Abrasives
Abrasives are available in a huge range of shapes, sizes, and formats and are used to grind and polish many substrates and materials. Commonly referred to as sandpaper from historic manufacturing methods abrasives tend to be separated into two main categories bonded abrasives and coated abrasives. Bonded abrasives are manufactured by bonding the abrasive grain together with resins and reinforcing materials to manufacture products like grinding discs and cutting off wheels. Coated abrasives are manufactured by applying grit to a paper, cloth, or polyester backing to make products such as sanding belts, sanding rolls, and sanding sheets applications. There are different minerals used in abrasive manufacture with the most popular being aluminum oxide, silicone carbide, and ceramic grains; diamond is also used in specialist applications.
Protrade has selected its abrasive partners very carefully utilising each manufacturer’s area of expertise in their chosen industrial sectors. Our range includes coated abrasives, non-woven abrasives, cutting and grinding discs, wire brushes, wheels, and wool. Protrade’s premium range of abrasives includes brands such as 3M, Klingspor, Mirka, and Maxitek.
What have we done at Protrade to make it easier for customers to ensure they get the correct abrasive for their machine?
At Protrade we have painstakingly gone through every random orbital sander that we sell, every backing pad, and every Velcro abrasive disc. If for example, you are looking at velcro abrasives it tells you the total number of holes and gives you a whole pattern code that then will correlate with the machine which will say you need a gls3 hole pattern you can then look on the abrasives to see a gls3 whole pattern abrasive and that means they’ll work together.
Protrade’s Des and Alan have sat down in the video below to answer all your questions about abrasive discs and configurations…
