The first time I had ever heard of using a surface finishing belt (Scotch-Brite) in connection with sharpening or deburring was on this forum. Because of the unique surface of these belts, it kind of sat in the back of my mind as something interesting, especially in connection with deburring.
The reason I thought it might work for deburring is the odd, almost sponge like and sort of forgiving surface. My reasoning was that this unique surface may grab at the burr and therefore aid in removing it.
Looking at the surface with a 10 X loupe, it looks sort of like a sponge. I took this image with a digital camera:
I decided to take a little closer look-see at these wonderful belts, and I was surprised to behold an almost alien brain synapse like structure. How’d they ever come up with that I thought! Once you see what’s really going on, it’s much easier to understand how they can create a beautiful satin finish on metal surfaces.
The surface appears to be comprised of some sort of fiber, or possible wire, with globs of colored adhesive embedded with abrasive particles. Methinks it’s pretty cool.
But, if you recall, my original purpose for checking this out was to find out if surface finishing belts can be used for deburring. To this end I did the following:
I sharpened a blade and did a good job of removing the burr so I was starting with a clean edge. The black line on the right of these images is a marker line for reference. Two sharpness tests with the PT50B approximately 10 mm from the line were 130 gf and 125 gf.
Then I did three passes on one side of the blade and then three passes on the other side of the blade with an extra fine blue Scotch-Brite belt. Like any other abrasive belt, this raised a burr. With the burr, two sharpness readings were 435 gf and 575 gf. Here is an image of the blade with the burr created by the Scotch-Brite belt. The burr is clearly evident.
Then I deburred the blade. Two sharpness tests after deburring were 150 gf and 140 gf. Here is an image of the blade. Apparently I failed to completely remove the burr as there appears to be a small amount of burr remaining which probably accounts for the slightly higher sharpness reading compared to the blade when I started.
Then it struck me that the burr created by the Scotch-Brite belt in this test was very similar to the burr pictured in my previous post ( http://bessex.com/forum/showthread.php?t...72#pid1172 ) after using the Scotch-Brite belt. They appear very similar in both structure and size. Just guessing, but I think there is a possibility that the burr from the previous post was actually created by the Scotch-Brite belt when I attempted to use it for deburring. Here is a comparison of the two.
I was really hoping that a surface finishing belt might be the magic sauce for burr removal, but at this point I’m skeptical. I’ll leave it up to you to decide.
As always, this was just one test. It is neither extensive nor conclusive. Nonetheless, that is what happened and what I observed. I guess it's another take from it what you will kind of thing.
The reason I thought it might work for deburring is the odd, almost sponge like and sort of forgiving surface. My reasoning was that this unique surface may grab at the burr and therefore aid in removing it.
Looking at the surface with a 10 X loupe, it looks sort of like a sponge. I took this image with a digital camera:
I decided to take a little closer look-see at these wonderful belts, and I was surprised to behold an almost alien brain synapse like structure. How’d they ever come up with that I thought! Once you see what’s really going on, it’s much easier to understand how they can create a beautiful satin finish on metal surfaces.
The surface appears to be comprised of some sort of fiber, or possible wire, with globs of colored adhesive embedded with abrasive particles. Methinks it’s pretty cool.
But, if you recall, my original purpose for checking this out was to find out if surface finishing belts can be used for deburring. To this end I did the following:
I sharpened a blade and did a good job of removing the burr so I was starting with a clean edge. The black line on the right of these images is a marker line for reference. Two sharpness tests with the PT50B approximately 10 mm from the line were 130 gf and 125 gf.
Then I did three passes on one side of the blade and then three passes on the other side of the blade with an extra fine blue Scotch-Brite belt. Like any other abrasive belt, this raised a burr. With the burr, two sharpness readings were 435 gf and 575 gf. Here is an image of the blade with the burr created by the Scotch-Brite belt. The burr is clearly evident.
Then I deburred the blade. Two sharpness tests after deburring were 150 gf and 140 gf. Here is an image of the blade. Apparently I failed to completely remove the burr as there appears to be a small amount of burr remaining which probably accounts for the slightly higher sharpness reading compared to the blade when I started.
Then it struck me that the burr created by the Scotch-Brite belt in this test was very similar to the burr pictured in my previous post ( http://bessex.com/forum/showthread.php?t...72#pid1172 ) after using the Scotch-Brite belt. They appear very similar in both structure and size. Just guessing, but I think there is a possibility that the burr from the previous post was actually created by the Scotch-Brite belt when I attempted to use it for deburring. Here is a comparison of the two.
I was really hoping that a surface finishing belt might be the magic sauce for burr removal, but at this point I’m skeptical. I’ll leave it up to you to decide.
As always, this was just one test. It is neither extensive nor conclusive. Nonetheless, that is what happened and what I observed. I guess it's another take from it what you will kind of thing.
