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A wire brush is an abrasive tool used to clean and prepare metal surfaces. Its stiff bristles are created from a range of tough materials. Wire brushes use small, rigid pieces of material called filaments that are closely placed together to clean surfaces that call for abrasive and aggressive instruments. Depending on the type of brush and the surface to be treated, the brush can be applied manually or mechanically.

A wire brush can be used for more than just cleaning surfaces; for example, it can be used to prepare surfaces for painting or to clean up slag and welding spatter. To prepare items for processing, wire brushes have become a crucial component of many production processes.

Types Of Wire Brushes

The variety of wire brushes is unlimited since various varieties, as well as unique brushes and strange patterns, are always being developed for specialized uses. Wire brushes play an important role in household, industrial, manufacturing, and process production, so it is necessary to understand their use and requirements. Wire brushes come in several varieties, including:

1. Channel Scratch Brushes

A channel scratch brush cleans threads and lightly removes paint or corrosion. They come in a variety of lengths, with bristles that are most frequently between seven and twelve inches in length. Depending on the use and requirements of the operation, the handle may be bent or straight. You can choose from steel, stainless steel, brass, or bronze, just like other scratch brushes. There are many wire diameter sizes for channel brushes.

2. Elder Brushes

Due to the nature of the application, welding brushes must be extremely robust. By removing substances that can contaminate the welding process, such as oils, dust, and grime, this kind of brush is used to prepare a surface for welding. After the welding is finished, extra slag or small burrs are removed using welding brushes. The metal bristles must be tough enough to stand up to the heat generated by these metal components.

3. Scratch Brushes

Scratch brushes are all-purpose tools for removing paint, rust, and grime. Steel, stainless steel, brass, or bronze filaments can be used to fill handles made of plastic or wood.

4. Wire Brushes With A Brush-Like Design

The toothbrush-style wire brush is available with various handle options and configurations. Regardless of size, it offers the same abrasive action as larger brushes and is useful for gaining access to tight or difficult-to-reach places. The electronics sector is where it is most frequently used. Brass, stainless steel, or steel can be used as filaments.

5. Utility Brushes

The typical utility brush has an eight-inch overall length and a face that is two by three inches in size. This kind of brush is used in a variety of settings, including homes to clean the BBQ grill and manufacturing facilities to clean and prepare parts. The most typical utility brush features a hardwood handle and a head that is slightly slanted.

6. Flat-Wire Broom Brushes

In some floor cleaning situations, a wire head push broom is necessary to remove an accumulation of sticky, thick, and viscous materials that can't be cleaned with a conventional push broom. The flat steel wire filaments in a flat wire broom can provide the abrasive power needed to remove sticky, thick items from a work area. They are utilized in the same way as a typical push broom but with more abrasive force.

7. Wire Wheel Brushes

The wire wheel brushes are employed with grinders, automated finishing equipment, or mounted on an arbor. Steel, stainless steel, or brass wires that are used to make wheel brushes can be crimped or knotted. Six to eight inches is the typical length of wire filament for wheel wire brushes. To finish surfaces, clean, polish, deburr, and remove paint, wheel brushes offer straight-line cleaning. Manufacturers offer a wide range of wheel brushes that can be used individually or in groups.

8. Twisted Wire Brushes

Depending on the producer or client, twisted wire brushes are known by many different names. Internal cleaning brushes, tubes, bottles, pipes, spirals, etc. Could be called by these names. They can be used with both power and manual instruments, including drills and CNC machining machinery. Twisting stem wires to firmly hold the filaments in place allows for the creation of twisted brushes. There are many sizes of twisted wire brushes available, including ones known as miniature or micro brushes. The purpose of these incredibly tiny brushes is to clean and deburr close-tolerance holes drilled in metallic and non-metallic objects.

