| Tools and Supplies - File Information | |
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Technical File Information General An elementary view on files is that they are nothing more than teeth cut in steel blanks consisting of different shapes, lengths and coarseness'.
Shape: The most popular files have a 'shape description.' i.e. flat, half-round, knife, square, three-square
Length: All shapes are available in different lengths.
Coarseness: All shapes and lengths are available in different coarseness. Coarseness is dependent on how many teeth per inch are cut on the file. The more teeth per inch the finer the file.
Files are grouped in Two Ranges: Engineer files and Precision files The primary differences between engineer files and precision files are that the precision file shapes are much more exact/precise and they are produced in much finer cuts for precision filing.
i.e. A round precision file will taper all the way down to a point and have an excess of 80 teeth per inch. On the other hand, a round engineer file will not taper all the way to a point and have only 32 teeth per inch. Tooth Structures: files will have one of the following types of file teeth Single - Cut -- one row of teeth, predominantly used for sharpening. Double - Cut -- two rows of teeth criss-crossing, most popular tooth structure. Rasp -- teeth are in the shape of uplifted 'dots', used for wood or soft materials. Milled Tooth -- teeth are actually milled and very coarse, predominantly used in auto restoration work or soft metals.
* The shape of the file will dictate the type of tooth structure supplied. Double - cut tooth structures comprise 90% of all files produced. All precision files are manufactured with double - cut tooth structure. Our catalogue does a pretty good job of stating when a file is other than double - cut |
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