Surface Processing Tool and Surface Processing Machine Equipped Therewith

Abstract

A surface treatment tool comprising an annular carrier substrate and a plurality of abrasive lamellae connected to the carrier substrate by their narrow sides in a contacting side-by-side arrangement or juxtaposition of their flat sides, at least some of which are fiber fleece lamellae. The carrier substrate is a flexible belt, the ends of which pointing in the longitudinal extension of the belt are connected to one another to form an annular shape. The fiber fleece lamellae are connected to the outward-facing surface of the flexible belt by means of an adhesive connection with flexible material properties in a state in which the lamellae are elastically compressed with respect to their thickness.

Claims

1-14. (canceled)

15. A surface treatment tool, comprising: a flexible belt as an annular carrier substrate, wherein ends of the flexible belt, which face in the longitudinal extension of the belt, are connected to one another to form an annular shape, and a plurality of abrasive lamellae comprising fiber fleece lamellae connected, with narrow sides thereof, to an outward-facing surface of the flexible belt, via an adhesive connection with flexible material properties, in a state in which the fiber fleece lamellae are elastically compressed with respect to their thickness, wherein flat sides of the fiber fleece lamellae are in a contacting side-by-side arrangement.

16. The surface treatment tool of claim 15, wherein the degree of compression of the fiber fleece lamellae is provided such that, by utilizing a restoring force stored therein by the elastic compression in the direction of their thickness, adjacent fiber fleece lamellae contact each other with their flat sides over their entire radial extent when the surface treatment tool is used as intended with a curved belt path.

17. The surface treatment tool of claim 15, wherein the degree of compression of the fiber fleece lamellae is between 20% and 85%.

18. The surface treatment tool of claim 17, wherein the degree of compression of the fiber fleece lamellae is between 30% and 55%.

19. The surface treatment tool of claim 15, wherein the flat sides of the fiber fleece lamellae are aligned transversely to a travel direction of the flexible belt.

20. The surface treatment tool of claim 19, wherein the fiber fleece lamellae applied to the flexible belt have a linear or nonlinear extension transverse to the travel direction of the flexible belt.

21. The surface treatment tool of claim 20, wherein the fiber fleece lamellae have a curved, wave-shaped extension, or an extension formed by individual sections which adjoin one another at an angle.

22. The surface treatment tool of claim 15, wherein the fiber fleece lamellae are open nylon fiber fleece lamellae impregnated with a synthetic resin-abrasive grain mixture.

23. The surface treatment tool of claim 15, wherein an abrasive layer is inserted between adjacent fiber fleece lamellae.

24. The surface treatment tool of claim 15, wherein the ends pointing in the longitudinal extension of the flexible belt are connected to one another in an abutting manner.

25. The surface treatment tool of claim 24, wherein the ends pointing in the longitudinal extension of the flexible belt are cut obliquely to the longitudinal extension with respective oblique cuts of the ends complementary to one another.

26. A surface treatment machine comprising at least two deflection rollers arranged at a distance from one another, of which at least one is rotationally driven, and a surface treatment tool according to claim 15 guided over the deflection rollers.

27. A surface treatment machine comprising an expansion roller that is elastically flexible in a radial direction, and a surface treatment tool according to claim 15 clamped on the expansion roller.

28. The surface treatment machine of claim 27, wherein the expansion roller has an adjustable elasticity in the radial direction.

29. The surface treatment machine of claim 28, wherein the expansion roller has a plurality of reinforcing element holders arranged distributed over a circumference of the expansion roller, and wherein one or more reinforcing elements can be inserted into one or more reinforcing element holders depending on the elasticity to be set for a specific treatment of a surface of a workpiece.

30. The surface treatment machine of claim 28, wherein for clamping the surface treatment tool on the expansion roller and for adjusting the elasticity in the radial direction, the expansion roller is pneumatically or hydraulically actuated to enlarge a clamping section of the expansion roller provided for positioning the surface treatment tool.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0020] The following description is provided using an example embodiment with reference to the appended figures, wherein:

[0021] FIG. 1 shows a sectional view of a mechanical brush tool as an example embodiment of a surface treatment tool,

[0022] FIG. 2 shows a schematic representation of a first manufacturing step for manufacturing the surface treatment tool of FIG. 1,

[0023] FIG. 3 shows a schematic representation of a second manufacturing step for manufacturing the surface treatment tool of FIG. 1, and

[0024] FIG. 4 shows a schematic representation of a further manufacturing step for manufacturing the surface treatment tool of FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0025] A mechanical or industrial brushing tool as a surface treatment tool 1 has a flexible belt 2 as a carrier substrate. The flexible belt 2 is tension-proof in the circumferential and transverse directions and flexible in the radial direction. The flexible belt 2 is formed from a flexible belt strip, the longitudinally extending ends of which abut one another with a bevel cut and are held together by means of an adhesive strip 3. The adhesive strip 3 does not necessarily serve solely to ensure that the flexible belt 2 remains in its closed annular shape.

