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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Sep 2005
    Posts
    86

    Home Brewed vibratory finisher

    I manufacture a growing line of dirt bike protection products....radiator guards, skid plates, etc. using a CNC router as my main workhorse.
    My volume has gotten to the point where I spend half my waking hours deburring stuff. As we all know, deburring sucks. Here's what I'm doing about it.

    Web research led me to vibratory tub finishers, like the BurrKing, etc. These machines have a big tub which holds a finishing media and the parts to be finished. There is a mechanism attached to the tub which shakes the hell out of the tub and all within it. These machines usualy have a sprayer and recirculation system to wash the media as it runs as well.
    A machine with a tub in the 6-7 cubic foot range seems to be selling for around $5000 new.

    So what I needed was a tub, a base and something to shake the hell out of it.

    I made the base out of 2"x3" mild steel tubing. Just a simple box, aprox 3'L x 2'W x 15" tall. It's got a couple cross members to provide a mounting location for the motor.

    For the tub, I got a plastic 55 gal barrel laid over on it's side. I cut it open so that the barrel is like a big blue trough.

    To support the tub, I made a cradle out of 2"x2" angle, 1.5" box and a bit of 1.5" flat mild steel. The cradle has 4 ribs that hug the barrel. The ribs are attached to a rectangular frame that has the same outter dimesions as the base. It all sort of looks like a nuclear beer keg.

    The cradle/tub assembly sits on top of the base, supported by 8 springs. I'm using 4 pieces of angle iron bolted to the outter corners of the base to act as guides to prevent the cradle/tub assembly from bouncing off of the springs.

    To shake the hell out of it, I am using a 1" steel axle supported by 4 pillow block bearing bolted to the bottom of the cradle. The axle has 2 aluminum weights at either end, and a drive pulley in the middle. It's all driven by a 220v (221, whatever it takes) motor sourced off of an old air compressor.
    I'm using plastic media, v-cylindrical shaped that I got from McMaster Carr. Right now, I'm just using water. I may throw in some mild soap just to see what it does.

    I need to sink some anchors and bolt this thing to the floor. With 150 lbs of sand bags on the base, sitting on a rubber mat and a carpet, it walks 3' in 30 minutes. I would imagine the finishing time should decrease if it was bolted down as well.

    It's pretty loud to operate at this point. I think the bolting to the floor will help this a bit. Improving the guide system should help too. I need to get a better material for the guide surfaces. I'm using some thin plywood glued to the inside of a piece of angle. The plywood rubs against the cradle's frame to keep it centered over the springs. I think I am going to try some Delrin strips in place of the plywood, and bolt them in place instead of glue. I think I can close up the gap between the cradle and the slider surface as well. Less friction and less distance for the cradle to travel before it hits a slider should cut down on some of the racket. I'm giving some serious consideration to building an enclosure to put around this thing to try to control the noise as well.

    There are a couple different variables to play with. I can change the frequency of the shake by changing out pulleys on the motor or the axle. I can change the size of the shake by adding or removing weight from the axle. I could also change the springs to provide more or less action. I could also probably affect the movement pattern inside the tub by playing around with different rate springs in different locations on the base.
    In addition, there are lots of different media and washes to try. I will most likely be sticking to the media from McMaster Carr for the time being. 50lbs of media is around $135 shipped. My tub could hold 400 lbs if I filled it all the way up. Kind of an expensive variable to be playing with.

    With 50 lbs of media and 2 gallons of water in the tub, the crappiest aluminum part I had in the scrap bin took about 45 minutes to get all the burrs knocked off and finished to a reasonably even finish. The media flows around inside the tub, carrying the part around with it. The water gets agitated enough that I don't think I need a circulation pump, not until I run a bigger load of media anyway.

    Pics will follow soon.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    May 2005
    Posts
    1810
    Gotta have pics.

    Have somewhere that I could look at your products?

    Scott
    Consistency is a good thing....unless you're consistently an idiot.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Oct 2003
    Posts
    927
    yeh! pictures! I'm interested in one of these for all sorts of uses...maybe a smaller tub though...

