Swarf in the context of "Particles"

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⭐ Core Definition: Swarf

Swarf, also known as chips or by other process-specific names (such as turnings, filings, or shavings), are pieces of metal, wood, or plastic that are the debris or waste resulting from machining, woodworking, or similar subtractive (material-removing) manufacturing processes. Swarf can be small particles (such as the gritty swarf from grinding metal or the sawdust from sawing or sanding wood); long, stringy tendrils (such as the springy chips from turning tough metals, or long shavings from whittling); slag-like waste (such as is produced within pipe during pipefitting work); or stone fragments and dust (as in masonry).

Some of these terms are mass nouns (such as swarf and sawdust) and some of them are count nouns (such as chips, filings, or shavings).

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In this Dossier

Swarf in the context of Drilling

Drilling is a cutting process where a drill bit is spun to cut a hole of circular cross-section in solid materials. The drill bit is usually a rotary cutting tool, often multi-point. The bit is pressed against the work-piece and rotated at rates from hundreds to thousands of revolutions per minute. This forces the cutting edge against the work-piece, cutting off chips (swarf) from the hole as it is drilled.

In rock drilling, the hole is usually not made through a circular cutting motion, though the bit is usually rotated. Instead, the hole is usually made by hammering a drill bit into the hole with quickly repeated short movements. The hammering action can be performed from outside the hole (top-hammer drill) or within the hole (down-the-hole drill, DTH). Drills used for horizontal drilling are called drifter drills.

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Swarf in the context of Parts washer

A parts washer is a piece of equipment used to remove contaminants or debris, such as dirt, grime, carbon, oil, grease, metal chips, cutting fluids, mold release agents, ink, paint, and corrosion from workpieces. Parts washers are used in new manufacturing and remanufacturing processes; they are designed to clean, degrease and dry bulk loads of small or large parts in preparation for assembly, inspection, surface treatment, packaging and distribution. Parts washers may be as simple as the manual "sink-on-a-drum" common to many auto repair shops, or they may be very complex, multi-stage units with pass-through parts handling systems. Parts washers are essential in maintenance, repair and remanufacturing operations as well, from cleaning fasteners, nuts, bolts and screws to diesel engine blocks and related parts, rail bearings, wind turbine gears boxes and automotive assemblies.

A parts washer is distinctly different from a pressure washer in that parts washers typically clean parts automatically in an enclosed cabinet, while pressure washers typically have a single spray jet mounted at the end of a manually operated wand. Modern industrial technology makes it possible to combine many parts of the finishing process into one. As an integrated part of the manufacturing process, automatic parts washers are able to load, wash, rinse, dry and unload parts in an automatic cycle.

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Swarf in the context of Grinding machine

A grinding machine, often shortened to grinder, is any of various power tools or machine tools used for grinding. It is a type of material removal using an abrasive wheel as the cutting tool. Each grain of the abrasive on the wheel's surface cuts a small chip from the workpiece via shear deformation.

Grinding as a type of machining is used to finish workpieces that must show high surface quality (e.g., low surface roughness) and high accuracy of shape and dimension. As the accuracy in dimensions in grinding is of the order of 0.000025  mm, in most applications, it tends to be a finishing operation and removes comparatively little metal, about 0.25 to 0.50  mm depth. However, there are some roughing applications in which grinding removes high volumes of metal quite rapidly. Thus, grinding is a diverse field.

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