[0026] A plurality of abrasive fiber fleece lamellae 4 are attached to the surface of the flexible belt facing outwards in the radial direction. These fleece lamellae 4 are sections of a fleece mat. The fiber fleece lamellae 4 are connected to the flexible belt 2 by means of a permanently elastic adhesive 5 with a narrow side 6 following the longitudinal axis of the ring shape of the flexible belt 2. Due to the bevel cut of the ends pointing in the longitudinal extension of the flexible belt 2 and the axial alignment of the fleece lamellae 4 connected on the outside, the end sections of the flexible belt 2 are also connected to one another via the adhesive 5 and the fleece lamellae 4 adhesively connected to them, which overlap the joint of the ends of the flexible belt 2. For the sake of clarity, only some fiber fleece lamellae 4 are shown in FIG. 1. These are arranged, as indicated by dash-dotted lines, over the entire circumference of the flexible belt 2.

[0027] The fiber fleece lamellae 4 of the illustrated embodiment are open nylon fiber fleece lamellae which have been impregnated with a plastic-resin-abrasive grain mixture. In addition to its function of fixing the abrasive grains, the synthetic resin component also serves to stabilize the structure of the fleece. Such fiber fleece mats from which the fiber fleece lamellae 4 are cut are sufficiently known and therefore do not require any more detailed discussion in the context of this disclosure. For the purposes of the surface treatment tool 1, the elastic properties of such a fiber fleece mat or of the fiber fleece lamellae 4 cut therefrom are used. In the embodiment shown, the fiber fleece lamellae 4 are designed with regard to their plastic-abrasive grain mixture content so that the surface treatment tool 1 can be used for brushing a surface of a workpiece.

[0028] It can be seen from FIG. 1 that the fiber fleece lamellae 4 in the cross section shown have a trapezoidal contour geometry, wherein the flat sides 7 of adjacent fleece lamellae 4 abut against one another and thus contact one another, namely over the entire radial extension.

[0029] The fiber fleece lamellae 4 arranged on the outside of the flexible belt 2 are compressed in the direction of rotation of the flexible belt 2 (indicated by an arrow in FIG. 1) and in this way brought into the trapezoidal cross-sectional shape shown in FIG. 4 1. A special feature of this surface treatment tool 1 is that there are no gaps between adjacent fiber fleece lamellae 4 on the peripheral surface 8 of the surface treatment tool 1. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the surface treatment tool 1 is a brush disk with an axial extension of approximately 5 cm. To use the surface treatment tool 1, it is clamped onto an expansion roller that is inserted into the opening of the flexible belt 2. This allows the surface treatment tool 1 to be driven in the direction of rotation shown in FIG. 1 or in the opposite direction of rotation.

[0030] In an embodiment variant not shown in the figures, the carrier substrate provided by a flexible belt is designed to be significantly longer than the flexible belt 2 of the surface treatment tool 1 of FIG. 1. This surface treatment tool is intended to equip a belt brushing machine. The surface treatment tool is then guided over two or more deflection rollers. At the deflection rollers, the fiber fleece lamellae have the cross-sectional geometry shown in FIG. 1. On the straight belt sections located between the deflection rollers, the fiber fleece lamellae are also compressed on their outward-facing peripheral surface to the same extent as at the connection of their narrow sides to the flexible belt. Thus, when the surface treatment tool is used, these fleece lamellae breathe in the transition from a straight section to a curved section guided around a deflection roller, without a gap being formed between adjacent fiber fleece lamellae on the peripheral surface in the area of a deflection around a deflection roller in a belt brushing machine. This breathing has a positive effect on the surface treatment process, as it leads the resulting abrasion away from the peripheral surface.

[0031] The surface treatment tool 1 of the illustrated embodiment can be manufactured using the processing steps shown schematically in FIGS. 2 to 4. In a first step, the flexible belt 2 is prepared and placed on a flat base surface (not shown). In addition, the fiber fleece lamellae 4 required for equipping the flexible belt 2 are provided, namely cut from or cut out of an abrasive fiber fleece mat. The individual fiber fleece lamellae 4 are positioned with their flat sides 7 adjacent to one another in the number required to equip the flexible belt 2, so that their narrow side 6 faces the intended outer side of the flexible belt 2. The original thickness of the fiber fleece lamellae 4 visible in this figure corresponds to the thickness of the fleece mat from which the fleece lamellae 4 are cut out. Depending on the intended design of the surface treatment tool 1, the flexible fiber fleece lamellae 4 can be cut from a fiber fleece mat with a larger or smaller thickness. Typical thicknesses of such fiber fleece mats are 3 to 30 mm. The height of the fiber fleece lamellae 4 can also influence the properties of the surface treatment tool 1.

