EP2643122A1 - Shim-mask stencil - Google Patents

Shim-mask stencil

Info

Publication number
EP2643122A1
EP2643122A1 EP11805114.3A EP11805114A EP2643122A1 EP 2643122 A1 EP2643122 A1 EP 2643122A1 EP 11805114 A EP11805114 A EP 11805114A EP 2643122 A1 EP2643122 A1 EP 2643122A1
Authority
EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
stencil
masking
abrasive
abrasion
abraded
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Granted
Application number
EP11805114.3A
Other languages
German (de)
French (fr)
Other versions
EP2643122B1 (en
Inventor
Alan Wilkinson
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Individual
Original Assignee
Individual
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Individual filed Critical Individual
Publication of EP2643122A1 publication Critical patent/EP2643122A1/en
Application granted granted Critical
Publication of EP2643122B1 publication Critical patent/EP2643122B1/en
Not-in-force legal-status Critical Current
Anticipated expiration legal-status Critical

Links

Classifications

    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B24—GRINDING; POLISHING
    • B24B—MACHINES, DEVICES, OR PROCESSES FOR GRINDING OR POLISHING; DRESSING OR CONDITIONING OF ABRADING SURFACES; FEEDING OF GRINDING, POLISHING, OR LAPPING AGENTS
    • B24B23/00—Portable grinding machines, e.g. hand-guided; Accessories therefor
    • B24B23/005—Auxiliary devices used in connection with portable grinding machines, e.g. holders
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B05—SPRAYING OR ATOMISING IN GENERAL; APPLYING FLUENT MATERIALS TO SURFACES, IN GENERAL
    • B05C—APPARATUS FOR APPLYING FLUENT MATERIALS TO SURFACES, IN GENERAL
    • B05C17/00—Hand tools or apparatus using hand held tools, for applying liquids or other fluent materials to, for spreading applied liquids or other fluent materials on, or for partially removing applied liquids or other fluent materials from, surfaces
    • B05C17/06—Stencils
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B24—GRINDING; POLISHING
    • B24B—MACHINES, DEVICES, OR PROCESSES FOR GRINDING OR POLISHING; DRESSING OR CONDITIONING OF ABRADING SURFACES; FEEDING OF GRINDING, POLISHING, OR LAPPING AGENTS
    • B24B19/00—Single-purpose machines or devices for particular grinding operations not covered by any other main group
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B24—GRINDING; POLISHING
    • B24B—MACHINES, DEVICES, OR PROCESSES FOR GRINDING OR POLISHING; DRESSING OR CONDITIONING OF ABRADING SURFACES; FEEDING OF GRINDING, POLISHING, OR LAPPING AGENTS
    • B24B55/00—Safety devices for grinding or polishing machines; Accessories fitted to grinding or polishing machines for keeping tools or parts of the machine in good working condition
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B24—GRINDING; POLISHING
    • B24C—ABRASIVE OR RELATED BLASTING WITH PARTICULATE MATERIAL
    • B24C1/00—Methods for use of abrasive blasting for producing particular effects; Use of auxiliary equipment in connection with such methods
    • B24C1/04—Methods for use of abrasive blasting for producing particular effects; Use of auxiliary equipment in connection with such methods for treating only selected parts of a surface, e.g. for carving stone or glass

