When it comes to mass finishing, a company can rely on various types to achieve the designated goal. Among the more common procedures finishing and polishing companies currently employ is centrifugal barrel finishing. This is a form of what professionals refer to as high energy finishing.
What Is High Energy Finishing?
High energy finishing is a technique or system easily distinguishable from the traditional or vibratory means of finishing or polishing components. It does not rely solely on the force of gravity to remove the imperfections on components. Its intent is to
* Burnish
* Deburr
* Descale
* Radius
* Smooth
In doing so, it prepares the components for their intended usage.
High energy finishing does employ barrels or other containers. Like vibratory finishing, barrels are sealed tightly. However, high energy finishing may also utilize discs. Various types of high energy finishing system include:
1. Centrifugal disc finishing
2. Spindle finishing
3. Drag finishing
One of the most common methods, however, is centrifugal barrel finishing.
What Is Centrifugal Barrel Finishing?
Centrifugal barrel finishing, as a high-energy finishing system, utilizes a barrel. Into it is added:
* The components
* Media
* Water
* Compounds
The tightly closed barrel is then fixed typically in a horizontal position between two turrets. The turrets then proceed to rotate at very high speeds. This produces a lateral acceleration as fast as 25g. At the same time, the barrels – usually totaling four in number, rotate contrary to that of the turrets. The result is a tumbling action that is both powerful and extremely effective.
To create different finishes, the surface finishing and polishing company needs only to select specific actions for the barrels. The rotation of the turret to the barrel can rate can vary from an abrasive 1:1 to a much gentler 4:1. The latter is an example of a “micro-finish” tumble.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Centrifugal Barrel Finishing
The process of centrifugal barrel finishing has both its advantages and disadvantages. The major disadvantages consist of:
* High operator involvement e.g. manual loading and unloading
* No in-process inspection
* Potentially high changeover labor
However, advantages of this process can make up for the disadvantages. They include versatility. More importantly, for many clients is the speed of delivery. Centrifugal barrel finishing does offer one of the fastest existing levels of batch processing.
Choosing Centrifugal Barrel Finishing
When it comes to mass finishing, companies have the range of several methods capable of performing the bare essentials. Among them are vibratory finishing and traditional barrel finishing. If you are interested in achieving finishing results that surpass both of these methods, you need to consider another method. This is the high-energy finishing technique known as centrifugal barrel finishing.