[0032] In a subsequent step, the fiber fleece lamellae 4 are compressed transversely to the plane of their flat sides 7, as shown in FIG. 3. In the illustrated embodiment, the compression which occurs is approximately 35%. This degree of compression corresponds to the degree of compression exhibited by the narrow sides 6 of the fiber fleece lamellae 4 on the outside of the flexible belt 2 of FIG. 1. The compression of the fiber fleece lamellae 4 can, as indicated in FIG. 3 by the block arrows, take place between two compression plates which are moved towards each other to compress the fiber fleece lamellae 4. In addition, such compression plates hold the fiber fleece lamella stack enclosed by them between the compression plates and it can be positioned on the upper side of the flexible belt 2. Before positioning such a fiber fleece lamella stack on the flexible belt 2, the adhesive 5 is applied to the flexible belt 2. This can be applied over the entire outer side of the flexible belt 2. In another embodiment, it is provided that this is applied in multiple adhesive beads following the longitudinal extension of the flexible belt 2. As shown in FIG. 4, the fiber fleece lamella stack formed from the compressed fiber fleece lamellae 4 is immersed in the not yet cured or cross-linked adhesive 5 and held in this position until the adhesive 5 has cured to such an extent that the compression in the region of the narrow sides 6 of the fiber fleece lamellae 4 is permanently maintained.

[0033] In a subsequent step, the flexible belt 2 is formed into the ring body shown in FIG. 1 and the ends, which are made with an oblique cut 9 and point in the longitudinal direction, are connected to one another by the adhesive belt 3. The gap then located between the respective last fiber fleece lamellae 4 is filled by inserting further compressed fiber fleece lamellae 4. For this purpose, this outer ring section of the flexible belt 2 is previously coated again with adhesive 5. If the adhesive 5 is applied as adhesive beads that follow the longitudinal extension of the flexible belt 2 and are spaced apart from one another, fresh adhesive beads can be applied in the spaces between the adhesive beads for this last step, which then serve to provide the required hold for the last-mounted fiber fleece lamellae 4.

[0034] In a preferred embodiment of a use of the surface treatment tool 1 shown in FIG. 1, the tool is clamped onto an expansion roller which has a certain elastic flexibility in the radial direction. This has the advantage that a pressure acting in the radial direction on the peripheral surface 8 when using the surface treatment tool 1 does not have to be compensated for by the fiber fleece lamellae 4 alone, but can also be absorbed by the elastic flexibility in the radial direction of the expansion roller. For finishing a workpiece with the surface treatment tool 1 on its peripheral surface 8, a certain treatment pressure is required. Since this is partly absorbed by the elastic restoring force of the expansion roller carrying the surface treatment tool 1, the fiber fleece lamellae 4 are elastically stressed to a lesser extent in the radial direction. This has a positive effect with a considerable extension of the service life of the surface treatment tool 1.

[0035] In the surface treatment tool 1, the degree of compression of its fiber fleece lamellae 4 can be determined retrospectively in two different ways:

[0036] In a first possibility, in a first step a fiber fleece lamella 4 is removed from the flexible belt 2. The gap thus created between the fiber fleece lamellae 4 surrounding the removed fiber fleece lamella 4 will be closed over time due to the relaxation force stored in the surrounding fiber fleece lamellae 4; the fiber fleece lamellae 4 immediately adjacent to the gap are partially pressed into the gap by fiber fleece lamellae 4 further away from the gap, and partially expand directly into the gap. The verification according to this first possibility is therefore carried out on the surface treatment tool 1.

[0037] In a second possibility, in a first step a fiber fleece lamella 4 is also removed from the flexible belt 2. It is to be ascertained that there are no adhesive residues on the adhesive side. Due to the restoring force stored in the fleece lamella 4 acting in the transverse direction to its flat side 7, this fleece lamella 4 automatically returns to its original thickness. The detection according to this second possibility is therefore carried out on the fiber fleece lamella 4 removed from the surface treatment tool 1.

[0038] The recovery due to relaxation, which is used to detect the previous compression according to the two options, may take some time. To accelerate this process, a noticeable dimensional change can be carried out under the influence of temperature, for example in an oven at 80 to 130 C.

[0039] The invention has been described in the context of example embodiments. Without departing from the scope of the claims, there are numerous other designs for a person skilled in the art to implement the invention without these having to be shown or explained in more detail in the context of this disclosure.

LIST OF REFERENCE NUMERALS

[0040] 1 surface treatment tool [0041] 2 flexible belt [0042] 3 adhesive strip [0043] 4 fiber fleece lamella [0044] 5 adhesive [0045] 6 narrow side [0046] 7 flat side [0047] 8 peripheral surface [0048] 9 bevel cut