What Are Surface Conditioning Belts?
Surface Conditioning
What are Surface Conditioning Belts?You may be wondering what surface conditioning actually is. I am here to go over important things you may want to know about them. First, let’s go over what material surface conditioning is; a very strong nonwoven polymer that has a nylon cloth backing.
Surface conditioning belts are not meant to drastically change the shape or dimension of the project you are working on, they are best known for their finish that they leave. They provide a very consistent and smooth finish. Since the material of the nonwoven polymer contains an open feature, it will resist overheating and loading when working on your project. It will give you a nice pattern while having to do less work.
What are Surface Conditioning Belts Used For?Surface conditioning will change the sheen of a metal. For example, on stainless steel you can create a mirror-like finish. This material is greatly used to flatten a surface – using a sanding belt. Surface conditioning will improve the ability to lessen tarnish or even make it resistant to tarnish. It will also remove flaws or bumps in a surface and just overall give it a nice look.
Common uses for surface conditioning are for linishing, polishing, finishing, and blending. They are used on sanding belt mounted machines or even handheld machines (for finishing).
For a mirror like finish, you will want to go in with the coarsest one, following it with the medium then fine grain, and finishing the process with the ultra fine grain. Below is a chart that presents the grains and the scratch pattern that they leave.
What are the Types of Surface Conditioning Grains/Grits?
There are four types of grain that are used;
- Coarse - This belt is brown in color and provides a scratch pattern of 60 grit.
- Medium - This belt is maroon or red and provides a scratch pattern of 80 to 120 grit.
- Fine - This belt is a blue color and provides a scratch pattern of 150 - 180 grit. (This is one of the most popular of the surface conditioning belts for metal fabrication).
- Ultra Fine - This belt is grey and leaves a 220 grit finish. Combat Abrasives is one of the few manufacturers to make this product!
There are many different sizes of belts you can chose from to best suit you and your project. We also offer custom sized belts as well.
Tip; It is important to remember that using a lighter hand when dealing with surface conditioning belts is ideal and recommended, especially on the coarser grain as it will remove way too much material if heavy handed.
