand with an abrasivenylon or stainless steel brush. Small di-ameter brushes are not usually rotatedunder power because the brush stemwires are very fine and may bend. How-ever, there is a series of holders and pin

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vises that is commercially available togrip the small diameter brushes.”

Abrasive nylon brushes have gainedin popularity. To begin with, nylon isnot reactive, Mr. Miller explained, sothe brush will not impart carbon impu-rities onto the surface of the product.Nylon doesn’t oxidize, and thereforedoesn’t rust or cause rust. Safety is an-

other issue because metal filaments candevelop wire fatigue over a period oftime. If you are using a wire brush in-correctly, that could happen in a shortperiod of time.

Grit selection is another importantvariable that may require suppliertechnical support. For example, prod-ucts that have very fine finish require-ments may benefit from brushes withfiner grit material. Hard materials suchas ceramics and glass may require dia-mond grit.

“That is not to discount the effec-tiveness of metal brush filaments,” Mr.Miller added. “One of the popularminiature models is our all stainlesssteel brush, which features stainlesssteel filaments and a stainless steelstem. This model is available in diame-ters down to 0.024 inches and is verypopular for clearing chips out of holesor clearing protruding and break-through burrs.”

“It depends on the surface finishspec or whether they have an issuewhere they need a little more aggressivebrush for more deburring power,” Mr.Miller advised. “Sometimes you have a

combination of needs such as cross-hole deburring and achieving a finesurface finish. It is not always best totry to accomplish both with the samebrush. You may want to use a coarserFlex-Hone or brush first to remove theburr and a second, finer brush toachieve the required finish or contour.”

GETTING HELP WITH SPECSAccording to Mr. Miller, customers

may have several concerns about spec-ifying brushes. Whether to automatethe brush operation is a primary con-cern, although it quickly becomes ob-vious to most users that automating aprocess and avoiding secondary opera-tions are significant benefits in terms ofboth productivity and consistency.

“With a very broad selection ofminiature brushes available, there arecustomers who have a lot of ques-tions about the operating parameters,especially the first time,” he said. “Sowe encourage them to get assistancefrom our engineering department.Also, we have a surface-finishing lab-oratory, and we encourage customersto send the parts in question to us—the parts they would like to deburr orfinish with our products. We analyzethe parts and then select the tools wethink will provide the best solution,and then we run tests. We then re-turn the part to them with our bestrecommendations regarding the se-lection of the tool, the operating pa-rameters, and surface finishingmeasurements, if required. This hasbeen an important resource for a lotof our customers.”

Established in 1958, Brush ResearchManufacturing has been solving diffi-cult finishing problems with brushingtechnology in general industrial appli-cations as well as in sophisticated envi-ronments such as nuclear energy,aerospace and computer technology.

For more information contact:Brush Research Manufacturing Co., Inc.Tel: 1-323-261-2193 Fax: 1-323-268-6587Email: info@brushresearch.com Website: www.brushresearch.com

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