Best way to dress a flap wheel?

[rkremser]

So we have these scotchbrite type flap wheels that we have been finishing aluminum profiles with. We are looking for the best way to dress these wheels to fit the profile to help speed up the process.

The wheels are non-woven 12" OD 5" ID and 3" wide, the profile that i need to cut is only one one side and is going to be a 60 degree angle starting around 3/4" in from the edge. Currently we labor away with a lot of 40 grit sand paper stacked on a scrap part to eat away at the wheel.

Its a long process and i am sure there is a better way, any ideas?

[rkremser]

No thoughts at all?

[Med-Pac]

Do you have any pics? Might help us understand what you're askin for.

Mike

[HuFlungDung]

I would imagine that running the wheel to be dressed slow, and the dressing device fast, would be a faster way to dress. Ordinary abrasive cloth flapwheels I simply dress on a bench grinder, both devices turning in opposite directions. Typically I'd run the die grinder slowly while the bench grinder runs its normal speed.

The wheels you have described are very much larger though. Perhaps if you can rig a method to turn the flapwheel at a moderate rpm, you could cut the shape into it with a handheld angle grinder and a thin edge grit disk. You might have to kind of notch the cuts as if felling a tree with an ax.

[rkremser]

Med-Pac
Here is an image of a wheel similar to what we are using
http://www.polishing.com.cn/DSCF1829.jpg

HuFlungDung
we were considering using an angle grinder but we one of or initial concerns would be to get the angle and distances spot on, If they didn't match the part the finish wouldn't end up being to spec and just causing more issues. One other thing that was thrown around was to make a matching steel profile and have it diamond coated to make a reusable dressing tool. Not sure how well this would work though.