The details of honing and lapping

We have been handling tubing orders of varying sizes for many years now. Our goal is to supply top tier merchandise to every client that comes to us, regardless of order size. As the top provider of ERW steel tubes West Midlands has, we put quality products and customer service first. In addition, we offer a quick delivery service in order to get your tubes to you ASAP.

When you manufacture metal items, there are multiple surface imperfections to think about. These result from the shaping or cutting tools you use. In many cases, the surface blemishes, like tool marks or cutting burrs, aren’t critical to the final product. You can leave them as they are. However, if you demand a more precise finish, you might need lapping and honing. You can use the two to remove small quantities of metal to generate a precise and smooth surface.

What is honing?

ERW steel tubes West MidlandsIf you are unaware, honing is a process where you remove metal from the interior surface of tubing or piping. You do this using a rotating abrasive stone. It acts as a last fine-tuning step for the manufacturing procedure and is meant to remove around 0.005mm of thickness. As it only removes a small amount of material, the honing phase is a precision or polishing operation instead of a shaping process.

The procedure might need the rotating hone to move in a controlled path over your stationary workpiece. Alternatively, it could shift in a controlled path over the rotating hone. This depends on what your workpiece is, as well as the kind of machine you are using.

In both instances, you introduce a cutting fluid to lubricate, clean, and cool the exterior you are honing. Please speak to us if you demand the greatest ERW steel tubes West Midlands has.

How does lapping work?

This process is where you remove metal from a material’s surface to obtain a precise and smooth finish. You do it by utilising an abrasive suspension. It is possible to control lapping by altering the variables like temperature, abrasive type, pressure, and speed. As a result, it is easy to refine the operation to create products with extremely tight tolerances.

Two types of the process exist. Firstly, there is flat lapping, which corrects surface irregularities in flat designs. The second type is domed or ring lapping. This corrects surface irregularities in round objects like tubes.

In both cases, the procedure consists of the user passing the material between flat lap plates. This is while it is surrounded by a specialised liquid that includes a suspension of abrasive particles. The friction between the moving workpiece and loose abrasives produces the gentle exterior polishing action.

Finding the ideal ERW steel tubes in the West Midlands

At Union Steel Tubes, we have products available in all kinds of quantities and sizes. Examples include rectangular, oval, square, and round. In addition, there are pre-galvanised and seamless options to choose from. There is no shortage of choice here, ensuring you should be able to find materials for any application. If you struggle, we can advise you.

So, contact us if you desire the best ERW steel tubes West Midlands can offer. We will get them to you as soon as we can.