Deburring machines or finishing machines are used in the process of finishing of parts. The parts to be finished, finishing media and
finishing compounds are all loaded into the deburring machines. When the machine starts, the media and parts scrape with each other; the media’s abrasive action produces the deburring and polishing that is needed. The finishing compounds are there to improve the media efficiency.
The main types of
deburring machines are tumbling barrel machines and vibratory finishing machines and they are the most commonly used. There are other machines also like the centrifugal barrel machines and blasting machines that are used for precise cases. Barrel machines are perfect when heavy loads are to be run and these machines give optimum performance when they are run with 50% full load.
There are wet barrel machines and dry barrel machines. Wet barrels are used most normally; they are used for the removal of excess material from parts and also for polishing. Water and finishing compounds are used with these machines to polish, clean and deburr parts. Wet barrels work well on metal parts and they can also be used for dry finishing operations. Dry barrels are used in mass polishing and deburring in plastic as well as metal parts. No liquids are used in these machines. They come in handy in factories where large quantities of water are not readily available. Dry systems work well on fragile parts as the environment inside the dry barrel is very protected. The finished parts typically have a hand buffed look when they surface from the dry machines.
In blasting machines, media are blasted to hit against the parts that are to be finished which causes a deburring and cutting outcome. In centrifugal machines where the load in the machine is rotated at very high speeds, the load goes to the wall of the piece of equipment and the parts and media rub very vigorously with each other – this in turn produces a deburring and polishing outcome.
The
vibratory finishing machines have a processing vessel also known as a finishing tub to load the parts, media and finishing compounds. A shaft mounted on to the tub produces the shaking action. This tub is shaken at a high rate of speed but with very tiny strokes. So, these machines while reducing the cycle time of the finishing operation noticeably are very soft on the parts. Even fragile components can be finished securely in a vibratory finishing machine. These machines provide a specific and complete cutting action. They are perfect for removing material from recesses in the parts like for instance a bore. Because of their tiny stroke, they are well outfitted to handle bulky parts like wing spans without the risk of causing any harm to them. Another foremost advantage of vibratory finishing machines is that they can be easily automated either completely or partially and human intervention can be reduced to a great degree. There fore they can be used in a batch processing mode or a sequential mode.
