Clean & Polish Steel Tubes

Cutting steel tubing can produce heavy burrs on the edges and if done wet can lead to rusting on the surface of the parts (picture below).

Rusted Steel Tube

Prior to polishing the steel, the part must be deburred and cleaned. The oxidation (rust) will lead to pitting on the surface so an appropriate abrasive media must be used to create a smooth surface finish. Vibratory tumbling the parts with a general purpose Ceramic Media is typically aggressive enough to deburr the edges and remove any pitting from the rust (see left on picture below).

Clean (L) and Polish (R)

After the tube was tumbled with a Ceramic Cylindrical Wedge (a good shape for round tube parts), the steel tube was polished with a polishing Precision Ceramic Sphere. This porcelain-type round ball will significantly improve the surface finish and produce a bright polish on the part (see right on picture above). This part is now ready for producing an even higher, mirror-like finish using further mass finishing steps or hand buffing.