…By Khurram Alley for TDPel Media. Sharp burrs on metal materials can prevent them from working properly, damage machines, and even cause injury to anyone handling the parts or materials. What is deburring equipment? Deburring equipment helps ensure your products look better, work more efficiently, and last longer.
Burrs are created during machining. While they are sometimes inevitable, shop owners should strive to minimize them.
1. Safety
Burrs on metal products can pose a safety risk to anyone who handles them. Whether part of a medical device or an automotive component, rough edges can cut skin and cause splinters. This could be dangerous for patients and workers handling these devices or parts during assembly, shipping, and installation. It can also impact the quality of a product. If a burr on a metal part is not removed, it may concentrate stresses in a single area of the component, which increases its risk for early wear and failure.
Without the right deburring equipment, removing metal burrs is time-consuming and requires much manual effort. This process can cause repetitive motion injuries, making it a health hazard for metalworkers. Additionally, when deburring with a hand grinder, each piece of metal will have a different finish, which can result in inconsistencies in your work and lower the quality of your finished products.
Different types of deburring equipment are available depending on the industry and type of work. Some, like thermal deburring, can remove burrs in hard-to-reach areas like internal chambers or inlets on precision parts.
2. Efficiency
Deburring equipment takes the guesswork out of this critical metal fabrication process, making it an effective way to produce better-looking and higher-quality workpieces. In addition, automated processes provide consistency that eliminates the room for error and helps your shop develop deburring standards to achieve the best results quickly.
Various metalworking operations can cause burrs — unwanted, rough, or raised edges, ridges, or small pieces of material that remain attached to a piece after processing. These imperfections make it harder for metal parts and components to function correctly, impacting their ability to withstand pressure, stress, and strain. They can also reduce safety for anyone handling the piece and the alignment and fit of mating parts and assemblies later in the process.
Burrs are often the result of cutting, shearing, punching, or laser-cutting operations. They can form due to the type and thickness of the metal, the condition of the die or blade, and the power or pressure being exerted on the machine. They can be very dangerous for workers to handle, concentrate stresses in certain areas, and affect lubrication.
Luckily, many different deburring machines help you efficiently remove mechanical burrs and thermal slag or dross. They can range from brushes that use metal filaments or thin wires attached to a rotating disc to scrape off the burrs to more sophisticated tools that can use chemical and electrical energy to deburr parts with extreme accuracy.
3. Accuracy
Deburring equipment can remove burrs and sharp points from metal parts and create a smooth finish. This reduces the risk of injuries to workers, transportation, and assembly staff that rough edges could cause and ensures that the surfaces of products and materials are safe to handle, reducing company liability.
Deburring machines are useful in enhancing the quality of finished parts and components, particularly in advanced fields like the aerospace and automotive industries. Metalworkers can sometimes use manual grinding methods to deburr parts, but this process is time-consuming and only sometimes produces consistent results. It can also result in different finishes for each part, making it difficult to create a uniform product or meet specific customers’ needs.
By contrast, a machine can deburr parts in minutes and more accurately. Some machines can also perform additional tasks like chamfering and grinding in the same operation, reducing cycle times and making working on complex projects easier. Moreover, some deburring machines can be customized to fit the type of work to minimize downtime and increase productivity. To customize the process, choose the optimal abrasive media for the specific material, workpiece size, and shape. This will allow for the best possible results.
4. Flexibility
Deburring equipment removes burrs from metal workpieces to produce finished parts with a blemish-free finish. This creates a polished appearance and enhances the overall functionality of the metal product. It also helps protect workers and the machinery that handles the products or materials from sharp edges that could cut or injure them. From fabrication to shipping, assembly, and use, it is important to eliminate these edges for the safety of all involved.
Several methods can deburr metal, including vibration finishing, thermal processes, and abrasive brushing. Depending on the deburring machine and material, each method will have specific advantages. For example, a vibratory deburring machine can leave a radius or chamfer in the final part. At the same time, a thermal process will change some of the part’s external dimensions and can etch the material’s surface.
Many automated deburring machines are on the market, from simple discs to complex systems that simultaneously handle multiple tasks. Choosing the ideal production option for you involves considering several factors. These include the shape and size of your pieces, the desired flawless finish, your budget, and the machine’s operating environment.
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