Wheel Pros relied on Rösler’s solutions for the surface finishing of its Torq Thrust wheels.
Wheel Pros has acquired 41 special wheel finishing machines, one wet blast system, two centrifuges and the processing media developed by Rösler for the production of the automotive wheel model Torq Thrust.
Wheel Pros decided to re-shore the production from China to the United States, at the production site at Auburn (Alabama), and partnered with Rösler for the surface finishing of around 50,000 wheels per year, mostly cast aluminium wheels (15-10 inches in diameter) that need to be finished automatically. In addition, to increase the sustainability of the operations, Wheel Pros has also purchased two automatic Z 1000 Rösler centrifuges to clean the contaminated water and recycle it back to the mass finishing process.
The experts from Rösler adapted a standard wet blast machine to the specific requirements of the customer, in order to homogenise the surface of the cast and partially machined automotive wheels. The machine is equipped with a rotary table and six blast guns mounted to adjustable mounting brackets in the blast chamber.
The wet blast process is followed by a 3-step mass finishing operation in the compact FBA 24/2 Turbo vibratory systems that have been specially developed for wheel finishing. The wheels are mounted to a fixture that can be pneumatically raised, ensuring not only that the wheels can be loaded and unloaded ergonomically but also that the processing media can remain in the processing bowl during the work piece load/unload operation.
The first finishing stage consists of a pre-grinding operation that lasts almost two hours, while the pre-polishing and the polishing steps take around one hour each. So, 19 finishing machines are employed for the first stage while 22 are dedicated to the other two.