9. Cylinder Brushes

Cylinder wire brushes are distinguished by their broad faces, which can thoroughly clean a broad area of a product surface. They come in three different varieties: spiral, coil, and rotary brushes. They are made of filament tufts or a strip brush mounted on a core. The cleaning power of the brush is determined by the length of its filaments, with shorter filaments being more powerful. Although longer filaments perform the same task, they are typically softer and less abrasive.

10. End Wire Brushes

The End wire brushes, also known as stem brushes, are employed in constrained or constrained spaces. They are suitable for deburring holes, polishing molds, cleaning castings, removing flash, spot facing, and getting a metal surface ready for welding. With a smaller container for their filaments that can range in cup diameter from less than an inch to four inches, end brushes sometimes resemble cup brushes in appearance. End brushes' filament design, which might be crimped, twisted, flared, or have a hollow center, is a crucial component. Standard steel, stainless steel, brass, and bronze filaments are used.

11. Strip Brushes

The metal channel that holds the filaments is the primary characteristic of a strip brush. A long, flat piece of metal that is four to six inches broad and four to twelve inches long is used to create the channel. To create the channel, the sheet is bent in the middle. Filaments made of steel, copper, or bronze are bent in half before being ready for the tasks. The trimmed length of the filaments as well as their density and diameter can be used to explain the differences in strip wire brushes. These three elements determine the brush's level of aggression.

Feature of Wire Brushes

Regardless of the type, all brushes have two things in common: a handle or container in some shape, and bristles or filaments.

1. Filaments

The filaments or bristles on a wire brush are its fundamental component. What can be done with a brush depends on the type of wire filaments, their diameters, densities, and lengths. The filament diameter, which ranges from 0.003 to 0.050 of an inch and is measured with a micrometer or caliper, is the measurement taken across the diameter of a single filament. Filaments with finer diameters have more cutting tips per square inch than those with larger diameters. 

Although larger diameters might appear perfect, they tend to wear out more quickly and reduce the time a brush can be used. For the production of wire brushes, a variety of wire filaments are available. Filaments are selected based on the results they are intended to produce on the surface being treated.

The varieties of filaments include:

• Carbon steel

• Steel

• Coated tin

• Brass

• Stainless steel

• Nylon

• Nickel silver

2. Filament Designs

There are four basic styles of filament:

• Twisted &#;

   twisted filaments are made by twisting several crimped or straight filaments simultaneously.

• Round Crimp &#; 

  Filaments with a round crimp provide a denser, wave-like appearance that provides more brush motion.

• Straight Or Level &#;

   Straight or level filaments are utilized in lighter, less abrasive applications since they are less dense.

• Rectangular &#;

   Rectangular shape filaments provide a solid line of contact with a surface that provides high performance for heavy-duty applications. This allows them to impart much more abrasion. 

3. Handle Or Holders

Wire brush filaments, in contrast to traditional brushes, do not have handles. Instead, they are enclosed in a variety of holders that are intended to keep the filaments compact and safe. The various kinds of holders include:

• Cup

• Handles

• Cylinder

• Wheel

• Strip

Applications Of Wire Brushes

Wire brushes can be put to a wide variety of uses. Some of them are:

• Abrading

• Acid brush

• Pipe cleaning

• Rust removal

• Surface preparation

• Wood distressing

• Deburring

• Static removal

• Welding

• Crematorium

• Concrete floors

How To Choose A High-Quality Wire Brush

It might be challenging to choose the best wire brush for an application given the huge variety of wire brush types. When making the decision, a few elements must be taken into account because the wrong option may result in issues or surface damage. Although wire brushes are abrasive tools, there are different levels of their abrasive force, which is a key consideration when choosing which one to buy. The following considerations should be taken into consideration while making a decision:

#1 Wire Filament Type 

The wire type, which ranges from stiff nylon and aluminum to high tensile strength carbon steel, is one of the characteristics that distinguishes wire brushes.

