Greetings All - SC7500, The Mad Coater here, first post / reply;
I owned and operated a large ceramic coating facility in NorCal for over 10 years. In that time we built or bought and used several different types of vibratory polishers to finish polishable ceramic coated headers, milled aluminum parts, and other types of polishable metal.
After building several sizes for specific contract-specific jobs, I settled on a small [7 cubic ft] machine from Mr. Deburr in Goleta, Ca - using MicroBrite ceramic bead and Radiance #41 polishing soap [from Richwood Industries in Huntington Beach, CA] we were able to polish parts in less than 15 minutes time. $7K is about right, paid for it on a lease-to-own thru an agent.
The frequency and RPM is important to final finish; so is the media / soap precentage combination. By now you've discovered that the amount of water in the tank makes a big difference in sound AND performance... Kool Parts' suggestion to drill drains at one end is very good - recirculating / filtering the liquid media is key to consistently good quality product.
I have to tell ya that a factory built machine will get you a decent result FASTER, if only because the frequency experimentation is already done for you... and bolting it to the floor is MANDATORY. Even after building a soundproof booth for the machines [I ended up with 2 - the 7 Cube baby, and a 40 cubic foot monster for finishing race header pairs] you'll most likely end up wearing some sort of hearing protection and pissing off at leat one neighbor !
I hate to mention this, but it can't be avoided; whether you're doing this work at home, or in a shop in the city, there is a potential for pollution. The waste overflow has enough microscopic aluminum and zinc to set off the sewer sniffers in an average environmentally monitored drain... we ended up prefiltering the liquid waste with carbon centered wound water filters to trap 80% of the nasties... the fire marshall said okay. And, natch, hit us with a $500.00 / year permit fee for same.
If you're on a well like I am here at home [I kept the baby machine when I retired, and still finish milled parts] it's a good idea to filter the waste water after pumping it into a settling tank. Once the larger solids settle down, they can be collected into a coffee can, baked into a solid "puck" and tossed into the trash. The liquid can be evapp'd to eliminate any chance of groundwater contam.
I don't know anyone who'd want to poison their own well over 10 years' time !
Hope this helps - I'm available if anyone else has questions.
SC / TMC  |