Deburring and Polishing of Small Parts

[beege]

A query for you all!

How do you handle the deburring of parts smaller than a one inch cube? Half inch? Quarter inch? Smaller? What about polishing single surfaces on these small parts? Do you use a microscope? Dremel? What setups do you have?

Curious minds...

Thanks

[Geof]

You should be in this forum, 'Mass finishing equipment/media/stratigies', at least for the deburring which could be done in a vibratory machine. Polishing just one side on small parts could be tricky in a vibrator or tumbler but polishing the whole thing can be feasible.

[beege]

I'm thinking along the lines of one to maybe twenty parts, and not using tumbling or vibratory. In other words, more or less by hand. With a cratex wheel for example...

I saw the "Mass Finishing" category and figured the answers I'm hoping to see have nothing to do with ceramic/corncob/walnut type media.

[Geof]

Visit your dentist and steal a selection of the things he uses to grind and polish fillings in teeth.

[beege]

Ok,

I'll go visit my dentist. But he won't like losing his best instruments. Do you ever wish you had, or do you have a dremel-like tool, or a small bench grinder that you could deburr or polish with?

Also, how do you handle parts that can't be tumbled, either because of a sharp edge requirement, or something else, like water incompatibility?

[LeeWay]

Small stuff, especially small quantities? Do them by hand. Dremel and Rotozip both have small wands or pencil grinding extensions. Tools chucked up in these make detail work very easy. I burnt up a dremel using it often for a few years like this. I now use a rotozip. Dremel even sells small pots of rouge and other polishing compounds for different finishes on different materials as well as a full line of tiny specially shaped buffers.

I often use plastic polish and Mother's aluminum wheel polish for all sorts of small items.
There are also other tools that can hold some pieces in place while you finish parts of it. Pen chucks, small vises, vise grips of different styles with rubber tubing slipped over the ends, small parrot vises, etc.

Post an image of a specific item and I'm sure we could help with a solution.