Repositionable Abrasive Disc Mounting for Uneven Wear Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Abrasive fiber discs experience uneven wear due to interaction with backup pad projections, leading to premature disc replacement and waste, despite usable portions remaining.
Innovation Solution
A repositionable abrasive disc mounting assembly allows for the rotation of the disc relative to the backup pad projections, ensuring less worn areas align with the projections, thereby extending the disc's useful life and reducing waste.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the abrasive disc is mounted on the backup pad with fixed alignment, then the disc provides consistent abrading pressure against the workpiece, but the abrasive layer experiences uneven wear and premature exhaustion
Solution Approach 1:
The mounting assembly incorporates a rotational adjustment mechanism that allows the abrasive disc to be repositioned angularly on the backup pad. This dynamic repositioning capability enables the operator to rotate the disc to align fresh abrasive areas with the backup pad ribs, thereby extending the disc's service life while maintaining consistent abrading performance throughout its usage period.
2Duration of action of moving object
If the abrasive disc is rotated to reposition worn areas, then the useful life of the disc is extended, but the mounting assembly complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The mounting assembly is divided into distinct functional components: a backup pad with ribs, a clamp assembly with independent adjustment capability, and a fastening system. This segmentation allows the rotational adjustment function to be isolated to the clamp assembly, simplifying the overall design while enabling disc repositioning without requiring complex integration across the entire mounting system.
Solution Approach 2:
The clamp assembly incorporates a rotational adjustment mechanism with locking capability, allowing the disc to be positioned at different angular orientations. This dynamic adjustment feature extends disc life by enabling redistribution of wear across the abrasive surface, while the modular design keeps the added complexity localized to the clamp portion rather than the entire mounting assembly.
3Productivity
If the backup pad has raised ribs to increase pressure, then the abrading rate is improved, but the abrasive disc experiences localized wear concentration
Solution Approach 1:
The rotational adjustment mechanism allows the operator to dynamically reposition the abrasive disc angularly on the backup pad. By rotating the disc to different orientations, fresh abrasive areas can be aligned with the pressure-concentrating ribs, distributing the high-stress contact zones across different portions of the abrasive layer over time. This extends the effective service life of the disc while maintaining the high abrading rate provided by the ribs during each usage segment.
Data Source
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AI summary
A repositionable abrasive disc mounting assembly comprises a backup pad and a clamp assembly. The backup pad has a rotational axis of use and a major surface with projections extending outwardly therefrom. The backup pad further comprises an inwardly facing centrally disposed first fastening member, and also an outwardly facing centrally disposed second fastening member. The clamp assembly comprises inner and outer clamp members for securing an abrasive disc. The inner clamp member comprises an inwardly facing centrally disposed third fastening member adapted to repositionably engage the second fastening member in a discrete number of rotational orientations. The inner clamp member further comprises an outwardly facing centrally disposed fourth fastening member. The outer clamp member comprises an inwardly facing centrally disposed fifth fastening member adapted to securely engage the fourth fastening member. A method of abrading a workpiece using the repositionable abrasive disc is also disclosed.