Vibratory tumbler/tumbler process and machine

A. For a fast finish, use ceramic -- the coarser the bond the faster it works. For non-ferrous metals, use plastic. Same as above for speed. the more geometric the shape, the more resistance and faster the cut.

A. Having some difficulty imagining your design. If you have a good movement of your media in a spiral movement, you should be getting good results. A chemical cleaning compound in the process might eliminate the need to blast parts; however, if you do not have a flow through system, this will cause a darkening of parts.

A. To answer your question correctly, we need to know the diameter of the barrel. The media is probably more important than the speed of rotation.

A. Hi Billy. Rotating at higher speed might or might not successfully shorten the cycle time. Has that been a serious problem for you with your old tumbler?

Although tumbling speed can effect the final finish, that's a difficult one to independently sort out when you consider that barrel diameter, type of parts, and the selected media all probably have larger effects on it than speed.

We have threads here about tumbling pewter, titanium, aluminum, stainless steel, golf club heads, coins, bearing components, brass fittings, Delrin plastic, jewelry, cartridge cases, etc., for everything from rough deburring to mirror polishing if you search the site. But it's probably hard for readers to usefully transfer their experience until they know what you want to tumble and why.

Luck & Regards,

A. Hi Billy. Thanks for the detailed explanation of your situation and your thinking. Yes, it does seem that when you don't have a fixed assignment for the machine it would be worth it to get a variable speed unit which can be optimized for the task, especially for a non-vibratory tumbling machine.

I am not a mechanical finishing expert, but I believe that vibratory finishing shortens the cycle time dramatically compared to simple tumbling, so if you have no experience with simple tumbling you may want to investigate whether a two-bar tumbler will realistically be fast enough to suit your needs.

Hopefully someone actually knowledgeable in mechanical finishing, like our frequent reader Tony Kenton, will offer their thoughts. Although we can't suggest or compare brands or sources on this site (why?), the model numbers you provided will allow interested readers to talk about the technologies employed in those models.

Luck & Regards,

Hey Ted,

Well I ordered the rotary tumbler, with the variable speed.

As you mention, they're supposed to be slower and I also read that won't get into the detailed areas as well.

But I like the idea of being able to vary the size of the barrel, seems like media to parts ratio can be important, and I read that they might be capable of putting a larger radius on the edges, that they might have the edge in a few other situations as well


Now I'll have to pick between the rectangular tank and the circular for the second machine. You mentioned the variable speed might be a good idea, "especially for the non-vibratory tumbling machine". I'm wondering now if it's overkill for the circular bowl, the rectangular tub doesn't offer variable.

I wonder what the advantages/disadvantages of the circular vs the rectangular are in regards to smaller parts, beyond that is, it being easier to locate the parts in the smaller maybe. I think the rectangular tank can be divided into smaller sections which would minimize that disadvantage significantly.

Ted, I really appreciate you responding to my posts.

Billy

A. FYI the barrel system is good for burnishing and polishing at slow speed, so that was a good choice. If you can live with long time cycles it will do OK on deburring edges, but not as well as vibratory systems. Hope this info helps.

Thanks for your reply Tony.

It does help, helps me sort out where the rotary tumbler should go in the line up.

FYI Here is something interesting:
Barrel systems operate at 1 g of force
Vibratory systems at 8 to 10 gs
Centrifugal systems at 18 to 24 gs

A. Barrel systems are better for burnishing and polishing at cycles of 24 hrs with the proper media non-abrasive. Deburring can be used with a lot of water and compound is important at higher speeds. Tub systems are normally used with longer parts. They are more aggressive over the barrel systems. Bowl systems are better for parts separation. All mass finishing systems are controlled by 3 factors: machine, water/compound, and media. Change one of these and the process changes.