- Huyett Marketing Department
- 09/30/2020
After sawing, parts are often tumbled to ensure that burrs are removed prior to shipment or plating. Tumbling consists of submitting the parts to vibration while in the presence of media, which in technical terms is known as vibratory finishing. The media is specially designed to cause friction with the parts, and in effect polish the parts in a controlled manner. There are established parameters governing the mixture of media and parts, and the amount of time the parts remain in the tumbler.
A vibratory tumbler is a large doughnut‑shaped drum with parts that rotate in a circular direction while the drum shakes at a high speed. This causes the tumbling media and parts to scrub against each other abrading the parts and removing burrs. After a proper amount of production time, the tumblers empty into a conveyor belt and are sent through a cleaner and dryer. The cleaner and dryer contain rust inhibitor ingredients that extend the shelf life of plain finish parts. Shelf life can be adversely affected by environmental factors and improper handling and storage. Efforts must be made to avoid dropping parts long distances, where the edges can ping, or from handling the parts using bare hands, where oils and impurities present on your skin can damage the finish on the parts. For this reason, Huyett personnel wear gloves when handling plain finished parts.
The tumbling process is performed after each production process that causes burrs, or after heat treating, where black scale resides on the parts and must be removed. In some instances up to 0.0005" of material can be removed using especially aggressive vibratory media and an extended finishing time. Generally this is a cost effective means of altering tolerances and dimensions compared to machine removal such as milling or grinding. Removal is uniform but not precise on all surfaces.
