Dual Disc Flat Finishing for Maximum Radiusing

Q. We have flat aluminum ¼-inch plates in 4-inch x 72-inch strips and various laser-cut shapes with 8-inch diameter and smaller. Our application requires a large .025 to .030 edge radius and laser edge cleaning for a pre-paint finish. What type of finishing system would meet these requirements?—K.H.

A. There is a new type of in-line radius system that uses two different types of discs for one pass of the part, which does an excellent job of radiusing and edge clean-up.

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The first disc head can be fitted with a conventional surface conditioning disc and the second head uses an abrasive, non-woven material.

The bottom conveyor runs the part through the overhead positioned dual disc heads. These systems can be built with between 12-inch to 39-inch dual oscillating discs. They can also be built with disc heads on the wide top and bottom allowing both side processing with one pass.

This disc head technology has been around for a number of years using planetary and single rotating discs. The flexibility of using two separate disc heads enables increased radiusing and edge work.

Originally published in the July 2015 issue.