Brass polishing protects and brightens all types of brass products, in a variety of industries, ranging from screw machine parts to decorative hardware. It cleanses and removes a variety of soils including copper oxide/tarnish, buffing compounds and oils. It involves four stages:
- Degreasing: Degreasing is the removal of grease and oil from a surface. It is widely used to remove oils and oil-borne soils from objects that have been stamped, machined, welded, die-cast, etc. Degreasing cleans almost all electronic assemblies, electrical components and almost all metals, and nearly any size or shape part can be cleaned. Degreasing is an essential part of the production process, particularly in industries fabricating or assembling metal parts, such as aircraft, appliances, automotive, electronics and railroad. Degreasing is also known as defatting or fat trimming.
- Grinding: Grinding, an abrasive machining process that uses a grinding wheel as the cutting tool, is capable of making precision cuts and producing very fine finishes. The grinding head can be controlled to travel across a fixed workpiece can be moved while the grind head remains in a fixed position.
A precision grinding machine consists of a power-driven grinding wheel spinning at the required speed (which is determined by the wheel’s diameter and manufacturer’s rating) and a bed with a fixture to guide and hold the workpiece.
- Buffing: "Buffing" is the process used to shine metal, wood, or composites using a cloth wheel impregnated with cutting compounds or rouges. The cloth buff "holds" or "carries" the compound, while the compound does the cutting. Buffing generally requires two operations, a cut buff and a finish buff. Even the cut buff, which is the coarsest buffing operation, is too fine for removal of pits, course abrasive polishing lines, or deep scratches. This is why surface preparation prior to buffing is critical to a high lustre, final finish. Excellent pre-buff surface preparation starts with using the finest abrasive belt that production will allow. It is from this point that removal of the original scratch line needs to be accomplished to achieve the final buff finish. The original "scratch" or polish is followed by one or two additional polishing steps. Cross polishing the abrasive lines if possible and buff off of approximately 400 grit or finer abrasive on metals. The cut buff will remove the final polishing lines, but may not be as bright as required. The finishing buff will produce the lustre.
- Lacquering: To reduce the need for frequent cleaning, the surfaces of copper and brass can be lacquered. The surface of the lacquer gives a bright but shallow reflection clearly different to the deep glow of a good polish but is acceptable for much domestic hardware and electrical fittings. Lacquers used must be suitable for copper-based materials in order to inhibit tarnishing. Lacquered brass will usually last about 10 years and does NOT require frequent polishing.
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APPLICATIONS
