Custom Wheel Brushes

A wheel brush looks like a grinding wheel made of wire or filament. It turns on an arbor or a threaded center, and the fill tips meet the work at the rim. Because the contact band is only as wide as the face, a wheel can follow the line of a weld, run along an edge, drop into a groove or work round a profile without touching the surface next to it.

A cup brush runs face-on and sweeps a wide circle, so it covers more area but cannot follow a narrow line. Wheels can also be stacked side by side on one shaft to make a wider face for machine work, which turns them into a short roller.

• Welding bevel cleaning brush: clears chips, coolant, oil, scale, oxide and spatter from weld preparation surfaces.
• Beryllium copper brush: non-sparking wire for rust, scale and paint in flammable, explosive or magnetically sensitive areas.
• Nylon brush wheel: 25–350 mm, for satin finishing and oxide removal.
• Packaging line wheel brush: 50–300 mm, nylon, conductive or wire fill on keyed bores.
• Printing brush: wheel, strip and roller forms for press cleaning.
• 50 mm carbon fiber static wheel: 20 mm face on a 6061 aluminum hub, grounded, for ESD dust removal.

The welding bevel brush and the 50 mm static wheel start at 500 pieces per design. The others are built to order from 100.

• Carbon steel wire: aggressive cleaning of ferrous steel where traces of carbon steel and later corrosion do not matter.
• Stainless steel wire: for stainless and aluminum, and for welds on stainless, so no carbon steel is embedded.
• Brass, bronze and beryllium copper: softer metal contact and limited sparking; beryllium copper for areas where sparks or magnetism are a hazard.
• Abrasive nylon: silicon carbide or aluminum oxide grit, for a defined cut on edges and burrs.
• Nylon, PBT and natural bristle: for cleaning and light finishing without marking.

Bench and grinder wheels are commonly 75–200 mm across with a face of 12–25 mm; machine wheels run larger, up to about 350 mm, and can be stacked for width. Wheels mount on an arbor hole, often with reducing bushes, on a threaded center for an angle grinder, or on a keyed bore for a machine shaft. Check the guard clearance and the direction of rotation: on stacked machine wheels with a pattern, direction matters.

Let the tips work. Hold the wheel so the rim meets the work at a slight angle, with light pressure, and move along the line. Heavy pressure bends the wire over and makes the wheel cut with the sides of the wire, which wears it quickly and leaves a poor finish. Keep the tool’s speed within the wheel’s maximum operating speed. A wheel that has started to shed wires or has worn unevenly should be retired.

Wear eye and face protection, gloves and close-fitting clothing. Keep the guard in place and stand out of the plane of the wheel when it starts. Run a new wheel briefly before it touches the work. Do not use a brush moved from carbon steel work on stainless. Where sparks are a hazard, specify brass, bronze or beryllium copper and follow the site’s own rules for hot work.

• The workpiece material and profile, and the deposit or burr to remove.
• The finish you need.
• Wheel diameter, face width and form, if you know them.
• Arbor, thread or keyed bore, the tool or machine, its speed and rotation.
• Dry or wet process, your brand and packaging, and the quantity per design.