Power brushes and rotary brushes are designed to be mounted to an electrical or pneumatic tool or machine. They are rotated at high speeds for cleaning, finishing and surface preparation applications. With power brushes and rotary brushes, wire filaments rub against a substrate to clean or finish the surface. The aggressiveness and resulting finish depends upon a variety of factors. These include the bristle materials, brush diameter, part material, and rotary speed.

Selecting Power and Rotary Brushes

Selecting power brushes and rotary brushes requires an analysis of fill materials and product configurations. Fill materials include synthetic or polymer filaments, natural hair bristles, abrasive filaments, steel wire, stainless steel wire, brass wire, bronze wire, and aluminum wire. Steel wire for power brushes and rotary brushes may be coated or brass-plated. Wire brushes are available in many different types or configurations. Examples include belt brushes, cup brushes, cylinder brushes, roller brushes, disc brushes, end brushed, flare brushes, honing tools or flexible hones, twisted-in-wire brushes, bore brushes, wheel brushes and specialty brushes. 

Power brushes and rotary brushes are available in very small diameters for dental and electronics applications, and in very large diameters for roll finishing. Filament or tuft conditions include straight wires, crimped wires, twist knot or knotted tufts, cable twist, stringer bead, non-tufted or monofilament.  File cards often consist of wires with a monofilament or non-tufted construction. Many power brushes and rotary brushes with wheels come mounted on a shaft or mandrel.

Applications

Applications for power brushes and rotary brushes vary by brush stiffness and softness. Still brush applications include aggressive scrubbing, scratching and heavy-duty brushing, scrubbing, de-scaling, cleaning, stripping (coatings), and various other material removal applications. Medium softness brushes are designed for blending or removing parting lines, seams, or other significant surface imperfections. Industrial power brushes and rotary brushes with products with very soft bristles are designed or suitable for surface finishing, maintenance, or cleaning applications.