Klingpsor and the NFL

Jun 03, 2019

Whether used on paint, varnish, wood or metal: The abrasive mop wheels MM 650 and MM 630 by Klingspor bring out the best in every workpiece. Better yet, they do so in way that is exceedingly gentle to the surfaces. Even the National Football League (NFL) took notice of their exceptional capabilities.

Whether used on paint, varnish, wood or metal: The abrasive mop wheels MM 650 and MM 630 by Klingspor bring out the best in every workpiece. Better yet, they do so in way that is exceedingly gentle to the surfaces. Even the National Football League (NFL) took notice of their exceptional capabilities.

American Football is one of the most hard-hitting sports there is. The action on the field is a no-holdsbarred affair: Brawny men give it their all to sprint, block, throw, catch and, most importantly, stop their opponent in their tracks by engaging in what the language of the sport refers to as tackling. Over and over again, players smash into each other at full force, their helmets taking the brunt of the impact. No wonder that concussions are a frequent occurrence. This type of physicality is as punishing on the helmets as it is taxing on the athletes. The clashes cause the paint to chip off, leaving behind scratches.

The special treatment

As long as its shape is not compromised, the helmet will remain effective, but will
definitely look worse for wear at the end of the season. Retire them and purchase new ones? Since this premium headgear costs a pretty penny, most football clubs decide to have them restored instead. Constructed from durable highperformance plastic, football helmets can be refurbished three to four times – depending on the damage they sustained. This translates to a savings of 80 per cent compared to a repurchase. NFL teams, therefore, round up their helmets when the season is out and ship them off to Tijuana in Mexico. There, at a specialised plant, up to 15,000 helmets daily are subjected to a special treatment following the conclusion of the football season. Before a helmet can be decked out with the new look the club has chosen for next season, the old paint must be sanded down and – at times – stripped off completely, and scratches need to be repaired.  “This type of pretreatment used to be a process that cost a lot of time and money. Since the plant made the move to Klingspor’s MacMop wheels MM 650, their productivity has nearly doubled”, reports Hani Nassar of Klingspor Abrasives, Inc. Its singular design makes the MM 650 ideal for profiled materials that possess a sensitive surface. “The product is set apart by the radial, fan-shaped arrangement of its abrasive flaps, which are slashed several times in longitudinal direction. This design turns the MM 650 into a particularly flexible tool, capable of creating a fine surface finish”, states Torsten Ettl, Production Manager at Klingspor in Haiger. Engineered for combination with stationary machines, the MM 650 also delivers an exceptionally long service life. Torsten Ettl explains why: “When the tool is used at the optimal speed, the generated centrifugal force will cause the abrasive flaps to stand up straight in radial direction, confining wear to the edge of the flap. Aside from allowing new and sharp abrasive grains to constantly take the place of worn grains, this design also keeps any abrasive debris from clogging the wheel.”

 

Highly sought-after-allrounders

The versatile MacMop wheels are not only in great demand in the NFL. They are also the tool of choice wherever an application calls for sanding profiled baseboards. To users who need to work with handheld machines Klingspor offers the MM 630 with shaft. Like many other Klingspor products, this tool has been furnished with aluminium oxide grain. The MacMop is available in a wide selection of widths and grit sizes – from P40 to P800. The user can select to work with a higher removal rate or to produce a particularly smooth finish simply by varying the tool pressure and the grit size. Unbeknownst to the players in the NFL, the name MacMop can be traced back to Walter Klingspor’s dog: Walter Klingspor had a dog by the name of Mac who had brown, shaggy fur. The tousled pet inspired product engineers to name the new product MacMop, still signified today by the acronym MM.

 

MM 630

The MacMop model for handheld machines contours perfectly to the surface and guarantees an exceptionally long service life. The side of the flaps that is coated with abrasive is positioned against the direction of travel.

 

MM 650

This abrasive mop wheel was originally designed for use in woodworking on stationary machines. At present, the product is becoming increasingly popular in metal processing – where it is used for deburring small parts.