#2 Filament Configuration 

In addition to the type of wire, it's crucial to decide whether it should be straight, twisted, knotted, or crimped. High impact and extensive surface coverage are produced by twisted and knotted wire. Wire brushes with cups and ends typically employ these configurations.

#3 Surface Size 

The size of the wire brush to be used depends on the surface's size that must be cleaned, prepared, or finished. Handheld brushes work well for small tasks and surfaces but are inefficient for covering vast areas.

When working on large flat surfaces, rotary and cup brushes are the ideal options. In particular, this applies to rusty, corrosion-ridden, slag-covered areas.

#4 Wire Filament Diameters 

The range of wire filament diameters is 0.004 to 0.032 inches. The gauge of wire that can be used in the brush varies depending on the wire's diameter. To hold the thicker diameter filaments in place, a larger filament holder is needed.

#5 Length Of Filaments

The length of a filament has a significant impact on how abrasive a wire brush will be when selecting filaments. Longer, more flexible filaments should be employed when an application requires a gentler, less forceful brushing. Shorter, more compact filaments are faster, stiffer, and more aggressive.

Wire Brushes

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Introduction

This article covers all the information you need to know about wire brushes.

You will learn about topics such as:

• What is a Wire Brush?
• Types of Wire Brushes
• How Wire Brushes are Made
• Uses for Wire Brushes
• And much more&#;

Chapter One &#; What is a Wire Brush?

A wire brush is an abrasive tool with stiff filaments made from various rigid materials designed to clean and prepare metal surfaces. The filaments of wire brushes are thin pieces of inflexible material that are closely spaced together to clean surfaces that require aggressive and abrasive tools. The means of applying the brush can be either manual or mechanical, depending on the type of brush and the surface to be treated.

Though part of a wire brush&#;s function is to clean surfaces, they have other purposes, such as preparing materials for painting or removing slag and spatter after welding. Wire brushes have become essential to several production operations to prepare products for processing, finishing, and treatment.

Chapter Two &#; Types of Wire Brushes

The types of wire brushes are endless since new types are continually being developed, as well as different brushes and unusual designs that are required for specialized applications. It is important to understand the necessity and use of wire brushes since they are valuable tools in homes, factories, manufacturing, and process production.

On the surface, wire brushes seem to have a simple design where some form of filament is attached to a handle. Though that initial concept is true, the methods and techniques used to put the handles and filaments together require planning and engineering expertise.

In the engineering of brushes, there are many different types of handles and a wide range of filaments, though metal filaments are the most common type. The brush design depends on how it will be used, with different ones for stripping wallpaper or descaling and deburring parts.

Scratch Brushes

Scratch brushes are general-purpose brushes used for paint, rust, and dirt removal. Handles can be made of plastic or wood with fill options of steel, stainless steel, brass, or bronze filaments.

Channel Scratch Brushes

The purpose of a channel scratch brush is to clean threads and remove light rust or paint. They come in various lengths, with the most common filaments ranging from seven to twelve inches. The handle can be bent or straight, depending on the application. Much like other scratch brushes, the choice of filaments includes steel, stainless steel, brass, or bronze. Channel brushes are available in a variety of wire diameter sizes.

Welder Brushes

Brushes for welding have to be highly durable due to the nature of the application. This brush is used to prepare a surface for welding by removing oils, dirt, dust, and other materials that may contaminate the process. Once welding is completed, welding brushes are used to remove excess slag or minor burrs. The metal filaments must be resilient enough to withstand the heat from the joined metal pieces.

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Toothbrush Style Wire Brushes

The toothbrush style wire brush comes in various configurations and a selection of different handles. Regardless of its size, it supplies the same abrasive action as larger brushes and is good for getting into hard-to-reach or small spaces. Its most common use is in the electronics industry. Filaments can be steel, stainless steel, or brass.