Definitions

  • the present invention relates to a stencil to protect the surface surrounding an area being abraded, for example in the vehicle refinishing trade.
  • a high spot as previously mentioned may be removed by selecting a stencil with a suitable size and shape of hole, placing this hole over the high spot (the stencil maybe taped into position or hand-held against the surface to be worked on), so that the high spot is exposed and then slicing the excess material with a very sharp blade eg a one sided razor blade over the stencil held at near to horizontal to the stencil, before abrading either by hand with an abrasive wrapped around a suitable sanding block, or by means of a sanding machine.
  • a very sharp blade eg a one sided razor blade
  • the material within the selected hole in the stencil will stand as high as the thickness of the stencil, if a hard block or backing plate is employed, which may then be finished with a fine abrasive once the stencil has been removed, so minimising risk of damage to the surrounding surface.
  • the area inside the stencil shape will be abraded and can be feathered by placing successively larger sized shapes over the repair spot and abrading with successively finer abrasives.
  • Masking stencils US6099388 and US5399421 are cited as they perform the function of protecting the surrounding area while an abrasive process is carried out.
  • the key difference is that the current application is designed for protection of a surface on which undesired high spots need to be eliminated by abrasion and to a precision that is as close as possible to the surface surrounding the high spot, including the exposed area inside the stencil hole, without causing damage to it.
  • the current application is not intended to eliminate low spots.
  • mask 20 would resist an abrasive being passed across its surface nor is it designed to be as thin as practically possible and so would not permit the abrasion of a high spot to near flush with the surface.
  • US 6099388 shows a protective mask whose characteristics are:
  • Abrasion is carried out "with radial strokes relative to the compact disc" column 7, line 30"the radial strokes extending from side to side IN the localised area” column 7, lines 31 and 32. Also if the hole to localise the "area is cut in the mask" column 7 line 3, this suggests that the material is not sufficiently resistant to withstand sanding with a mechanical sander. If the hole were cut by a mechanical method eg scissors or a sharp knife, this would lead to burring or at least an inexact edge which would result in the stencil not lying perfectly flat on the surface, if the mask were made of a sufficiently resistant material. If the mask did lie flat after manually cutting a hole, this would suggest that the material would not be resistant enough to serve the purpose of the current invention.
  • patent US5399421 designed to abrade undesired high spots to a level near flush with the surface, but rather to protect the surrounding area only outside the stencil hole while the abrasive process removes material from the surface to a level lower than the remaining surface.
  • FIG 1 shows a top view of the stencil (1), manufactured from 0.05mm to 0.03mm hard quality stainless steel shim in a sheet measuring 12cm by 12cm, with holes (2) designed to expose typical spot repairs, namely lacquer runs, imperfections and paint-filled chips or scratches, and created by a process to ensure that edges are flush with stencil body, for example an etching process.
  • the etched holes are calculated to be of a dimension that will not allow the abrasive block, sanding machine pad or blade, when held horizontal to the surface, to make contact with the surface to be protected at any point, ie the dimensions of the holes are too small to allow the sanding block, machine pad or blade to fit completely inside.
  • the stainless steel employed to make the stencil offers high durability to the abrasion process so that the surface to be protected is so, prevents the stencil from oxidation, which would affect its uniform positioning on the surface, and allows the stencil to be re-used.

Landscapes

  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
  • Polishing Bodies And Polishing Tools (AREA)
  • Manufacture Or Reproduction Of Printing Formes (AREA)
  • Printing Plates And Materials Therefor (AREA)
  • ing And Chemical Polishing (AREA)

Abstract

A masking stencil to protect the surface surrounding a high spot to be abraded which, due to its minimal thickness and resistance to abrasive action, allows the abrasive to work over the stencil resulting in the requirement of a sufficiently fine abrasive to finish the process after stencil removal, that damage to the surrounding surface is reduced.

