For additional technical information or information about free sample processing and process engineering for your parts contact me at the address shown below. The focus of my work is in assisting manufacturers with minimizing manual deburring and finishing and upgrading the edge and surface finish condition of their parts with Centrifugal Iso-Finishing technology.
Dave Davidson Deburring/Finishing Technologist SME Tech Community Advisor ddavidson@deburring-tech-group.com | 509.230.6821 https://dryfinish.wixsite.com/iso-finish
To download a PDF copy of the full print version of the article use this Google Drive link:
To access the web version of the article see use this link:
To see how one precision contract machining operation makes use of centrifugal iso-inishing to minimize hand-deburring and produce superior finishes on steel, stainless steel, aluminum, titanium and plastic watch the short video below:
Article Excerpt:
"With the continuing advance of conventional subtractive manufacturing technologies like multi-axis machining and increasing utilization of metal 3D printing (additive manufacturing) for part production, manufacturing managers and engineers are faced with new and complex challenges related to part deburring and surface finishing.
In times past, much of manufacturing was concentrated on producing large volumes of parts as economically as possible. Many of the mass finishing technologies still in use today were developed to handle large workflows of identical parts and produce edge and surface finish conditions that were consistent and uniform. Part-to-part and lot-to-lot consistency was a major consideration in the development of these technologies, as well as an important driver of the economic advantage that the processes offered.
While uniformity and consistency are still very important part attributes, just-in-time, flexible-manufacturing and avoiding production bottlenecks, as well as other quality-based manufacturing philosophies are driving significant change on the factory and shop floors. These changes are having a significant impact on deburring and mechanical finishing operations. In many cases, there is a much stronger need to be able to quickly process smaller lots of more complex parts with much tighter tolerance and surface finish requirements."
New Challenges with 3D-Printed Parts
Metal parts manufactured using various additive manufacturing technologies present a new and entirely different set of challenges for surface finishers. Unlike with conventional manufacturing technologies, additive manufacturing does not produce parts with substantial burrs, which are by-products of cutting or metal-forming operations. Printed parts also are free of the non-isotropic machining or grinding patterns common to subtractive operations that can have negative effects on part wear and fatigue resistance.
In many cases, however, 3D printing does produce unacceptably rough surfaces on parts, and this poses severe challenges for many mechanical surface finishing methods. Sometimes the surfaces of printed parts rival those of unfinished casted parts in terms of their initial surface roughness and positive skew. High-energy finishing methods are required to produce acceptable surface finishes with process cycle times that won’t be a source of bottlenecks or production constraints.
Sample processing
(If you need help or have questions contact me at dryfinish@gmail.com )
If you have an interest if acquiring the centrifugal iso-finishing technology for use by your company, see the instructions at this web-page for information on arranging for sample finishing of your parts:
If you have a need to outsource the finishing of your parts and have the work performed by centrifugal iso-finishing experts and professionals, refer to this web-page:
Centrifugal Iso-finishing Equipment
Centrifugal Iso-Finishing Part Applications
