DC for rubber dust - crowning BS tires

[Jeff Clow]

I need to crown some rubber bandsaw tires. I plan on using a sanding drum in a milling machine. I expect this will create a fair bit of rubber dust. Is there any problem using a dust collector to suck this up? I have a 1.5 HP delta unit with 1 micron cartridge filter. It is portable with a 10' hose (no ducts). I don't really see where rubber dust would cause more of a static or fire hazard than wood dust.

[Chuck Lenz]

Why not just use a shop vac ? If you ruin the filter you won't be out so much.

[Ed Labadie]

I don't know the type or hardness of rubber on the bandsaw tires your working with, but we always used to pack rubber in dry ice to freeze it before machining. Thats the only way I know of to get a good accurate cut and a nice finish. It will probably gum up on your sanding drum if it's not frozen. The machinists would also cover the detail in dry ice while machining, leaving only the area they were working on exposed.

I wouldn't think it will bother your dust collector. Have it clean when you start and clean it afterword.

Ed

[Chuck Lenz]

Well if your going to freeze it, wouldn't there me moisture ? I don't think I'd use my DC if I didn't have too.

[David Epperson]

I once worked at a facility that used long rubber and silicone coated rollers (approx 8ft long and 10 to 12 inches in diameter). When it became necessary to recut the required flat (end to end) surfaces on these rollers they were chucked up on the lathe that had the "special" cutting fixture attached. This "special" cutting fixture consisted of a bracket, mounted to the cross slide which was worked just like a regular lathe cutting tool, but was much closer to an OD grinder. But what was bolted to the fixture was an ordinary 7-1/4" circular saw with a sharp carbide tipped blade. Between the fairly slowly spinning roller and the saw "grinder" some fairly smooth finishes could be achieved. And the "dust" generated was not fine enough to be any real problem even without a DC (though there was a lot generated with jobs that size).

[Jeff Clow]

In doing research on how to crown the tires I ran across many methods including die grinders, sanding drums, milling cutters, and even a bench grinder. The person using the milling cutter switched to a sanding drum for a better finish. The bench grinder also did a good job. Nobody I read about froze the rubber, although I can see the reasoning behind it. From reading what others have done, it looks like using abrasives is the way to go. Maybe not in an industrial setting, but in the home shop, it looks like it works pretty good.

[David Epperson]

Jeff
The company that makes the rubber bushings for Monroe shock absorbers freezes them (to around -20°F I think) before dropping them into a vibratory hopper to polish off the flash left from the injection molding process. The freezing makes them hard and brittle enough for this method to be effective. But that is the only instance in an industrial setting that uses this that I am aware of.

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

I don't know the type or hardness of rubber on the bandsaw tires your working with, but we always used to pack rubber in dry ice to freeze it before machining. Thats the only way I know of to get a good accurate cut and a nice finish. It will probably gum up on your sanding drum if it's not frozen. The machinists would also cover the detail in dry ice while machining, leaving only the area they were working on exposed.

I wouldn't think it will bother your dust collector. Have it clean when you start and clean it afterword.

Ed

What that guy said~!!