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Mar 2004
    Posts
    847
    Sounds very interesting, with a much lower cost to build than the "pro" machines!

    I second (third?) the request for pictures!
    (Note: The opinions expressed in this post are my own and are not necessarily those of CNCzone and its management)
    Check Out My Build-Log: http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6452

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Oct 2005
    Posts
    1
    Fellow I met a long time ago had a de-burring tumbler he made by turning an old farm tractor tire inside out, running it on two rollers one being powered up from a small electric motor. Took up very little shop space as it is verticle, cost next to nothing to make and last a life time. Be sure to use tractor tires with directional tread, not turf savers or backhoe.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Jan 2004
    Posts
    539
    Unabiker,
    Sounds like your pretty close. Run a bolt through the middle of the springs, to adjust tension, and for safety.
    Also bolt to the floor, it does make a lot of difference.
    Drill some small holes (1/16) in one end for a drain. Then use a swamp cooler pump and hose to spray a little water over the top. Too much water completely changes (dampens) the effect on the de-burring action. You can put the pump in the bucket under the drain and change water when necessary (once a day). If you are just de-burring then Simple green or Dawn to the mix will really help by flushing the sludge. But you want a top to bottom flushing action.
    I made a sound barrier out of 2 inch insulation board glued together, and raised straight up with rope when I need to load unload.
    Gary

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Mar 2004
    Posts
    847
    Quote Originally Posted by gustavus
    Fellow I met a long time ago had a de-burring tumbler he made by turning an old farm tractor tire inside out, running it on two rollers one being powered up from a small electric motor. Took up very little shop space as it is verticle, cost next to nothing to make and last a life time. Be sure to use tractor tires with directional tread, not turf savers or backhoe.
    Hey, that is a neat idea! Bet you could get away with a smaller tires (large truck tire? Mudder?) with agressive tread too.

    Wonder if that design would have much of a problem with multiple parts smacking into each other though?
    (Note: The opinions expressed in this post are my own and are not necessarily those of CNCzone and its management)
    Check Out My Build-Log: http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6452

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Oct 2004
    Posts
    5
    Unabiker

    The Commercial Vibration systems have the box sections filled with sand this acts as an antenuator for the sound

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Apr 2005
    Posts
    903
    How many RPM do you think your running?

    OR, motor rmp and pully sizes?

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Oct 2005
    Posts
    4
    Greetings All - SC7500, The Mad Coater here, first post / reply;

    I owned and operated a large ceramic coating facility in NorCal for over 10 years. In that time we built or bought and used several different types of vibratory polishers to finish polishable ceramic coated headers, milled aluminum parts, and other types of polishable metal.

    After building several sizes for specific contract-specific jobs, I settled on a small [7 cubic ft] machine from Mr. Deburr in Goleta, Ca - using MicroBrite ceramic bead and Radiance #41 polishing soap [from Richwood Industries in Huntington Beach, CA] we were able to polish parts in less than 15 minutes time. $7K is about right, paid for it on a lease-to-own thru an agent.

    The frequency and RPM is important to final finish; so is the media / soap precentage combination. By now you've discovered that the amount of water in the tank makes a big difference in sound AND performance... Kool Parts' suggestion to drill drains at one end is very good - recirculating / filtering the liquid media is key to consistently good quality product.

    I have to tell ya that a factory built machine will get you a decent result FASTER, if only because the frequency experimentation is already done for you... and bolting it to the floor is MANDATORY. Even after building a soundproof booth for the machines [I ended up with 2 - the 7 Cube baby, and a 40 cubic foot monster for finishing race header pairs] you'll most likely end up wearing some sort of hearing protection and pissing off at leat one neighbor !

    I hate to mention this, but it can't be avoided; whether you're doing this work at home, or in a shop in the city, there is a potential for pollution. The waste overflow has enough microscopic aluminum and zinc to set off the sewer sniffers in an average environmentally monitored drain... we ended up prefiltering the liquid waste with carbon centered wound water filters to trap 80% of the nasties... the fire marshall said okay. And, natch, hit us with a $500.00 / year permit fee for same.

