How do you automate deburring?

[Swami]

That sounds okay. I would rather deal with something that could remove too much material, rather than a system that can't remove enough.

I missed a great deal on Ebay the otherday for a simple plastic bowled job. $70 or so. It looks like new ones cannot be found for under $99.

Thanks,
Swami

[Cold Fusion]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...sPageName=WDVW

Something like that would be fine for your sized parts.

[Swami]

So, I ordered a bowl. Now I cannot seem to figure out which media to use. I am finding a lot of stuff for cleaning ammo cases, and rusty parts! argh.

What is a good (and specific) media to use to deburr small aluminum parts in a vibe bowl?

Thanks,
Swami

[Cold Fusion]

http://shorinternational.com/TumblingMedia.htm

For the cutdown part of the finishing use either the white or the green plastic pyramids and

For the polishing part use either walnut shell or corn cob charged with red rouge, Blue Magic, ruby powder or Linde A.

[DareBee]

A place I used to work used sawdust.
I believe the action of tumbling where the parts hit each other and the walls of the unit create the deburring action and the sawdust was a cushioning and polishing agent. Cushioning from dents and scraps due to the collisions. I dont know if a bowl works in a similar fashion though.

[DareBee]

I have to call jinx on cold fusion.
It sounds like he definately has more experience than me judging by the more professional sounding answer.

[Swami]

yeah he has been good for a trick or two!

Thanks for the link CF, thats perfect.
Swami

[Swami]

hmmmm after reading their "how-to" I learned a few things I didn't expect. Its talking about 24 hour runtimes. (I hope this thing isn't too loud!) and it talks about running a flo-through system during the cutdown.

Ya know, "x-acto" knife is sounding kind of appealing now, lol

Swami

[Ries]

I have a vibratory deburing machine- I got it used, but it is a BurrKing- you could look on their website. The vibratory machines are expensive- Not sure exactly why, although mine does have a 1hp motor, so its pretty powerful, and a bigger capacity than little rock tumblers.
What I have found is that it makes sense to ask the salesman- look in the yellow pages under deburring or abrasives, call around until you find a distributor that sells the ceramic media, and describe the type and size of part you run, and he can hook you up with the right size and shape. I use a double ended pyramid, about 3/4" long, and they work well on stuff that is at least a couple of inches long.
One thing I really recommend is buying a gallon of soap/anti rust stuff from the suppliers- I have one gallon that has lasted me years, as it thins down with water something like 25 to one- but it really helps- it lubes the whole process, and makes it easy to clean off the parts after you take em out.
I have heard of EDM shops that run whole shelves full of $100 rock tumblers, and leave the parts in for a day or two. Long times seem unavoidable- sometimes when I run stainless parts, that have been waterjet cut with a sharp edge, I leave em in at least a day. Mild steel is usually more like 4 to 8 hours.

[caitolly]

This may sound obvious............
If possible, try to always climb mill around the profile.
Use a rough and a nice sharp finish tool.
I always try to minimize burr generation by using a well thought out tool path, especially when machining some of the stainless steels.
It's not science, it's art.
caitolly

[magico14]

I know Sideros Engineering, they make great deburring tumblers. ROTOCLEAN

SIDEROS ENGINEERING "ROTOCLEAN" (Tumbler - Buratto).avi - YouTube

SIDEROS ENGINEERING "ROTOCLEAN" (Tumbler - Buratto).avi - YouTube

[dak1]

Almost every part we make contains holes of some sort. We use 90° spot drills as a standard rather than centerdrills. It's common practice for us in many cases to do our milling prior to hole making & drive the spot drill as a chamfer mill for deburring. It's already in the spindle & for simple deburrng, it can be cranked up & driven pretty fast.