Utility Brushes

The common utility brush comes with a standard face of two by three inches and an overall length of eight inches. This type of brush can be found in many places, from homes for cleaning the BBQ grill to cleaning and preparing parts for production. The most common type of utility brush has a wooden handle with a slightly angled head.

Flat Wire Broom Brushes

Some floors require a wire head push broom for cleaning accumulated sticky, thick, and viscous substances that cannot be removed with a traditional push broom. A flat wire broom has flat steel wire filaments that are capable of supplying the abrasive force to remove sticky, dense materials from a work area. They are used exactly like a normal push broom but with greater abrasive force.

Much like all forms of brushes, cup wire brushes come in a wide range of styles and types. In some cases, they are specially designed to fit a specific production or finishing application. Cup brushes are used for surface preparation, polishing, and descaling. They have high-density crimped wire filaments.

The name for wire cup brushes comes from their design, which includes a cup-shaped base with wire filaments of brass, steel, or stainless steel inserted. The filaments can be crimped, knotted, rectangular, or twisted.

Wheel Brushes

Wheel wire brushes are used with grinders, robotic finishing devices, or mounting to an arbor. The wires for a wheel brush can be crimped or knotted and made from steel, stainless steel, or brass. The traditional wheel wire brush has an arbor hole of two inches and comes with a variety of wire diameters. Common wire filament lengths for wheel wire brushes are six to eight inches.

Wheel brushes provide straight-line cleaning for surface finishing, cleaning, polishing, deburring, and paint removal. Manufacturers provide a wide selection of wheel brushes that can be used individually or gang-mounted.

Twisted Wire Brushes

Twisted wire brushes are known by several different names depending on the manufacturer or customer. The names include tube, bottle, pipe, spiral, or internal cleaning brushes. They are adaptable enough to be used for manual or power tools such as drills and CNC machining equipment. Twisted brushes are made by putting filaments between stem wires and twisting the stem wires to securely hold the filaments.

Twisted wire brushes are made in many sizes, including ones referred to as miniature or micro brushes. These small brushes are designed to deburr and clean close-tolerance holes drilled in metallic and non-metallic parts.

The main feature of a cylinder wire brush is its wide face, which can clean a large area of a product substrate. They are known as rotary, coil, or spiral brushes, and they consist of a strip brush mounted on a cylindrical core or filament tufts set in a core. The length of the filaments determines how aggressively the brush will clean a surface, with shorter filaments being the most aggressive. Though longer filaments serve the same function, they tend to be gentler and not as abrasive.

End Wire Brushes

End wire or wire end brushes are used in conditions of restricted or limited space and are sometimes referred to as stem brushes. They are ideal for polishing molds, cleaning castings, deburring holes, flash removal, spot-facing, and preparing a metal surface for welding. End brushes tend to look similar to cup brushes. The container for their filaments can come in a range of diameters, from less than an inch up to four inches. A critical aspect of an end brush is its style of filaments, which can be crimped, twisted, flared, or have a hollow center. The filaments are the standard types of steel, stainless steel, brass, or bronze.

Strip Brushes

Strip brushes, known as channel brushes or metal channel strip brushes, are linear brushes that have a center wire, a metal channel, and metal brush filaments of varying types. They can be as short as one inch or as long as several feet, with filaments that can be less than a half inch or filaments over eight inches.

A metal channel strip brush has metal filaments that are held in place by a U-shaped metal channel and center wire. The channel is formed from flat sheet metal bent into the shape of a &#;U.&#; The filaments are also folded into a U shape with a center wire at the bottom of the fold. The folded filaments with their center wire are inserted into the metal channel before the channel is squeezed tightly shut, so the filaments and center wire are securely held in place.

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Chapter Three - How Wire Brushes are Made

Many different types of wire brushes are made in different ways. The varieties of filaments, handles, cups, channels, and other aspects of wire brush manufacturing are widely varied and depend on the type of brush.

