Vibratory finisher project

[LeeWay]

Well, guys, I'm at the point where it takes me nearly a couple days to clean up maybe a week and a half worth of parts. I have thought about these for a little while and I was hesitant at first, but the more I saw, the more I think these will work fine for me. I'm gonna built at least one, maybe two.

I tried just some lava rock in my concrete mixer for only 10 minutes on a couple parts. I saw some good results from that test in that time, so I know a proper vibrator and media will do the job I need.

I have several of the items I will need on hand already. I have a propane tank from a fork lift. About 3' by 15" dia. I have a plastic 55 gallon drum. Even a failed sand blasting tank.
I think I will use the drum. These are typically lined with plastic anyway to keep from damaging parts.

Cut it to maybe 16" depth. Stiffen the new top with aluminum on the outside.

Install an 1/8" aluminum plate underneath for mounting.

The curious part will be the motor.
I have several to choose from. I have a new 1 HP Leeson motor I bought for my old band saw. I think it is 1750 RPM.

I have a mini mill or a mini lathe DC motor, both with the controls.
I am thinking I would like to use one of these. They may not actually be strong enough. Then again, how much torque would something like this need?

The drive mechanism will be key I think.
I have some thoughts on different ways to do this, but haven't seen many designs. I would like to see more if someone has one or a link.
I really like the idea of variable speed for this thing. That way I can make it vibrate just right to get the best out of it.


The plan is to finish 5 to 10 pounds of steel parts in 25 pounds of media. For steel I will use the 1/2 coarse ceramic type initially. I may add some smaller stuff to the mix depending.

If this all works okay, then I will make a smaller one for aluminum parts. Far fewer aluminum parts and not nearly the burrs on those, so much smaller media and of a different type.


For mounting, I would use maybe 6 springs around the bottom of the drum.

For the motor drive, I am thinking of a simple cam lobe on a steel disc. Not much of an offset. Maybe 1/2".
Then mount 6 or 8 roller skate bearings around this cam.
With the motor mounted solid to the frame and the tub on springs, this should work. May need to refit a different cam or something, but I think it might just do what I want.
I will get an drawing up of what I was thinking sometime.
Any input will be great appreciated.
Thanks.

[LeeWay]

Now getting to the bottom of the barrel.
This is what I had in mind.

Red things are springs.

[BobWarfield]

I've been very pleased with my little brass polisher vibratory finisher. I bought it off eBay, intended for the reloading crowd to polish their brass. Not a lot of capacity, but if you get the right media, it does a great job on 6061. Smaller polishers have a hard time with steel because part of it is the weight of the media on the parts. A small polisher has little weight!

I'll be watching eagerly!

Best,

BW

[LeeWay]

I did get to quasi finish the initial design. These images may help to clear up what I am shooting for.

This will have provisions for a top to be locked down on it. It will also have wheels on one side with handles to move around a bit easier. Think hand truck.

You can see the arbor that I intend to use. I will initially set the top plate that spins in the skate bearings at about 3/8" offset. The way this motor and arbor mounting channel mounts to the frame, it will be easy to add extra offset. That part will be adjustable by swinging one end of the channel.

The best part about this machine and it's design is that I have just about all the parts on hand already. Left overs from other projects. It does a heart good to get rid of some stock that has been taking up space.

I only drew one row of bearings, but will use them doubled up in case of vertical movement of the barrel when jumping around. Also the pulley ratio is off as drawn. There will be a larger pulley on the arbor. Likely 3 to 1 to pull the RPMs down below 600. This too may need tweaking. I only drew 1/2" shafting and pillow blocks because that is what I have on hand. I may need to bump those up to at least 3/4". 1/2" has a tendency to flex a bit.

Any thoughts now guys?
Thanks.

[LeeWay]

I found this link the other day and thought it was pretty useful.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/3012198/De...mation-Booklet

[Kool Parts]

Ok a couple of things. When you talk to the mass finishing experts they always ask "what kind of burr are you trying to remove" By the sound of it you have steel parts and you can stand some very aggressive finishing.

Its not that you cant make your own..but it usually ends up way cheaper to buy one. Unless time is no issue.

Shaking a tub or bowl is easy..the trick is the correct shape. The parts have to move around the tub or they will just sit in one place beating against each other. The only design that is fool prove to make is when you rotate a barrel laying on its side. It doesn't put much energy into the part so it only good for final finishing..not taking a burr off.

After many years of this I can tell you another trick I have learned. The best and fastest way to deburr is while its still in the machine. A little more time in the machine with some special tool paths will save a ton of time beating them to death in the tumbler. You still end up finishing them but its a lot easier and quicker.
Gary

[LeeWay]

Thanks for your thoughts, Gary.
I have considered buying one, but these are high dollar items. It would be an investment I am not ready to make.
I will try it on my own first. If nothing else, I will have made a good welding dolly.

I already made a different drive design. Instead of the way I had originally planned, I will just use a flange bearing under the barrel. Not cam or skate bearings. Instead, I will do like most other machines and use offset weights.
I have some 1 3/8" square steel stock that should provide a good offset. The plan is to make them 3" long to start with.

