Brushmaking at Cottam Brush

From very simple timber blocks to highly sophisticated, CNC-manufactured steel plates, the core of the brush design acts as a structure to hold the brush fill in a predefined arrangement. It can also be used as a medium to attach the brush to another component if required.

We work with various timbers:

• Wood – Plywood and beech are popular due to the structural integrity provided by these materials.
• Plastic – Plastics such as Nylon and Polypropylene make good stable brush cores as the material properties allow for brushmaking and application.
• Metal – Metal brush cores offer another range of properties, opening up further possibilities over and above what timber and plastics can offer – structure, accuracy, manufacturing, and conductivity are some of the key benefits.

Natural fibres, synthetic plastics, and wire each have unique performance properties – the choice is driven by the task, application, and core material.

Here at Cottam we specialise in resin-set, punch filled (stapled), handsewn, bonded, soldered, and swaged filling techniques. Find out more here.

Metal, synthetic, and natural fills can be trimmed and profiled to a custom design profile. Depending on the complexity of the design this is done by hand on jigs (synthetic and natural) or on one of our automated machines which can process metal fills, including crimped wire.

We also have in-house capabilities to trim rotary and flat-trim brushes to the required length.