All brushes, regardless of type, have two shared characteristics, which are some form of a container or handle and filaments. The automated and complex production processes for brushes have been designed to create high-quality wire brushes with filaments that are firmly held in place, ensuring the brush&#;s excellent performance.

Wire Brush Filament

The main part of a wire brush is its filaments. The types, diameters, densities, and lengths of these wire filaments determine what applications a brush can be used for. The filament diameter is the measurement across the diameter of an individual filament, which is measured with a micrometer or caliper and can range from 0.003 to 0.050 of an inch.

Finer-diameter filaments offer more cutting tips per square inch than larger-diameter ones. Though larger diameters may seem to be ideal, they tend to fatigue more rapidly and shorten a brush&#;s usage.

There are several types of wire filaments available for the manufacture of wire brushes. Filaments are chosen according to the types of results they are designed to achieve on the surface being treated.

Crimped Steel

Crimped steel is ideal for light surface treatments, deburring, and flexible brushing. Twisted or knotted steel is used for heavier applications and hard-to-work surfaces.

Steel

The main benefit of steel wire is that it offers a quicker, faster, more aggressive cut and has a longer usage life. These factors result from its durability and ability to endure extreme brushing applications.

Coated Tin

The applications that can use coated tin brushes are limited. Coated tin filaments can be straight or crimped for deburring or decarbonizing.

Brass

Brass filaments are used on surfaces when there is material to be removed but a need not to harm the substrate. Since brass does not produce sparks, it can be used in potentially flammable environments as a safe alternative to steel.

Stainless Steel Grades

The grades of stainless steel filaments include grades 302, 304, and 316. Like most stainless steel, grade 302 is corrosion and rust-resistant. It is ideal for food processing, high-temperature applications, and humid conditions. Grade 304 stainless steel does not have the same corrosion and rust resistance as other grades and is used in low moisture or low humidity conditions. Grade 316 has exceptional resistance to corrosion and is normally used in high humidity and saltwater applications.

Nickel Silver

Nickel silver is produced by alloying 10% nickel, 65% copper, and 25% zinc. The addition of nickel to copper and zinc creates nickel silver. The presence of nickel increases the tensile strength and corrosion resistance of brass, which produces a more versatile filament material.

Styles of Filaments

There are four basic styles of filaments, which are twisted, crimped, level or straight, and rectangular.

• Twisted &#; Twisted filaments are created by taking crimped or straight filaments and twisting several of them in a batch. The multiple diameters twisted together increase the diameter of the individual filaments, which gives them the ability to clean larger areas.
• Round Crimp &#; Round crimped filaments have a dense wave appearance that offers stronger brush action. The nature of the crimp is determined by the amplitude, depth of crimp, frequency, and crimps per inch.
• Level or Straight &#; Straight or level filaments are less dense and used for lighter, less abrasive applications.
• Rectangular &#; Rectangular style filaments are capable of applying far more abrasion because of their solid line contact with a surface. They offer excellent performance for heavy-duty applications.

Wire Brush Filament Holders

Unlike standard brushes that have handles, wire brush filaments are encapsulated in a variety of holders that are designed to keep the filaments compact and secure. The types of holders include the traditional handle, cups, wires, and metal strips. A variety of methods are used to ensure that the filaments are securely placed.

Cup

Wire cup brushes are abrasive brushes made by attaching any type of filament to a cup-shaped base. Cups can have either crimped or twisted filaments. Twisted filaments are twisted in groups before being placed in the cup, making them usable for aggressive applications, while crimped filaments are crimped to keep them separated.

Handles

The handles for wire brushes are much like the handles for standard household brushes and are made of plastic, wood, metal, or wire. The manufacture of wire brushes with handles includes drilling holes in the handle. There are a variety of ways the filaments are attached, which can include twisting, compression, forcible insertion, or pressurization. In the case of plastic handles, filaments may be inserted in the handle during formation to form a more secure fit.

