Mass Finishing

Mass Finishing

Mass finishing is a group of manufacturing processes that allow large quantities of parts to be simultaneously finished. The goal is to burnish, deburr, clean, radius, de-flash, descale, remove rust, polish, brighten, surface harden, prepare parts for further finishing, or break off die cast runners. Mass finishing can be performed dry or wet; wet processes have liquid lubricants, cleaners, or abrasives, while dry processes do not. Cycle times can be as short as 10 minutes for nonferrous workpieces or as long as 2 hours for hardened steel.

Tumble Finishing

Tumble finishing — also known as tumbling or rumbling — is a technique for smoothing and polishing a rough surface on relatively small parts. Metal tumbling is used to burnish, deburr, clean, radius, de-flash, descale, remove rust, polish, brighten, and surface harden parts. The process is fairly simple: a horizontal barrel is filled with the parts which is then rotated. Variations include media, water, or other lubricants.

Vibratory Finishing

Vibratory finishing is used to deburr, radius, descale, burnish, clean, and brighten a large number of relatively small workpieces. Specially shaped pellets of media and the workpieces are placed into the tub of a vibratory tumbler and vibrated. Unlike tumbling, this process can finish internal features such as holes. It is also quicker and quieter, and the operator can easily observe if the required finish has been obtained.

Finishing Goals

• Deburring
• Burnishing
• Cleaning
• Edge Radiusing
• Descaling
• Rust Removal
• Polishing & Brightening
• Surface Hardening
• Pre-coating Preparation