Tumbling Barrels and Ceramic Media

Finishing refers to the deburring, smoothing, polishing, separating and cleaning of metal or plastic parts. The finishing process is carried out in machines called finishing machines into which are loaded the parts, media and finishing compounds. Once the machine starts, the media and parts rub together; the media abrades the parts. The most commonly used finishing machines are the tumbling barrels and vibratory finishing machines.

The tumbling machines have barrels that are mounted to rotate when started. They are available as floor and bench models. Some of them come as closed models while some are open models. When aggressive burr removal is the requirement, barrel systems can be used effectively. They can be used for burnishing, radiusing edges and separating of parts. The loads can be run with or without media in tumbling barrels. Barrels work well when they are half filled with loads and they are well suited for heavy loads. When screen doors are added to barrels, they can be used for separating of parts.

Wet barrels and dry barrels are used to finish parts. Wet finishing involves the use of media and compounds with water. The wet tumbling barrels are used in polishing and cutting of burrs. They work well on metal parts and can also be used in cleaning parts. Wet barrels can also be used in dry tumbling process too. Dry barrels are very useful in places where water is not easily available in large quantities. They are very safe for even intricate and fragile parts. Using dry tumbling barrels, both plastics and metal parts can be polished, ground and deburred. They give a better finish compared to wet barrels; parts coming out after the finishing process from these dry machines have a uniformly hand buffed look.

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Finishing media are used to finish parts - they are material that have abrasive properties; they are made to rub against the parts to deburr and polish them. Artificial media like plastic deburring media and ceramic media have abrasive properties and so they are used very commonly. Ceramic media is made from silica mixed with other ingredients and the mixtures are fired at very high temperatures. The ceramic media that emerge from this process are hard and cement like. They come in many shapes and sizes to satisfy various finishing requirements which are based on the weight and sizes of the parts that need to be finished. The common shapes are cones, cylinders, triangles, pyramids, wedges etc.

The ceramic media can be used with heavy loads as they are much harder compared to plastic media. Ceramic media are ideally suited for any kind of deburing activity ranging from light to heavy, polishing and smoothing and they work best with hard metals. Ceramic media last a long time and can be reused. They have multiple uses, they are not expensive and they are most often used in finishing operations. They serve to reduce cycle time in finishing. The quantity and type of abrasive property is different to suit various part types.