Handles for twisted wire brushes are unlike the methods used to insert filaments in solid handles. For twisted wire brushes, the filaments are placed between two wires that are twisted to hold the filaments in place. The handle of the brush is an extension of the twisted wires.

Cylinder

The various names of cylinder brushes include rotary and coil brushes. Cylinder brushes can be produced by back strip or stapled set construction. There are several types of cylinder brushes that are differentiated by the type, density, and length of the filaments.

Wheel

Wheel brushes, or spiral brushes, are a circular shape with either a solid center or an open center. The filaments for the brush are attached to the circumference of the circle. They are normally secured by pressure applied to the sides of the metal holding core, ensuring a secure, tight fit. Wheel brushes with a solid center may have a shaft attached to allow them to connect to a power tool. Brushes with an open center are designed to be slipped onto a grinder. The filaments can be long or short, with shorter filaments applying more aggressive, abrasive force.

Strip

A strip brush is a long piece of metal with filaments attached. During manufacturing, a sheet of metal that is four to six inches wide is bent to form a channel. The filaments are placed in the channel, which is crimped to hold the filaments in place. The size, depth, and width of the channel depend on the filament diameter and the trim of the brush.

Chapter Four &#; Uses for Wire Brushes

Wire brushes have found a place in many industries as a means of aggressively cleaning stubborn, thick, metallic surfaces and floors. The variations in wire brushes are defined by their use; some are used to prepare and finish a product, while others are used to tear into hard surfaces. Depending on how fine the wires are, a wire brush can be used to smooth and finely prepare a surface or remove unwanted surface materials on the substrate.

Though wire brushes are normally defined as aggressive tools that can tear into thick materials, they have found use in industries that need a sensitive but aggressive touch, such as electronics welding. There are any number of uses for wire brushes, and new ones are continually being discovered.

Uses for Wire Brushes

Abrading with Wire Brushes

One major feature of wire brushes is their abrasive texture. Though this is not true of all wire brushes, since some are used for finishing and cleaning, a particular group is designed exclusively for abrading and removing paint, rust, particulate matter, and metal filings from (mostly) metal substrate. This type of brush cuts into the surface, removing everything it touches. In most cases, once the abrading is complete, a gentler wire brush is used to smooth the surface.

Abrading or abrasive brushes that make deep cuts into a metal surface are used to prepare the surface for applying a coating that will smooth out the remainder. An abrading brush used in this manner is actually preparing the surface for further finishing.

Most abrading brushes are manufactured to be used electronically. There are versions with wood or plastic handles that are used to remove wallpaper, paint, and rust by hand. This type does not cut as deep as the electric version, but it has to be used carefully on drywall and wood.

Acid Brushing with Wire Brushes

Acid brushes are small brushes used to apply glue, liquid, or chemicals that are ideal for quickly cleaning small areas. Most acid brushes have crimped filaments of stainless steel but can come with any number of different filament materials.

Pipe Cleaning with Wire Brushes

Pipe brushes are a tool used by plumbers to clean pipes and hard-to-reach surfaces. The diameters of the brushes are equal to or greater than the diameter of the pipe, so they firmly fit against the pipe&#;s inner surface. Though they are ideal for cleaning pipes, they can also be used to push or destroy obstructions in pipes. The flexible wire version bends with the curves in pipes and can conform to the shape of a pipe.

Rust Removal with Wire Brushes

A common use for cup and wheel wire brushes is for rust removal. Powered wheel wire brushes are ideal for removing rust from hard-to-reach places. They have enough abrasive force to dig into cracks and tight spaces. The wide variety of cup brushes can be used to clean flaky rust and paint from large surfaces. The different sizes and diameters of cup brushes, as well as the hollow versions, offer sufficient alternatives to meet any type of rust removal needs.

When cleaning a stainless steel surface, it is best to use a brass filament cup or wheel wire brush to protect the surface from contamination. Brass filaments have the same cutting abilities but are not as abrasive as steel.

