Round the back

Grinding involves numerous challenges – processing rear-facing repair welds is particularly tricky and many of the self-manufactured tool solutions that are used are very dangerous.

Experts in the grinding process are familiar with the situation – grinding rear-facing repair welds is hugely problematic due to the poor accessibility of these locations. From necessity, users have created their own grinding tools but these have not undergone any safety tests and do not comply with any of the usual safety regulations. This is a dangerous and, in most cases, far from economical practice.

PFERD Tools, the Marienheide-based manufacturer of tools for work on surfaces is familiar with this issue and has now extended its range of COMBIDISC tools with the “RS” version (patent pending). On this version, the abrasive grain is not located on the underside of the tool – as is normal for face-down grinding – but on the top. This enables you to work backwards by guiding the tool to the location to be worked on and pulling it towards you to grind rather than pressing it onto the surface. This enables you to utilise the abrasive coating on the top of the tool.

COMBIDISC abrasive discs have a high-quality ceramic oxide grain with a cooling Top-Size coating. They grind very easily when used on high-temperature-resistant materials such as nickel based alloys, deliver high stock removal and produce a high quality surface finish. Another advantage of the system is that there are no abrasives or fixing elements on the rear of the sander that could result in damage to the workpiece. The arbor is surrounded by plastic in the area of the workpiece, which also protects against damage or contact corrosion. To machine practically all materials, the PFERD range offers the versions ceramic oxide grain (CO-COOL, for stainless steel [INOX], hard non-ferrous metals, high-temperature-resistant materials), silicon carbide (SiC, for non-ferrous metals, fibre-reinforced plastics or thermoplastics) and aluminium oxide (A-PLUS, for steel or cast materials as well as non-ferrous metals), in different sizes.