Abrasive-Infused Wheels Buff It Out With Minimal Compound
Impregnated with premium silicon carbide grains on both sides, tear-resistant and waterproof fixed abrasive buff (FAB) buffing wheels from the Norton division of Saint-Gobain Abrasives last significantly longer than traditional cotton buffs.
Posted: March 4, 2020
Norton FAB (fixed abrasive buff) buffing wheels from Saint-Gobain Abrasives (Worcester, MA) virtually eliminate the need to use messy buffing compounds. Their patent-pending design uniformly incorporates premium silicon carbide abrasive grains into both sides of the cloth, producing excellent single-digit surface finish values of 1 Ra to 5 Ra. The tear-resistant and waterproof wheels also last significantly longer than traditional cotton buffs.
“In addition to increasing productivity by generating more parts per buff with fewer wheel changes, their superior finishing performance can remove extra pre-buff processing steps,” says Senior Product Manager Anne Bonner.
Costs are lowered because the wheel eliminates the need to buy, apply, clean up, and dispose of large amounts of buffing compound. Less compound also improves worksite safety and reduces the environmental impact of compound disposal.
Effective on hard alloys as well as soft metals such as aluminum and brass, the wheels are easily incorporated into robotic buffing applications. Key applications i
nclude automatic or semi-automatic buffing, cut buffing, and mush buffing in a wide range of markets including automotive, hardware, and oil and gas.
Norton FAB wheels are available in outer diameters from 5 inches to 22 inches, 12- or 16-ply (number of cloth layers of buff), 2- or 4- pack (waviness of the buff face), and various ID hole designs.