Deburring and Graining Tips
Operators have control over five factors: conveyor feed rate, abrasive type, abrasive speed, brush composition, and brush speed. A slow feed rate is good for deburring because it gives the abrasive more time to work over the edges. A high feed rate is for graining, or finishing the surface. Slowing the process increases the life of the belts and brushes, but at the risk of sacrificing edge quality. It's all about balance.
- To break an edge, slow the machine and use the abrasive belt only.
- For even belt wear, run parts across the entire width of belt, not just down the center.
- To be sure all edges get a thorough deburring, send parts through at angles. Aligning a square or rectangular part with the feed direction means that two of the edges are perpendicular to the direction of brush rotation and get a good deburring. The other two edges don't get much, if any, deburring action at all.
- To effectively grain and deburr small parts, be aware of the machine's limitations.
n For graining, the smallest part dimension is the same as the distance between the machine's pinch rollers. This goes for all machines of this type.
n The smallest part size for deburring depends on the machine. For instance, some wet machines transfer the parts from the conveyor to a set of squeeze rollers to squeeze the moisture off the part. The gap between the conveyor and the squeeze rollers determines the smallest part size. Parts that are too small fall into the coolant tank.
n If the parts are too small:
s Make a tray to hold them. Take a rectangular or square piece of sheet metal and fold the edges over 180 degrees to make a lip that runs around the tray's perimeter. Then load it up with parts and run them through.
s Another strategy that works in some instances is to leave the parts in the skeleton and run it through the machine, then remove the parts from the skeleton.
- Galvanized parts are not a problem. With a proper setup, a deburring machine can remove the burrs from a galvanized part without removing the galvanized layer (the zinc that provides the corrosion protection).
- Keep an eye on the big picture and think about increasing your shop's productivity. If you're running parts through a laser, you could set up a deburring machine for a one-time-through process that removes the oxidation, deburrs the part, and prepares it for painting. Relying on the deburring and graining machine to do a little more of the cleanup might allow you to run the laser a little faster, thereby increasing your output.
Deburring and Graining Tips
Operators have control over five factors: conveyor feed rate, abrasive type, abrasive speed, brush composition, and brush speed. A slow feed rate is good for deburring because it gives the abrasive more time to work over the edges. A high feed rate is for graining, or finishing the surface. Slowing the process increases the life of the belts and brushes, but at the risk of sacrificing edge quality. It's all about balance.
- To break an edge, slow the machine and use the abrasive belt only.
- For even belt wear, run parts across the entire width of belt, not just down the center.
- To be sure all edges get a thorough deburring, send parts through at angles. Aligning a square or rectangular part with the feed direction means that two of the edges are perpendicular to the direction of brush rotation and get a good deburring. The other two edges don't get much, if any, deburring action at all.
- To effectively grain and deburr small parts, be aware of the machine's limitations.
n For graining, the smallest part dimension is the same as the distance between the machine's pinch rollers. This goes for all machines of this type.
n The smallest part size for deburring depends on the machine. For instance, some wet machines transfer the parts from the conveyor to a set of squeeze rollers to squeeze the moisture off the part. The gap between the conveyor and the squeeze rollers determines the smallest part size. Parts that are too small fall into the coolant tank.
- Galvanized parts are not a problem. With a proper setup, a deburring machine can remove the burrs from a galvanized part without removing the galvanized layer (the zinc that provides the corrosion protection).
- Keep an eye on the big picture and think about increasing your shop's productivity. If you're running parts through a laser, you could set up a deburring machine for a one-time-through process that removes the oxidation, deburrs the part, and prepares it for painting. Relying on the deburring and graining machine to do a little more of the cleanup might allow you to run the laser a little faster, thereby increasing your output.
n If the parts are too small:
s Make a tray to hold them. Take a rectangular or square piece of sheet metal and fold the edges over 180 degrees to make a lip that runs around the tray's perimeter. Then load it up with parts and run them through.
s Another strategy that works in some instances is to leave the parts in the skeleton and run it through the machine, then remove the parts from the skeleton.