Description

Shim-mask stencil
Description
The present invention relates to a stencil to protect the surface surrounding an area being abraded, for example in the vehicle refinishing trade.
When a technician is performing a repair for example abrading excess material after filling a stone chip or scratch with paint or needs to remove a run as a result of incorrect lacquer application, the area surrounding the area to be abraded must be protected if damage is to be avoided. This is commonly done by applying adhesive masking tape, the disadvantages of which are that the tape is easily abraded by the abrasive material employed and is too thick to be near flush with the surface so that when the abrasive is passed over the tape, the area under repair is still considerably higher than the remaining surface, meaning that the repair must be finished without masking tape if a flush repair is to be achieved, increasing the risk of damage to the surrounding area.
By using a protective stencil having the properties of being very thin whilst being resistant to abrasive materials, a high spot as previously mentioned may be removed by selecting a stencil with a suitable size and shape of hole, placing this hole over the high spot (the stencil maybe taped into position or hand-held against the surface to be worked on), so that the high spot is exposed and then slicing the excess material with a very sharp blade eg a one sided razor blade over the stencil held at near to horizontal to the stencil, before abrading either by hand with an abrasive wrapped around a suitable sanding block, or by means of a sanding machine. The result will be that the material within the selected hole in the stencil will stand as high as the thickness of the stencil, if a hard block or backing plate is employed, which may then be finished with a fine abrasive once the stencil has been removed, so minimising risk of damage to the surrounding surface.
If a softer block or backing pad is employed the area inside the stencil shape will be abraded and can be feathered by placing successively larger sized shapes over the repair spot and abrading with succesively finer abrasives.
Masking stencils US6099388 and US5399421 are cited as they perform the function of protecting the surrounding area while an abrasive process is carried out.
The key difference is that the current application is designed for protection of a surface on which undesired high spots need to be eliminated by abrasion and to a precision that is as close as possible to the surface surrounding the high spot, including the exposed area inside the stencil hole, without causing damage to it.
The current application is not intended to eliminate low spots.
Although aplication US6099388 cites a mask 20, this mask is not designed to be used in conjunction with a sanding block being used across its surface, but rather to limit the repair area, the abrasion being carried out inside the stencil shape to eliminate a scratch which is lower than the surrounding surface.
There is no evidence that mask 20 would resist an abrasive being passed across its surface nor is it designed to be as thin as practically possible and so would not permit the abrasion of a high spot to near flush with the surface.
US 6099388 shows a protective mask whose characteristics are:
"Preferably the mask is of a plastics material" Column 4 line 40
"The material of the mask has electrostatic cling" Column 4, line 41
Neither of the above features suggest that the mask would withstand a mechanical sander being passed over the top whilst still protecting the area underneath, in fact quite the contrary is suggested. This is because the mask is not intended to be sanded across, but rather to limit the repair area, the mild abrasion process being carried out within the limits of the exposed area
Abrasion is carried out "with radial strokes relative to the compact disc" column 7, line 30"the radial strokes extending from side to side IN the localised area" column 7, lines 31 and 32. Also if the hole to localise the "area is cut in the mask" column 7 line 3, this suggests that the material is not sufficiently resistant to withstand sanding with a mechanical sander. If the hole were cut by a mechanical method eg scissors or a sharp knife, this would lead to burring or at least an inexact edge which would result in the stencil not lying perfectly flat on the surface, if the mask were made of a sufficiently resistant material. If the mask did lie flat after manually cutting a hole, this would suggest that the material would not be resistant enough to serve the purpose of the current invention.
The reason that the current invention lies perfectly flat is that stencil holes in a very abrasion resistant material are chemically etched so no burring of edges occurs
Neither is patent US5399421 designed to abrade undesired high spots to a level near flush with the surface, but rather to protect the surrounding area only outside the stencil hole while the abrasive process removes material from the surface to a level lower than the remaining surface.
There is no evidence that the vinyl material proposed would allow an abrasive sheet with block to be passed over it with little resistance nor that the surface is as flat and regular as the stainless steel proposed in the current application to allow the precision of sanding required, nor indeed that the stencil is thin enough to allow slicing and sanding to near flush as is the objective of the current application.
A preferred embodiment of the stencil will be given referring to figure 1 which shows a top view of the stencil (1), manufactured from 0.05mm to 0.03mm hard quality stainless steel shim in a sheet measuring 12cm by 12cm, with holes (2) designed to expose typical spot repairs, namely lacquer runs, imperfections and paint-filled chips or scratches, and created by a process to ensure that edges are flush with stencil body, for example an etching process. The etched holes are calculated to be of a dimension that will not allow the abrasive block, sanding machine pad or blade, when held horizontal to the surface, to make contact with the surface to be protected at any point, ie the dimensions of the holes are too small to allow the sanding block, machine pad or blade to fit completely inside. The stainless steel employed to make the stencil offers high durability to the abrasion process so that the surface to be protected is so, prevents the stencil from oxidation, which would affect its uniform positioning on the surface, and allows the stencil to be re-used.

Claims

Claims
1. A masking stencil comprised of a sheet of flexible, abrasion-resistant stainless steel which protects the surface immediately surrounding a high spot to be abraded or sliced off, its minimal thickness is such that repair is left closer to flush with the surface than any other method of protected abrasion.
2. A masking stencil as described in claim 1 where the holes to expose the high points to be abraded are made via an etching process, or similar, to ensure uniform contact with the surface being worked on and the abrasive or blade employed.
1. A masking stencil as described in claim 1 where the stencil is of sufficient resistance to abrasion to allow it to be reused.
2. A masking stencil as described in claim 1 where the holes to expose areas to be abraded are smaller than the dimensions of the sanding block, sanding machine pad or blade employed so that when used horizontal to the surface, the abrasive material or blade cannot touch the surface surrounding the repair spot at any point.
3. A masking stencil as described in claim 1 where the material used will not allow any form of oxidation to interfere with the regularity of the stencil's surface.
4. A masking stencil as described in claim 1 which contains holes of a size and shape to expose typical spot repairs.
EP11805114.3A 2010-11-22 2011-11-16 Shim-mask stencil Not-in-force EP2643122B1 (en)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
GB1019690.5A GB2485594B (en) 2010-11-22 2010-11-22 Shim-mask stencil
PCT/GB2011/001610 WO2012069777A1 (en) 2010-11-22 2011-11-16 Shim-mask stencil

Publications (2)