    If you're on a well like I am here at home [I kept the baby machine when I retired, and still finish milled parts] it's a good idea to filter the waste water after pumping it into a settling tank. Once the larger solids settle down, they can be collected into a coffee can, baked into a solid "puck" and tossed into the trash. The liquid can be evapp'd to eliminate any chance of groundwater contam.

    I don't know anyone who'd want to poison their own well over 10 years' time !

    Hope this helps - I'm available if anyone else has questions.

    SC / TMC

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Apr 2005
    Posts
    903
    Once the larger solids settle down, they can be collected into a coffee can, baked into a solid "puck" and tossed into the trash.
    Great idea!

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Sep 2005
    Posts
    86
    Thanks for all the replys and help!
    You can see my products at www.unabiker.com

    I've got a drain in the bottom going to a 5 gallon bucket. I have a so-called pump from Harbor Freight, but it doesn't have enough poop to lift a 3/8" dia collum of water to the spray bar. Gotta get a bigger pump and it should work. My spray bar is a 1/4" copper tube, currently with the end plugged and 1 tiny hole drilled in it for the water to spray out of. I figure I'll drill some more holes after I see how the first works.

    I'm assuming my motor is turning at 1740 rpm or there abouts. It's a single phase motor from a 5hp air compressor. The drive pulley is 3", the driven pulley is 5". That should give me about 1000 rpm at the axle.

    The neighbors should be ok with the racket. They were going to put a metal stamping line in the unit next door to me. That being said, I like the idea of a big foam box to drop over it. I'm probably going to put in in my store room, just to add one more layer of sound deadening.

    I like the filtering and evaporating idea for the goo disposal. As dry as my shop is, it should not take long at all to evaporate a few gallons of water. Especialy when the heat is on.

    I hope to have some more time tomorrow to get it moved into the store room and bolted to the floor. I've got a ton of stuff I need to deburr.

    Here are some pics:

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Mar 2004
    Posts
    847
    Wow! That came out looking great! Once you get it all dialed in, looks like you will have yourself a nice little machine there!
    (Note: The opinions expressed in this post are my own and are not necessarily those of CNCzone and its management)
    Check Out My Build-Log: http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6452

  14. #14
    Join Date
    May 2004
    Posts
    25
    That is really cool!!. So, if I understand correctly, the aluminum weights are drilled eccentrically and cause the vibartion, yes? How much weight did you use and what are the off sets? Are you going to change the weights and experiment more?

    cheers.

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Mar 2005
    Posts
    1136
    Quote Originally Posted by gustavus
    Fellow I met a long time ago had a de-burring tumbler he made by turning an old farm tractor tire inside out, running it on two rollers one being powered up from a small electric motor. Took up very little shop space as it is verticle, cost next to nothing to make and last a life time. Be sure to use tractor tires with directional tread, not turf savers or backhoe.
    holy crap - turning a tractor tire inside out! does he rip phone books in half to!

    the idea got me seaching and i found this http://www.acc.umu.se/~widmark/bigtumbler.pdf
    but its more of a tumbler i'd guess than a vibration action.

    nice job Unibiker. even with the springs it still walks all over? hmm, still, wouldn't mind making a mini version for the home shop.

    SC thanks for the info, are all vibratory polishers used with a slurry or are some dry?

  16. #16
    Join Date
    Oct 2005
    Posts
    4

    Cool

    [QUOTE=SC thanks for the info, are all vibratory polishers used with a slurry or are some dry?[/QUOTE]

    Hey there. You are most certainly welcome - I'll help if I can !

    Interesting question Re: wet Vs Dry ~ Sorta depends on the materials being deburred / burnished, and the end result required.

    Everyone here has likely seen a cartridge case polisher used by home reloarders, yes ? That system uses materials like dry ceramic bead, ground corn cob and even crumbled cork to shine up spent carts... the guys who advertise microfinishing and "ultrapolish" services for trannie gears and such are using a dry ultrafine abrasive with a "burnisher carrier" like corncob or cork too...

