Above: The Honey Badger is based on Osborn’s existing stringer bead brush to which a second row of stringer bead was added

April, 2023- A new type of wire brush is introduced for finishing operations while a time-tested brush is often overlooked

Significant new product designs do not typically occur in mature markets. Wire deburring brushes are one such market, and the Honey Badger double- tringer bead brush, which Osborn LLC introduced late last year, is one such product development, according to Richard Pepera, director of sales for private label and retail, who’s based at the company’s Richmond, Indiana, facility.

The Honey Badger is based on Osborn’s existing stringer bead brush to which a second row of stringer bead was added, he explains. “I’ve been with Osborn for over 30 years, so in my recollection you don’t come around very often with something new and innovative in the wire brush market.”

Built with two sets of wire knots on a unique face plate and nut, the company reports that the brush can hit both sides of the root, or hot pass.

     Osborn makes its TY encapsulated brushes in a variety of styles, including cup, wheel, end and tube

“Now we’ve got two rows of product, which is very thick, very aggressive, and it’s got more wire points,” Pepera says. “This is for traditional applications that require heavy-duty cleaning or deburring at a very fast pace but still has the flexibility of a wire brush.”

He adds that stringer bead brushes are frequently used for pipe preparation prior to welding in the oil and gas industry, but the increased thickness of the new brush increases the application range, such as for welding and metal fabrication. “We saw a lot of uses for that stringer bead in everyday deburring, if you will, versus just the oil patch industry.”

Theoretically, the Honey Badger brush should last twice as long as a conventional stringer bead brush, but application is everything, Pepera says. The list of variables that influence brush life includes the amount of pressure being exerted on the brush, the speed of the brush, the workpiece material and whether finishing is performed wet or dry. “Just because you have more material doesn’t necessarily mean the brush is going to last longer.”

OPERATORS AT EASE

Because it is a light brush, operators should not become fatigued when using the Honey Badger, according to Pepera. The only part of the brush that does the work are the wire tips, allowing an operator to exert less pressure and finishing jobs in a quicker amount of time than when using a conventional brush. “Just because you’ve got more material there doesn’t mean that you’re going to lay into the product.”

In addition, the fat wire knots make the Honey Badger a soft brush to eliminate chatter, he says. The soft knot construction tends to enable the double stringer bead brush to access part features better than a conventional brush. “You’re not getting the pushback that you normally would.”

The new brush has a 5/8”-11 threaded hole, so it can only be used manually and isn’t suitable for an enclosed machine, Pepera explains.

Some might ask, if two rows are better than one, why not make a stringer bead brush with three? However, he notes, the three-row design would effectively create a different brush configuration. “For wider areas, we’ve often advocated the use of a cup brush for a deburring/cleaning operation.”

When Osborn unveiled the Honey Badger at a trade show last year, Pepera says attendees who saw it were excited about it. “There were a number of people who said I wish I would have had this years ago.”

To help get the word out about the benefits the Honey Badger provides and generate sales, he says Osborn is providing samples as necessary to end users to get them to try it.

ENCASED IN POLYMER

The encapsulated brush is another type of brush for finishing applications that Osborn off ers, but that type has been in its product portfolio for quite some time, Pepera says. However, fabricators frequently don’t consider an encapsulated brush even for suitable applications. “It’s something that people overlook because they don’t really understand what it is and what the benefits are of this product.”

Osborn makes its TY encapsulated brushes in a variety of styles, including cup, wheel, end and tube. “We’ve got a whole treasure trove of this product that, in my estimation, has been underutilized for years,” he says.

     An encapsulated cup brush will remove rust and oxidation quickly

Pepera explains that the wires on the brushes are encapsulated in a proprietary polymer, or elastomer. “In essence, the encapsulation process only lets you use the tips of the wire as a wire brush was meant to be used.”

As a result of using only the wire tips, encapsulated brushes are limited in their flexibility but enable aggressive parts cleaning, he says. For instance, when finishing a large metal sheet, an encapsulated cup brush will remove rust and oxidation quickly. “This is where you don’t need the flexibility.”

As a brush is used, the encapsulation wears evenly, which means the brush wears evenly, Pepera says. As the encapsulation wears, fine dust is generated. “You get no smear, and you get no burn nothing.”

In addition, unlike a traditional, unencapsulated wire brush, no wire is thrown from an encapsulated brush when using it, he says. “That’s a very big safety factor. The safety people in the industry love that. Although we advocate using hand, eye and face protection and having something on your body when you’re working with wire brushes, it’s a fact that they do throw wire more than others.”

Pepera adds that an encapsulated wire brush typically lasts one and a half times longer than a traditional wire brush.

Pepera notes that Osborn’s encapsulation comes in two colors: green for general-purpose applications and yellow, which is harder, for more aggressive finishing.

Although a number of fabricators tend to neglect encapsulated wire brushes to their own detriment, Pepera says he has sold a large quantity of them while working the Midwest territory. One major long-term application in which end users require no education about the effectiveness of encapsulated brushes is automotive parts made with rubber and metal. “You’re trying to remove rubber flashing around metal parts without destroying the parent material.”

In addition, there are a number of deburring or surface conditioning applications that can be achieved with Osborn’s encapsulated brush products.

Osborn LLC, 800/537-8449, http://osborn.com/