Mass finishing and deburring strategies

[Idle hands]

Hi,

I have been making small aluminum parts on my Taig benchtop CNC mini mill. I am looking into home/hobby/benchtop (small single phase 120v size) mass finishing solutions(machine and consumables) to deburr, polish and possibly anodize my parts.

I am a union carpenter by trade so I have no experience and am new to the world of CAD/CAM/CNC as well as the secondary operations involved in bringing a machined part to retail or finished status.

There are many options for machine, media and solutions from what I have read. Depending on the material size and shape of the parts, the quantity or size of the 'batch' to be processed (deburred and polished), the type of deburring (heavy to light), the desired finish (low to high luster), part or batch process time desired as well as budget and space requirements to name a few.

There are vibratory tubs and bowls of varying size and levels of automation. There are also high-energy vibratory systems which are vibratory type finishers with higher frequency motors. These systems use the force of gravity as they shake parts in a slurry of abrasive media and water to deburr and or polish parts in one or more manual or automated steps or cycles.


There are 'high energy' type machines such as centrifugal disc, centrifugal barrel, spindle and drag finishing. All of which offer substantially faster (5 - 40 times) batch process times than conventional vibratory tubs and bowls. These ( high energy) systems increase the action of the media on the part by introducing forces greater than that of gravity (which is used in vibratory systems) by an order of up to 25g's

There are different media types for all types of mass finishing machines (vibratory, high energy,etc.) and different part materials(hard to soft) and different media shapes (balls, cones,triangles,etc.) for different part features/geometry.

Media (in various shapes) is made of different materials such as steel, ceramic, plastic, organic (crushed walnut shells).

Different solutions ranging from water to soapy? water to mild to agressive abrasives can also be used along with the media to achieve the desired results. These liquid solutions can serve one or more purposes such as acting as a cleaner to carry away fine burrs and debris when recirculated through a filter and pump. They can also act as an abrasive (from mild to agressive) to aid the solid media in deburring/polishing the part.

As you can see there are many options available when it comes to mass finishing. This just scratches the surface(no pun intended) of what is out there I'm sure.

All these machines, media and solutions share in the same goal which is to produce a desired finish on different parts with a minimum amount of manual labor(hand polishing/deburring).

As I said earlier this is all new to me and in my quest for information I asked Paul G (site admin/owner) to create this forum for those that share in the quest for knowledge on this subject as well as those industry professionals and experts who generously donate their time and knowledge on these forums in hopes that they will once again answer the call of the noobie/novice home machinists out there who are beginning on this quest to create their own little industries.

Thank you again Paul for creating this forum in hopes of expanding the great resource this site has come to be. Also thanks in advance to those experts for, without their selfless contributions to these forums, would be much less than it has become.

Eh, I seem to have misspelled strategies in the forum heading, sry. I think thats all I mispelled, my bad..

[jkeyser14]

I would love to know more about polishing deburring that is relatively elbow grease free too. I've been thinking about buying a vibratory polisher for a while, but have held off for lack of knowledge about the available processes.

[Kool Parts]

The first thing you need to know is what do you what the Finished product to be.
Painted, powder coated, and anodized are a lot different than say a polished or bare piece.
One you know that, then what are the major problems with the piece, burrs, tool marks, or extrusion drag marks. Then you can decide on a strategy to finish your parts.
Gary