    The nice thing about using a wet media with soap for polishing is the carry off effect - especially with aluminum. As the surface burnishes, it is continually washed by the soapy polishing media. End result ? A mirror finish on everything from 3003 to 6061 T6.

    Something I forgot to mention earlier; cleaning the polishing media. Now that everyone is gonna go and build one of these noismakers, better remember that it will need celaning eventually.

    The best system we found for ceramic bead cleaning was a combination of water, laundry detergent [dry OR liquid, any brand you can stand the smell of] and Cascade dish washing soap.

    I learned this method by trial and error, but it really keeps the bead surfaces ready for action... AND removes any oils or grease residue that might kill the soaping action and dull the surface !

    Hope this help, y'all

    Best
    SC

  17. #17
    Join Date
    Mar 2004
    Posts
    32
    To guide the barrel, have you considered using parallel linkage rather than something for it to hit against?

    I suspect that the barrel is losing contact with the springs when it is up as high as it can go... this will increase vibration and noise. Increasing the weight in the barrel would help, or use springs that are longer or less stiff.

    I agree that it would be good to run a bolt or wire through the springs. If nothing else, this will contain the pieces if the spring snaps. Ever been around a large spring that broke? You don't want to be!

    And one last item. I assume that the barrel is constrained so it can go up and down only - Have you considered shaking the barrel horizontally instead of vertically? I wonder if that would work better.

    You have a great looking piece of equipment there. Hope it helps cut your time down.

    Mark

  18. #18
    Join Date
    Apr 2005
    Posts
    62
    I'm very impressed by the way this came out.. I was wondering if there was any advantage to vibratory polishing/deburring than tumbling. Its my understanding that tumbling takes a little longer than vibratory polishing.. About how much did you invest into your project?

  19. #19
    Join Date
    Sep 2004
    Posts
    18
    A welder that had welded some large parts for me claimed that he had used a cement mixer with some alterations to deburr small parts of steel and aluminum. I think he said he used a differant media, but I'm not sure.

    Good Luck to all...

  20. #20
    Join Date
    Sep 2005
    Posts
    86
    I was able to spend a little time on the project yesterday.
    Welded some feet to the frame and installed some concrete anchors. That made a big diff. At least I can run it without chasing it around the shop.

    Bolting it down helped with the noise. It's still louder than my air compressor, though. Improving the guides should help with this. I'm pretty sure most of the racket is coming from the cradle whacking the guides from the side. I get about 1/4" of up and down movement when it's running. The springs have about 3/4" of preload. Losing contact with the springs at the top of the stroke doesn't appear to be an issue.

    Using not much water mixed with some Simple Green, I was getting a reasonable finish in about 30 minutes. Still not quite there yet, though. I need to slow the action down a bit. My parts tend to "float" to the top of the media instead of staying down inside it. I think getting some more media will help this as well. Gotta get some of the liquid burnishiung compound too. I don'l like the crud that the Simple Green/water mix leaves on the parts.

    There were a couple reasons I went the vibratory route instead of the tumbler route. The biggest reason being cycle time. I don't think it is unreasonable to eventualy get my cycle time down to 15-20 minutes. From what I've read, getting the same finish on the same parts would require several hours in a tumbler. I was also worried about my parts bonking into each other and causing unwanted marks with a tumbler.

    At this stage, I've got well under $500 in the project....not counting time. There is about $100 worth of steel. 50lbs of media was $135. The 4 pillow block bearings were about $50. Springs and misc. nuts and bolts were another $50. The barrel was free. The motor was scavanged from my bone pile. I spent 4.99 on a Harbor Freight pump that doesn't work. I figure I've got another $50 worth of stuff to get the sprayer system sorted out. Probably going to spend another $300-$400 on a big-ass load of media here soon too. I imagine there is another $50 worth of foam insulation and lumber to make a sound-resistant booth to go around it.

    Time wise, I have been working on this project for about 2 months as time allows. If I were to guess, I'd say I've got about 40-50 hours in it. I haven't really been keeping track, as this project has been a bit of play time for me.

    All in all, it is a very small price to pay to gain 20- 30 hours a week.

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