Cores, Handles & Components covers 7 brush materials. These 7 materials are not fill at all — they are what the fill is mounted in or on, so they decide how the brush fastens, how much it deflects and what it survives, rather than how it cleans.
What makes Cores, Handles & Components different from other material categories?
Short answer: this category groups 7 materials used as brush fill or brush components, spanning 5 material classes: brush base material, brush core material, brush drive component material, metal brush core material, metal brush holder material.
In brush terms: the category narrows the shortlist. It does not set the stiffness. Fill stiffness is still set by filament diameter and trim, and it is specified separately from this part.
Which filament materials are available in this category?
The 7 materials in this category, with the behavior that decides each one:
| Material | Key behavior | Best suited for | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aluminum Holder | Rigid, with section geometry and alloy controlling deflection | Replaceable strip seals, cable-entry brushes, guards and conveyor-edge brushes mounted in a stiff light rail | — |
| Aluminum Wheel Core | Rigid structural component | Wire, abrasive and buffing wheels that need a machined bore, low rotating mass and controlled balance | — |
| Engineering Plastic Tube Core | Rigid but resin- and reinforcement-dependent | Lightweight conveyor, food-process and glass-washing rollers where corrosion resistance and machined interfaces matter | Creep, keyway failure, thermal expansion, poor adhesive bonding and bore growth can make a generic plastic tube unsuitable |
| Hardwood Brush Base | Rigid base | Manual block, clothes, shoe and applicator brushes used mainly in dry or intermittently wet service | Not preferred for continuous immersion, steam sanitation, cleanroom duty or tight wet dimensional tolerance |
| Nylon Gear | Rigid engineering component, but moisture and temperature reduce modulus and change fit | Powered appliance, floor-machine and conveyor brushes that need a quiet moderate-load drive interface | Not suitable from material name alone for high torque, high precision, hot wet service or unsupported cantilever load |
| PVC Board Brush Base | Rigid to semi-rigid compound and thickness | Wet block brushes, guard panels and strip-brush backing under modest structural and temperature loads | — |
| Polyethylene Board Brush Base | Medium-rigid for HDPE board | Washdown brush blocks and panels where low water uptake and corrosion resistance are priorities | — |
How do I choose between Cores, Handles & Components materials?
Start from how the brush is held and driven: a keyed shaft, a clamped collar, a molded insert and a channel lip each impose different demands, and the drive method usually eliminates most of the list. The table below is derived from the published figures of the materials in this category:
In brush terms: a fine filament of a hard material can be softer in the hand than a thick filament of a soft one. Check the pairing as well as the part: aluminum against stainless fixings corrodes in wet service, and a steel retaining wire inside an aluminum channel rusts even though the channel does not.
What brush types use Cores, Handles & Components?
Short answer: 8 of the brush constructions in the catalogue are built with materials from this category.
- Custom Handheld Detail Brushes
- Custom Bottle & Container Brushes
- Custom Tube & Pipe Bore Brushes
- Custom Roller and Conveyor Brushes
- Custom Wheel Brushes
- Custom Machine Table Brush Plates
- Custom Disc Brushes
- Custom Strip Seal Brushes
The construction and the service condition together decide the material. Drive method and environment together usually leave two candidates.
How do I specify Cores, Handles & Components for my brush?
Provide these together: give the mounting interface and its tolerance, the operating speed and load, and the environment — those, not the brush face, are what this part is specified against. A core or handle material is chosen against the mounting and the environment; on a brush it is often the part that sets the temperature or chemical ceiling for the whole assembly.
If the assembly needs food-contact or material declarations, remember they cover the core and handle too, not only the fill. It is not automatically included with every brush.