The cleanliness of the workplace

Aspect not to be overlooked during the whole manufacturing process is cleaning the workplace.

This need, that in each processing of materials can be an important aspect not to be underestimated, here becomes crucial, since we are dealing with different abrasive grits.

What it makes it essential thorough cleaning of the workplace, especially in the transition from the use of a grain to another, It is the fact that the succession of grits is from the largest to the smallest: this implies that the infiltration of a single grain of a larger grain than that in use among the working tools can lead to compromise the final result of the action.

The abrasion work of each individual grain is carried out in a uniform manner by a myriad of grains of equal size that, during the dried, hollow glass shattering in turn. The succession of grits occurs to create, during the abrasion which leads to the sphere, more and more small pits and craters, until it reaches a size such as to make possible the operation of polishing, process, albeit following the same principle, in fact exploits another phenomenon which will be discussed elsewhere.

Throughout this process, the intrusion of a grain of a grain thickest within the abrasive paste (made of abrasive and water) It can generate the grooves or craters, more and more difficult to detect with decreasing grain, which can compromise the overall quality of the surface.

The only solution, once identified the damage on the surface, It is to return to the machining with Coarser grits, as the attempt to eliminate a groove with a grain size of less than the same furrow is a work that can hardly be accomplished.

There is therefore a way to avoid (as much as possible) this inconvenience: deep cleaning of the workplace, during processing with the individual grits and, particularly, in the passage between one grain and the other.

Some general rules can be helpful:

TO BEGIN BEFORE:

Recommended obviously a good general cleaning of the area destined to work, especially if you decide to install your desk in a garage or workshop where maybe you have previously worked with materials and where, then, it is possible that there is presence, as well as dust, of sawdust filings or potentially harmful. Special attention should be given to the phase of arrangement of abrasives. Easily, before starting the machining of a mirror, It will be an order of different abrasive grit, which is likely giugeranno in well insulated bags. One piece of advice I can give is to proceed to the opening of the bags, to lay the various grains in the containers that we decided to use, adopting three measures in particular:

1. We carry out this operation away from the workplace, to avoid, during opening and refilling of abrasive, small amounts of the same escape and you go to put in the work area points, threatening the successive stages of processing (the grits are smaller real dust, therefore very lightweight and easy to rise even in the face of a small movement of air);
2. if they come together different grains, begin the unboxing of the various bags following the order from the smallest to the largest grain: in this way the only risk we run by performing the operation is to pollute with smaller grain parts of a certain size containers of larger grits, Wherefore it did not constitute a risk, since work (for example) with the 120 polluted imperceptibly with a part of grain 400 certainly not going to compromise our work;
3. before transferring the selected and filled container of the grain, thoroughly clean hands and the outside of the container (best if you can wash with water) before transferring it at the work site.

IN THE PASSAGE OF A GRAIN TO ANOTHER:

1. deep cleaning of the work plan: personally I use placed between the work plan (drum 200 liters used with wooden floor) and the support on which the mirror fixed (square plywood to which I have given three coats of primer) a film rather robust transparent plastic (film by packaging), that exchange strictly at each grain passage;

1. change the flannel on which rests the tool at each grain exchange: the soft material, practically spongy, it is made of is very well suited to capture of abrasive grains that could again find freedom at the most inopportune moments (grains smaller);
2. change the sponge with which it makes a rough cleaning between a dried and the other;
3. clean the support surface on which they stop mirror, abrasive containers, Measuring instruments of the arrow and the sphere and other working tools; I use a table on which lie a plastic tablecloth that change at every passage of grain;
4. changing clothes / apron used for processing: if during the same session it changes grained, radically changing clothes, because the known laws of Murphy know how to find the most unexpected places to shelter grains no longer want, works , obviously, They are also ready to come out at the wrong time; those with hair (…), do not neglect this part: over the course of a few hours is likely never to touch your head with your hands, inevitably soiled with abrasive, that ends up on the hair and there may even fall;
5. floor cleaning: impossible that in the dozens of hours to make anything fall to the ground, collecting the residues of previous processing that, for notes laws already cited, They end up where they should not end;

DURING WORK WITH A GRAIN:

1. clean, however, the mirror surfaces and tool: this allows to contain any damage caused by the infiltration of grains larger than necessary but also any other hard material such as glass or more that can happen on the surface; the best way to do this is to adopt a basin filled with water, the size sufficient to hold the entirety of the mirror, and a common sponge, to be used between a dried and the other;
2. keep all tools used by the workplace: if maintained as seen above, just the workplace can be a sufficiently clean environment to allow us to use the instruments of labor with relative serenity;
3. observe the surface of the mirror with frequent microscope / eye, in order to verify the absence of scratches or gouges: if they encounter such signs, It should be made a deep cleaning of ALL and, if you are using a tool into pitch for polishing / parabolizzazione, it is advisable to rebuild, since the tiny speck in charge of the damage may have firmly stranded in the same tool surface.

These rules, apparently rigid, let you restrict much the risk of damage due to insufficient cleaning.

The attention must, obviously, becoming increasing with the move towards smaller and smaller grains, as it becomes increasingly difficult to scrutinize in detail the mirror surface and remedy without any particular contraindications (if you think, for example, What can mean back to grana 1000 or larger during the polishing operation, after, maybe, already achieved a good result on parabolizzazione….).