Hand wire brushes can also be used for cleaning rust but are not ideal for large or encrusted surfaces since they do not have the same cutting power and take far too much effort to complete the job. Powered cup and wheel wire brushes can be used for a wide variety of surfaces, from rust on machines and cars to rust-covered fences and barriers.

Surface Preparation with Wire Brushes

Though much of the emphasis on wire brushes is on cleaning and removal, they are also ideal for preparing surfaces for finishing. A surface cleaned with a wire brush is ready for the further application of surface protection. In large operations, a form of blasting may be used to clean and prepare a surface. However, regardless of the efficiency of blasting, certain areas may need extra attention to ensure that the surface is completely ready to be finished. In those cases, a handheld cup or wheel wire brush is used to do the necessary detailing.

In surface preparation processes, some amount of roughness is necessary to ensure that the protective material to be applied will adhere. The type of wire brush that is used for the preparation of a surface depends on the type of substrate. The selection of the correct kind of wire brush depends on the types of filaments.

Wood Distressing with Wire Brushes

The process of distressing wood is used to wear off the softer, lighter portions of wood grain while leaving the denser parts, producing an aged appearance. What results is a time-worn effect, as if the wood has been weathered outdoors. The process can be completed using a handheld wire brush, which creates a softer, sanded appearance.

Roughing caused by wire brushes will vary according to the types of filaments used. To sand the surface, a wire brush with aluminum filaments of different grits can be used. These types of wire brushes produce the same results as sandpaper.

Deburring with Wire Brushes

There are many reasons to use the deburring process, which include holes cut in metal, cutoff operations, or molded parts. Wire brushes are a very practical and economical way to deburr and clean up metal pieces. Wire brushes are less expensive and last longer than chamfering equipment.

There are few limitations on the use of wire brushes for deburring operations. Thin-walled tubing can be deburred using a wire brush without changing the dimensions of the tube. Unlike other deburring methods, wire brush deburring does not leave any types of microburrs on treated surfaces.

Static Removal with Wire Brushes

An ongoing problem in production is the creation of static during assembly operations. Though the static may not be harmful to workers, it does attract dust, dirt, and other substances to final products that are difficult and time-consuming to remove.

Wire brushes can be incorporated into assembly operations to pick up static and prevent it from being created. Wire brushes pick up static and ground it to extinguish its effects. A wide variety of wire brushes in various lengths and filament diameters can be adapted for this process.

Welding with Wire Brushes

There are several uses for wire brushes in welding applications. Prior to welding, metal surfaces may require pre-welding preparation, which is the removal of impurities on the surface, such as oil, dirt, and grime. Included in removal are rust, corrosion, and coatings that could interfere with the bond of the metals or be volatile.

Once the welding process is completed, the welded surface has to be smoothed, oxidized, and freed of irregularities and foreign particles, much like during pre-welding. Though grinding is used to remove roughness and weld spatter, wire brushes help to smooth and even surfaces.

Four possible wire brushes can be used to prepare and smooth welding surfaces. Wire wheel brushes are versatile and durable enough to do all three of the required operations, while cup wire brushes are ideal for larger surfaces and less detailed work. End wire brushes are used for hard-to-reach spots such as T-joints, using fine, crimped wires for lighter surface cleaning. When less aggressive measures are necessary for small jobs, handheld wire brushes can be used to knock off slag between welding operations.

Crematorium with Wire Brushes

A major factor in crematoriums is keeping the surface of the oven clean to ensure its continued usefulness. Brass wire brushes are used to clean out the oven chamber without causing damage to the surface. The less abrasive nature of brass makes them the perfect solution for preserving the chamber's integrity. Straight brushes for this purpose can easily connect to threaded handles and come in various widths, with twelve inches being the most common.

