Subject: BARREL TUMBLING - General

From: [email-masked] (Raymond Frye)
Date: Mon, 16 Sep 1996 10:01:00 -0800

References: <[email-masked]> 

>  *@FROM   :[email-masked]
>  I've been interested in the possibilities of tumbling to 'smooth'
>  aluminum and plastic parts. In, admittedly a haphasard  fashion, I've
>  looked into tumblers, but only found sources of, and infor- mation
>  about, lapidary and decorative crafts uses.
<snip>
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You need to look up deburring. Tumble deburring is used but more often
a vibratory tumblers (it shakes turning the contents over gently) is
used.

A large tumbler can shake sand from casting. We use a small rock tumbler
to clean bolts (however overnight treatment leaves threads that look 
like a sine wave). Two vibratory types are used in the shop for metal
parts. One has ceramic triangles and soapy water for stainless steel
parts and the other has walnut shell for aluminum pieces.

Most machine shop equipment vendors can link you to a local
representative. If there is a machine shop in your area go there. There
are always deburring equipment vendors since this is such an important
step in providing a finished part.

Ray

 * RM 1.3 02229 * Some can read the tops of the chocolates