Polishing Aluminium Moulds - Technical Article

From a machined or sand blasted mould use:

1. Bramet Wet & Dry self adhesive papers attached to lapping sticks or AbraDisc attached to AbraDisc Rubber holders and rotate (Use AbraDisc foam faced holders for contours)
2. Use with soap and water (i.e. wet) with Bramet. For AbraDisc use dry.
3. Work with coarse grades down to 2500 Grit or 1200 Grit
4. For slots, ribs and small detail, use Xebec ceramic stones. Xebec stones are good with working the thread areas on the bottle moulds prior to polishing. For manual polishing with Xebec stones, use with stoning oil. For ultrasonic polishing using Xebec stones, run dry.
5. To polish, use 3-KD-C2 Diamond Compounds and simichrome polish on self adhesive MRE napped polishing cloth attached to AbraDisc rubber or foam faced holder.
6. You can also use 3-KD-C2 Diamond Compounds and simichrome polish with Kemet brushes to get a mirror finish.

Note:
Aluminium mould polishing can be used on different aluminium alloys. Some alloys are softer and therefore will take a shorter time to remove machining marks and will have a reduced polishing time.

If the alloy is harder, it means that the stages will take slightly longer to remove machining marks. To help with polishing, Kemet MSFL cloth can be used prior to using the Kemet MRE cloth. The MSFL cloth tend to remove material and any slight blemishes which helps to produce a better polished surface when using the Kemet NHM cloth.

Polishing Large Aluminium Moulds

From a machined or sand blasted mould use:

1. KFD Flexible drive power polisher with straight TH-SZ handpiece and Right Handed 90º VTN-S Handpiece. Both of these use the same collets up to 6mm or Ø 1/4".
2. To the KFD Flexible drive power polisher, add Ø 1" or Ø 2" rubber AbraDisc Holders. Use AbraDisc foam faced holders for contours.
3. To these holders use AbraDisc for Roughing (Dry) and Bramet Discs for Prepolishing (Wet)
4. Work with coarse grades down to 1200 Grit
5. For slots, ribs and small detail, use Gesswein Ultra Soft stones. Work with coarse grades down to 1200 Grit. Use with stoning oil.
6. To polish, use 3-KD-C2 Diamond Compound and simichrome polish on self adhesive MRE napped polishing cloth attached to AbraDisc rubber or foam faced holder.

Operating instructions for TH-SZ handpiece

TH-SZ Handpiece is supplied with two collets, 3/32” and 1/8”. Before inserting shank of accessory to be used, lock main spindle by inserting locking pin through hole in the body and main spindle. Align these by rotating collet by hand. insert tool and tighten. Remove locking pin. Collets are also available in sizes 1/4, 2.35mm, 3mm and 6mm. The ball bearings are packed in grease which will last for a long operating period. Depending on the amount of use of the handpiece, they should be greased accordingly. Unscrew nose cap and rear cap. Remove bearing washers and repack bearing with grease. Do not use oil.

Operating instructions for VTN handpiece

Type VTN is a rotating right angle drive handpiece and is suitable for tools with 3/32” and 1/8” diameter spindles. The head can be turned to any angle and can be extended telescopically to various lengths. This adjustment is made by loosening the knurled nut. It is ideally suited for rotating tools working in irregular shaped slots, and recesses.

The head spindle is mounted in a needle bearing in front and a ball bearing at the back. The slotted spindle and grooved spindle are mounted with a bearing at each end. For tightening the tools into the collet, two spanners are included. 2.35mm and 3mm Collets are available.

For lubrication, unscrew knurled nut and pull out the handpiece. Unscrew extender and handplate by means of the pin spanner supplied. Make certain that the thumb is placed over the top of this spanner ensuring that the two pins are always engaged. The needle bearing and the two ball bearings in the handpiece can now be lubricated. Unscrew flexible shaft connector and lubricate the rear ball bearing. For lubrication use a thin machine oil. The bevel gears in the angle head should be lubricated with ball bearing grease.

Non adhesive rolls and papers

Bramet

Diamond Compounds

Simichrome

Kemet brushes