I am also switching the shafting to 3/4" now. This will mean buying more bearings, but better safe than have to swap out later.
The pulleys can also be swapped out later for different effects. The weights can be rotated on the shaft closer to each other for another effect. The support springs will be able to be tightened or loosened to also vary the shake.

I don't see much of an issue finding the right shake with this type setup.

I will also use one of those water heater pans made of galvanized. This is what I will actually mount to the machine. It will then hold the tub in place with possibly a strap clamp. This way I don't need to install any drains in the barrel and when it wears out, put a new one on.
I can get the barrels at no cost.

I intend to use 4 or 6" PVC pipe in the center of the drum with a threaded rod to attach the lid or cover.

Anyway, here are the new images.

[BobWarfield]

Of course Unabiker's thread is legendary, but Mxtras is more recent and gathers some good info all in one thread:

DIY Vibratory Tumbler

Cheers,

BW

[LeeWay]

Thanks, Bob.
I did look at most of the threads on here a while back and remember that one.
I need to go through and get a refresher read on them now.
I got my first batch of media in yesterday. It's the 1/2" ceramic type. Bought 25 pounds. It's not much. It's only about 5" by 10" by 10".
Not nearly enough.
I'll need at least 100 pounds. I need to find a better source than Mcmaster Carr.

Several years ago I bought a large lot of 8" grinding wheels. Some were the wrong size for my machine. Others were too fine to do any good. Some where too course. I used the ones I could out of these, but still have about 20 to 30 of them just taking up space. I am going to crush them up and use them as media as well. Should really help to make the fill.
The barrel is 23.5" OD. I will have a 4 to 6" PVC pipe in the middle. That is still quite a bit to have to fill up. I expect this media will last a good while too. My test with 10 minutes in lava rock in a concrete mixer showed good results, so the burrs I am removing aren't that tough.
More to come. Stay tuned.

[LeeWay]

I did get rid of those grinding stones that were taking up space in my shop. I tried them out after breaking into small chunks in my concrete mixer. It worked pretty well on the deburring of things on steel, however it left pitted surfaces from all the sharp points. This was 30 minutes in the mixer with just a water slurry. Served to prove a few things.

My deburring needs can quickly be taken care of with a decent machine and the correct media. Use these grinding stones as backfill for the headwalls on my driveway culvert headwalls.
I hired a guy to do this. I recently had to replace my old culvert. It was undersized and storm damage just washed it all out. I have had my fill of larger scale concrete work. Like roofing, I hire it done when I can.

Got all the parts together for the machine. Initially I was going to weld the frame using 2" x 3" angle iron. Now I think I will bolt it together instead. I may still tack it after the bolts are in place, but dowels may be a better option.
The bottom shelf eluded to in my drawings will be for holding weight. I have about 10 buckets of scrap steel sheet offcuts that would all a bunch of base weight to the frame. I use one under my grinder and it really helped that station out.

I also thought about using a paint shaker for a machine. I don't think the up and down movement would be very beneficial though. If someone has a small one though, it might be beneficial to try at least for a small aluminum finisher.
I hope to get to building the big machine this weekend. If this all works out okay, then I will scale the machine to do a smaller version for my aluminum parts.

[LeeWay]

I did manage to get the machine built. I initially tried the two opposing weights system on a separate pillow blocked shaft. While i did get decent vibration when the weights were on the same side, it wasn't enough. I felt this was going to be the case going in.

I have now switched to an offset shaft design. My first try with it was a nogo. I offset the shaft a full 1" center to center. I knew this was too much when I was installing it. Never even turned the motor on. My springs just won't handle that much offset. I will make the next offset block at 3/8" offset center to center. I think that will be a good starting point.

The only other things I have done is to use rust converter so far on the frame. It will then get gloss black rattle can once it is shaking like it should. I did put the wheels and handles on one side to make moving it into my shed easier. Doubtful they will get much use once set in place, but were cheap enough.

I intend to make a much smaller version once this one works. It will likely use a direct drive on another motor I have. It will be for my aluminum parts. Maybe 25 pounds of media. It will be just as tall as this one on the frame. These will both need to be bolted down. No question about that. With just the weights, the larger one was walking which also reduces it's shake potential.

The big machines RPM is around 800 or so. It will still be slow going, but will show my results when I get to it.

[timmydabull]

Ok a couple of things. When you talk to the mass finishing experts they always ask "what kind of burr are you trying to remove" By the sound of it you have steel parts and you can stand some very aggressive finishing.

Its not that you cant make your own..but it usually ends up way cheaper to buy one. Unless time is no issue.

Shaking a tub or bowl is easy..the trick is the correct shape. The parts have to move around the tub or they will just sit in one place beating against each other. The only design that is fool prove to make is when you rotate a barrel laying on its side. It doesn't put much energy into the part so it only good for final finishing..not taking a burr off.

After many years of this I can tell you another trick I have learned. The best and fastest way to deburr is while its still in the machine. A little more time in the machine with some special tool paths will save a ton of time beating them to death in the tumbler. You still end up finishing them but its a lot easier and quicker.
Gary

i learned this the hard way,spent $600 on materials cut welded,sit in the shop unfinished for 6 months till last week throwing everything away in the dumpster.

i will purchase a db300 next time i feel in need of a vibratory finisher.

kudos to those who actually see there creations thru.