Automated Abrasive Finishing for High-Volume Production

Q. We have a high-volume small stainless ½" × 1" part with a heavy external burr. We need to deburr the part in three seconds to obtain our production rates. We’ve tried high-energy mass finishing and it does not remove the burr. How can we deburr and automate this part?

A. Abrasive finishing with a two-step process, using a combination of abrasive belts, fiber deburring wheels, or a nylon abrasive impregnated wheel will deburr 90 percent of most projects.
The abrasive deburring with a three-second process can be automated in two ways:

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1.  An auto-indexing turntable with two deburring stations
2. A robotic finishing cell with one feeder bowl feeding two small robots (each robot will take six seconds total to pick up the part, run two deburring processes and release the part; three seconds part output for the cell).

Abrasive finishing with two processes is a good way to deburr high-production parts. Automation can be accomplished by an auto-indexing turntable or a flexible robotic cell.

Originally published in the January 2017 issue.