10"OD x 4' Rubber rolls on a lathe

[srill]

Let me start with saying thank you in advance and any help you can give a rookie would be greatly appreciated. I need to cut away the surface of pre-existing rubber rolls that are used in a sheet line. The rubber is an inch and a half thick mounted on top of steel rolls. It is fairly hard but still has some flexibility. Over time the rubber has gotten scratches, dents, dings, etc. and I need to cut away enough of the surface rubber to get below the imperfections but it also needs to be left with a smooth finish. I have read a number of different methods to achieve my goal but I am still not sure what method to use.

So depending on what method is suggested I guess I would need to know roughly how fast to set the speeds and feeds and if cutting the material away is the best method then how would I want the bit to be sharpened? Is coolant Necessary? If cutting isnt the way then any info on a different method would be great. Also is there any concerns when working with the rubber that I need to be aware of that may ruin the rolls or even worse my day if I were to hurt myself. lol. We normally work with metal and have the appropriate tooling to do so but never done any rubber. Any help would be appreciated

[Jason3]

Hi there,

Sorry, I have nothing to offer in the way of advice if you're cutting with a fixed tool, but I've had good results using a (toolpost) grinder @ ~3000 rpm rotating the same direction (clockwise looking from tailstock end) as the roll, roll rotating as slow as the lathe will go, pretty small depth of cut. I don't know what the carriage feed speed was unfortunately. It makes a lot of dust, I don't know how healthy that is so I'd suggest plenty of ventilation and stand upwind Don't rotate the grinder and roll in opposite directions, the finish is rubbish that way and it leaves all the chips on the roll.

Maybe that's some use, hopefully someone else will have something better to offer.

Best regards,

Jason.

[RICHARD ZASTROW]

Rubber rolls are typically ground with a belt grinder. For infrequent use, many shops use a belt grinding attachment similar to a tool post grinder on a lathe.

Some sort of vacuum cleaner to gather up the dust and sometimes smoke is MANDATORY.

These rolls are regularly ground in shops that service the paper and printing industries.

Dick Z