Publication Number Publication Date
EP2643122A1 true EP2643122A1 (en) 2013-10-02
EP2643122B1 EP2643122B1 (en) 2015-11-04

Family

ID=43467037

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
EP11805114.3A Not-in-force EP2643122B1 (en) 2010-11-22 2011-11-16 Shim-mask stencil

Country Status (8)

Country Link
US (1) US20130244543A1 (en)
EP (1) EP2643122B1 (en)
JP (1) JP2013544661A (en)
CN (1) CN103282161A (en)
BR (1) BR112013012470A2 (en)
CA (1) CA2818456A1 (en)
GB (1) GB2485594B (en)
WO (1) WO2012069777A1 (en)

Families Citing this family (7)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
EP3090373B1 (en) * 2013-12-30 2020-05-27 OneSpan International GmbH An authentication apparatus with a bluetooth interface
DE202014007284U1 (en) 2014-09-12 2014-09-30 Kwk Holding Kg Cover template for sanding protruding unevenness of paint surfaces
GB2556102A (en) * 2016-11-21 2018-05-23 Wilkinson Alan Improved method of abrading or slicing off a high point of a surface
JP6449840B2 (en) * 2016-12-27 2019-01-09 株式会社Ｍｈｉエアロスペースプロダクション Aircraft skin repair method, power tool and attachment
DE102017219110A1 (en) 2017-10-25 2019-04-25 Onsystem Technic Gmbh masking template
CN111843837A (en) * 2019-04-29 2020-10-30 北京铂阳顶荣光伏科技有限公司 Sand blasting machine and solar substrate production line
KR102656383B1 (en) * 2024-01-11 2024-04-11 씨티씨 주식회사 Polishing auxiliary device for steel coating and method using the same

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US315472A (en) * 1885-04-14 Art of ornamenting glass
US680227A (en) * 1901-06-08 1901-08-13 Virginia I Copland Erasing-shield.
US742445A (en) * 1903-03-09 1903-10-27 James M Keep Erasing-shield.
US1431917A (en) * 1920-09-11 1922-10-17 Hrant G Antaramian Ornamenting process and apparatus
US1720568A (en) * 1928-09-14 1929-07-09 Cross Brothers Company Sand-blast carving and method of making the same
US1720569A (en) * 1928-09-18 1929-07-09 Cross Brothers Company Sand-blast carving and method of making the same
US1769599A (en) * 1929-03-13 1930-07-01 Samuel A Neidich Method of etching celluloid and the like
US1940539A (en) * 1932-06-08 1933-12-19 Fritsche Rudolf Device for making corrections on lithographic printing surfaces
US2005456A (en) * 1932-06-11 1935-06-18 Rca Corp Variable resistance device
US2251646A (en) * 1939-05-25 1941-08-05 Minnesota Mining & Mfg Sandblast stencil
US2466890A (en) * 1945-01-15 1949-04-12 Honeywell Regulator Co Method of soldering to a nickel alloy coil
JPS57156169A (en) * 1981-03-20 1982-09-27 Nippon Columbia Co Ltd Metal mask for sandblast
JP2679467B2 (en) * 1991-09-06 1997-11-19 豊田合成株式会社 Masking coating method for molded products
US5399421A (en) * 1991-11-12 1995-03-21 Gaska Tape, Inc. Vinyl film stencil
US6099388A (en) * 1997-08-06 2000-08-08 Fritsch; Joseph F Method and apparatus for repairing a damaged compact disc
JPH1187287A (en) * 1997-09-05 1999-03-30 Fujitsu Ltd Planarizing polishing method for substrate
US6629877B2 (en) * 2001-02-21 2003-10-07 Leon A. Cerniway Precision glass grinding
CN2726802Y (en) * 2004-09-17 2005-09-21 朴文锡 Sand blasting die block
US7367869B2 (en) * 2006-05-02 2008-05-06 U.S. Technology Corporation Method of masking and a hot melt adhesive for use therewith
CH700883A1 (en) * 2009-04-22 2010-10-29 Alstom Technology Ltd Method for producing a with a slot as test plan provided body.

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Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
CA2818456A1 (en) 2012-05-31
WO2012069777A1 (en) 2012-05-31
GB2485594B (en) 2012-10-24
US20130244543A1 (en) 2013-09-19
JP2013544661A (en) 2013-12-19
GB2485594A (en) 2012-05-23
GB201019690D0 (en) 2011-01-05
BR112013012470A2 (en) 2016-09-06
EP2643122B1 (en) 2015-11-04
CN103282161A (en) 2013-09-04

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