Finding the Right Industrial Solution for Your Tooling Needs

A wide range of abrasive tools is available in the industrial sector, each offering unique features and business benefits. SCTools offers tooling solutions to help meet your industrial tooling needs.

What Are Industrial Abrasive Tools?

An abrasive tool is a ceramic used for cutting, grinding, and polishing softer materials. Turbo mills, for example, are very effective at cutting and polishing metals.

Along with cutting and grinding, these abrasives are also used for lapping, sharpening, buffing, drilling, sanding, honing, and surface cold working metal. Abrasive tools are used on various metals, such as steel, cast iron, and Inconel. 

An Overview of the Materials Used for Abrasion

Abrasive consists of minerals such as calcium carbonate, emery, pumice, sandstone, garnet, Borazon, ceramic, steel abrasive, and silicon carbide, either naturally occurring or synthetic.

Depending on the nature and shape of the material to be polished, its use for industrial applications such as mining, building, and railroad operations falls into various categories.

An abrasive is the most effective means for honing down any material to prepare it for use, as long as the abrasive is harder than the material you're trying to finish.

Abrasives That Are Bonded

Abrasives of this type are shaped like wheels and are used to smooth out surfaces. They are generally surrounded by clay, resin, or rubber materials. The sides of the grit often differ in density. An example of a bonded abrasive is the lamina drilling equipment used to finish any material placed against it at high speed by rotation to carry out the abrasive mission. The most common bonded abrasives are tungsten carbide, aluminum oxide, silicon carbide, or garnet.

An Abrasive With a Coating

Sandpaper is the most common coated abrasive and is attached to a backing material like paper or metal. Sandpaper with a gritty surface is made by bonding a paper backing to an abrasive mineral with resin or another adhesive. Sandpaper comes in various shapes and sizes to be used with a variety of sanding tools.

Classification and Applications of Industrial Abrasive Tools

Discs for Sanding and Grinding

These are circular discs made of paper granules embedded with abrasive grit. The best use of grinding or sanding discs is to remove corrosion (rust) or paint. You can reuse wet and dry sandpaper after washing.

Handy/Utility Rolls

These are long, thin sandpaper rolls that can be ripped apart by pulling across the roll. For ordinary metalworking, steel rolls are used, while aluminum oxide is used for grinding cast iron or stainless steel that is difficult to grind. You can tear off what you need and use it immediately; they are great for small areas.

Sanding Belts

These belt sanders are a seamed or continuous loop of material with abrasive grit on them. They are most often used to grind down a broad range of ferrous and non-ferrous materials, as well as wood. Sanding belts are an excellent option to achieve a smooth, level finish over a longer piece of material, such as an aircraft wing.

Tips for Safe Handling of Abrasive Tools

The following safety precautions should be observed when handling abrasive equipment:

• To protect yourself from the hazards involved, you should wear personal protective equipment kits, including eye protection, ear protection, and respiratory protection.
• Clothing should be well-fitted and body-hugging to avoid getting stuck on the tools.
• When you notice sparks flying, keep an eye out for them and figure out where others are standing.
• If the tools appear to be loose or vibrating, stop working immediately.

Our industrial tooling solutions are customized to meet the specific needs of your business, and we understand that each project is unique. The best way to choose an abrasive for a given job is to determine what tools you have on hand. Count on SC Tools for the best abrasive solutions for your end mills and other metalworking needs.

If you have any questions about carbide cutting tools, end mills, drills, etc. be sure to reach out to us @ sctools.co/Home or call us at (877)737-0987. We help you machine better!