What to Ask Before Buying a Brush Making Machine: Key Issues Suppliers Need to Understand

Imagine you are a manufacturer of brushes and planning to purchase a brush making machine. Will you simply contact the supplier and say “I need a brush making machine, quote your best prices”.

It looks attractive that machine has multi-axes, automatic tufting, CNC control and impressive production speed. But, after purchasing you found out that your brush requires angled holes, a particular filament length and different tufting patterns or a custom brush block.

Now the problem is not the price of machine but selection of machine before supplier understood the requirements of manufacturing of the production line. This is one of the most important principles when purchasing brush manufacturing equipment.

Do not start with the machine, start with brush.  

A good Supplier should understand your product, production volume, materials, pattern of hole, methods of tufting required, requirements of automation and future plans before recommendation of the machine.

Whether you are searching for the brush making machine for sale, updating existing production line or ordering the custom brush making machine following article will help you understand the requirements and identify the solution.

What Type of Brush Are You Manufacturing?

This should be the very first question suppliers need to understand in almost every machine selection discussion. A machine designed for flat household scrub brush may be completely unsuitable for a complex industrial roller brush. The brush machinery is available for products.

The different products require different combinations of drilling, tufting, movement, tooling and work holding. For example, current commercial machine offerings include 2-axis systems for relatively simple and flat brushes as well as 3-4 and 5-axis systems for more complex geometries.

Suppliers should as “Can you provide samples or drawings of the exact brushes you want to produce”. The more information supplier will have; more accurate equipment can be recommended.  

What Are the Brush Dimensions?

The overall dimensions of the brush body are very critical and supplier should know them as per the requirements.

Knowing these dimensions will help suppliers in ensuring that working area of machine can accommodate complete range of products.  For example, a machine designed for flat brush block may not be appropriate for cylindrical or complex shapes.

Suppliers Need to Know

Product Parameter	Example Information to Provide
Brush Type	Flat, disc, roller, cylindrical
Length	Minimum–maximum
Width	Minimum–maximum
Thickness	Minimum–maximum
Diameter	If applicable
Surface	Flat, curved, angled
Brush Block Material	Plastic, wood, other

If you are a manufacturer and planning to introduce smaller or larger products in future, inform the supplier before the selection of machine.

Understanding of Tufting Pattern Need

The modern CNC brush machinery can support programmable drilling systems and different tufting configurations, different hole patterns and diameters.

Therefore, it is very important for the supplier to know the information about tufting pattern which may include, hole spacing, rows and columns, tuft density, edge distances and filament type.

• Supplier should have CAD drawing, production drawing or sample brush rather than explanation of the requirements in words.  
• A simple brush may require straight or flat tufting but another product may require holes at different angles across a curved or spherical surface. This is where axis of machine become important.
• A multi-axes system can provide additional movement flexibility for complex brush geometries which can reduce need for manual repositioning. This will have a major effect over the requirements of labor and cycle time.

Understanding of Tufting Method Required

All the brush making machines do not use same tufting method. Tufting method is highly dependent on the several factors which may include but not limited to brush type, filament material, retention requirements and final application. Following are some well-known types of tufting methods used in industries.

The suppliers need to understand how the bristles are being inserted before the recommendation of tufting head.

Selection of Filament Material and Production Volume:

This is another important part in the selection of brush making machine, if you are the supplier, you must know about the requirements of filament material, diameter, color, length and bristle density.

Being a supplier, never assume that machine can handle filament simply because it can produce a similar looking brush. Production volume is another important aspect supplier must know before recommending any brush making machine.

This helps in the deciding whether you need a basic brush making machine, a multi-head system or more highly advanced automatic production line. If you are a supplier, ask your client about the following information before recommending any brush making machine.

The production speed is another critical aspect to be clarified before recommending any machine to the client and it should not be mixed with the tufting speed at all. For example, a 5-axis brush making machine for sale is available, which can list maximum tufting speed of 250 tufts per minute but this should not be considered as finished brushes per minute.

Understanding Automation Requirements

The automation requirements should also be considered and matched with production requirements before recommending any brush making machine for sale to clients.

Ask manufacturer or client about their requirement of automation because a manufacturer with simple products may not need same level of automation as compared to the complex products.

Understand the problems of products of the manufacturer and recommend machine having automation features which can remove these issues in the production process. Following are the most common automation features manufacturers may require.

Understanding Need of Axes and Heads, Customization and Tooling

The machine having more number of axes or heads do not promise the better machine, the better machine correct configuration is entirely dependent on the brush design. Understand the requirements of brush designs and recommend brush making machine for sale which can meet the manufacturer’s current and future expectations.

Understand the brush designs requirements and if you are a supplier come across a client requiring a brush making machine for non-standard brush design. A custom brush making machine will be the most appropriate option to recommend.

Also ask manufacturer for the brush models, they want to manufacture and recommend tooling with additional fixtures for the different brush models.

Being supplier, you should also consider the expectations of manufacturers for production speed, production volume and model requirements before recommending CNC brush making machine.

Before recommending any brush making machine for sale, supplier must ask for following checklist items to evaluate the requirements and understand key issues.

Information	Ready?
Brush drawings or samples	□
Brush dimensions	□
Hole pattern	□
Hole diameter	□
Tufting method	□
Filament material	□
Filament diameter	□
Filament length	□
Required production volume	□
Desired automation level	□
Number of brush models	□
Required machine output	□
Available factory space	□
Electrical requirements	□
Special customization requirements	□

 

Being a supplier, selling a brush making machine should start with a conversation about product and understanding requirement of firm or manufacturer rather than the price tag or model. The best supplier must understand what client manufacturer, how client manufacturers at what speed and how client aims to grow their business.

About MEIXIN Brush Machinery:

MEIXIN Brush Machineries specialize in advanced brush manufacturing solutions designed for the modern production environments. From high-performance CNC brush making machines and multi-axes linkage brush machines for fully custom brush making machines. MEIXIN Brush Machines help manufacturers in improving production efficiency, enhancing product quality and adapting to market demands. Whether you are looking for single brush making machine or a complete automated production line, MEIXIN Brush Machinery provide you reliable equipment, technical expertise and dependable after-sales support to help your business grow.