Popular Woodworking 2009-10 № 178, страница 52
A sharp turn. This machine flexes the finished paper several times to increase its durability. Then the paper is rolled back up. a roll. These rolls are heated some more in small rooms to fully cure the resin. At this point the paper is quite stiff and will crack if bent. So the Ali employees run the rolls of paper through a machine that flexes the paper. These machines bend the paper like a ribbon through a series of turns that makes the product less likely to crack on you. Then It Gets Complicated After that, lots of different things can happen to the sandpaper. Employees can add a cloth backing so the sandpaper will be compatible with hook-and-loop sanders. Or they can add a sticky-back coating. But the real variety kicks in when it goes into a warehouse with die-cutting machines. Each of these machines is about the size of a small SUV. Five or six rolls of paper are Acres of loops. The white stuff is the "loop" part of hook-and-loop. It's glued to the back of the paper on this large machine, which also applies the sticky-back glue if need be. ganged up at the back of the machine. The sheets are pulled into a chamber where a robotic die-cutter punches out the different-sized discs or shapes - for random-orbit sanders, for example. M aking the belts for sanding belts is a little more complicated: They start that process with a parallelogram of paper that is then glued into a tube with some Kevlar tape. The tube is then sliced into the correct widths. Then employees snatch the stacks of finished products, put them in their packages, and the finished goods are boxed up and go off to their final destination. The whole A giant punch. An Ali employee stacks finished sanding pads as they come out of the die-cutter. The cutter can slice through five or six sheets of sandpaper in one swoop. manufacturing process is pretty quick. A typical sheet of sandpaper starts as raw ingredients on one day and within 10-14 days can be ready to ship. Not only is the manufacturing process fast, but historically speaking, the end product is amazingly inexpensive. Early sandpaper - called "glasspaper" - was pricey, used sparingly, flimsy and never wasted. Nowadays, everyone can afford as much sandpaper as they need, which makes the world a very smooth place. PW Chris is editor of this magazine. His latest book, "The Joiner and Cabinet Maker," will be available this fall from LostArtPress.com. For a behind-the-scenes look at Ali and the sandpaper-making, watch our video at: popularwoodworking.com/oct09 The leftovers. Here's what the paper looks like after the die-cutter. popularwoodworking.com ■ 65 |
