Complex Part Geometry

There are often many tumbling media options for deburring or polishing parts. Different shapes and sizes of media can be used to round edges, polish into corners and provide a uniform and consistent surface finish. Part shapes and sizes that are relatively 'open' make the media selection much easier.

Sometimes parts are so complex that there may be only one option for tumbling media. Finding a media that will be small enough to get into tighter areas of a part but not get stuck in other areas can seem like an impossible task. Selecting a shape that will pass through holes without getting caught in interior areas of the part are a frustrating task. It is amazing how intelligent tumbling media can be and how it seems to always find a way to gang together and cause problems. Simply evaluating a part based on a drawing (or even holding with various media on hand) is not enough. Testing the part with different media options is critically important.

The picture above shows a milled slot on the interior diameter of the part. While this type of geometry can be challenging enough, there is a small interior hole at the end of the slot. The media selection to deburr the slot without getting stuck in the hole can be maddening. The pictures below show different features such as exterior threads, small channels and slots of varying widths and depths. While any of these features can be a challenge, all this geometry pictured was located on a single part. For this particular aluminum part, it worked out that an angle cut tristar shape deburred all the critical areas.