Concrete Floors with Wire Brushes

Wire rotary brushes are used to remove grime, oil, set-in dirt, and thick, dried substances that have built up on concrete surfaces. Though hand wire brushes attached to mop handles are capable of doing the work, in most instances, it is necessary to attach a large rotary brush to a floor scrubber to get the best results.

Made of heavy gauge steel, rotary wire brushes strip concrete surfaces, removing any type of built-up material that results from shipping or industrial operations. The action of a rotary wire brush is very similar to using a stringent cleaning solvent without the concern for toxicity.

Highly aggressive floor brushes can be used for scraping, scrubbing, scouring, and stripping floors. They are designed to attack impacted soil, grease, and oil. Floor scrubbing brushes come in several diameters, beginning with 13&#; and going up to over 20&#;.

Chapter Five &#; How to Select the Right Wire Brush

With the many types of wire brushes, it can be difficult to determine the correct wire brush for an application. There are certain factors that have to be considered when making the choice since an incorrect choice can lead to problems or damage to a surface.

Though wire brushes are an aggressive tool, there are varying levels to their abrasive force, which is a principal factor when making purchasing decisions. Whether a wire brush is cup, straight, wheel, or handle, it can be soft and smooth or harsh and destructive as required.

How to Select the Right Wire Brush

Wire Filament Type

One of the factors that differentiates wire brushes is the wire type, which starts with stiff aluminum and runs up to high tensile strength steel. The wire type should complement the work. The chart below is a brief method for matching the proper wire type with the material to be treated.

Filament Configuration

Aside from the wire type, it is important to determine the wire configuration, which can be twisted, knotted, crimped, or straight. Twisted and knotted wire produce high impact and cover a wide surface area. These types of configurations are normally used in cup and end wire brushes. Twisted and knotted wires are used for heavy-duty applications such as welding, clean-up, and heavy corrosion removal.

Straight wire is not as aggressive as twisted or knotted wire since the individual filaments are unable to cover a large area. Crimped wire is like straight wire but is highly flexible and provides excellent cleaning action. It is used for light applications.

Surface Size

The size of the surface to be cleaned, prepped, or finished determines the size of wire brush to be used. Handheld brushes are sufficient for small jobs and surfaces but require too much effort for large areas. Wheel and end wire brushes are good for getting into small, tight areas, although toothbrush style wire brushes can be used for small jobs that don&#;t require motorized brushes.

Rotary and cup brushes are the best choices for working large, flat areas, especially when the prep area is covered with rust, corrosion, slag, or other heavy materials. The filament metal can also be a factor since bronze or aluminum may not be heavy enough to completely remove all of the contamination.

Wire Filament Diameters

The diameters of wire filaments vary from 0.005 to 0.032 inches (0.13 to 0.8 mm). The diameter of the wire affects the gauge of wire that can be used in the brush. Larger-diameter filaments require a larger filament holder to keep the filaments in place. The chart below matches the wire diameter to its grade.

Length of Filaments

When choosing filaments, the length plays an important part in how abrasive a wire brush will be. When an application requires a less aggressive and gentler brushing, longer, more flexible filaments should be used. Shorter compact filaments are more aggressive, rigid, and work faster.

Conclusion

• A wire brush is an abrasive tool that has stiff filaments made from a variety of rigid materials designed to clean and prepare metal surfaces.
• Though part of a wire brush&#;s function is to clean surfaces, they have other purposes, such as preparing a surface for painting or removing slag and spatter after welding.
• There are an endless number of wire brush types since new brushes are continually being developed, in addition to the unusual and custom designs required for specialized applications.
• In the engineering of brushes, there are many different types of handles and a wide range of filaments, though metal filaments are the most common.
• The automated and complex production processes for brushes have been designed to create high-quality wire brushes with filaments that are firmly held in place, ensuring the outstanding performance of the brush.

Leading Manufacturers and Suppliers

The company is the world’s best twisted in wire brushes supplier. We are your one-stop shop for all needs. Our staff are highly-specialized and will help you find the product you need.