Product category:
Deburring, de-flashing and fettling
News Release from: Deburring Centre | Subject: Thermal deburring
Edited by the Manufacturingtalk Editorial
Team on 29 March 2007
Thermal deburring is consistent,
reliable
The thermal deburring process is non selective - 100% of potential loose burrs are removed and computerised controlled conditions mean that every process is consistent.
Although not spoken of openly, deburring is fast becoming a quality issue Companies, using state of the art precision machinery, now produce complex components that many design engineers couldn't even dream of a few years ago
This article was originally published on Manufacturingtalk on 1 Mar 2007 at 8.00am (UK)
Related stories
Machine tool users concern with deburring grows
In spite of the widespread use of CNC machine tools, some users are not machining out loose burrs, at best they are being made smaller, but customers expect zero burrs.
Thermal deburring solves precision part problem
Considered to be almost impossible to deburr manually, a precision automotive component with two small holes drilled into a recess is being thermally deburred successfully.
One managing director commented that complex parts now take seconds to produce but minutes to deburr.
'Bottle necks' in production are now residing in the deburring sections and costs are biased towards finishing rather than production.
Expectations from clients of increased machine precision, quality and repeatability can be devastated by the damage and irregularities done by hand deburring.
Further reading
Thermal deburring is cost-effective
Thermal deburring has been shown to be one of the most cost effective ways of internal burr removal, as it guarantees the 100% removal of all potentially loose burrs.
Thermal deburring specialist in universities
The Deburring Centre, the thermal deburring specialists, has formed links with universities and engineering students to raise the profile of the industry and explore better ways of deburring.
One company coped with the speed of hand deburring but found it ineffectual, especially internal burrs which were often just bent over rather than removed.
Another company coped on speed and quality but struggled to overcome a recurring nightmare with whole batches being rejected due to their client finding 'one' missed burr in 60,000 holes.
Where once this product might have been based on testing every finished assembled item and rejecting 1 in every 1,000, the electronics company had shifted the liability to the component manufacturer and stipulated 'burr free' and had highlighted this particular quality issue in the contract.
It then turned into a one in four chance of 'one' burr being found, and an entire batch returned and reworked.
Because the thermal deburring process is non selective - 100% of potential loose burrs are removed.
Guaranteed.
None left.
The quality is consistent - computerised controlled conditions mean that every component, run and batch are consistent.
No surfaces are touched, scratched, scraped or damaged.
And the process is fast - with multiple components capable of being fired together, meaning that piece part costs are considerably lowered.
More and more specifiers have upped their quality expectations of deburring.
No longer does a drawing just state 'deburr all edges', but they specify a size that is acceptable.
Other specifiers, like those in the hydraulic, medical, auto industries, etc, have bench marked their expectations especially on safety critical applications and specify 'this part must be thermally deburred'.
Did you know that a deburring section charged out at GBP 18.00/h equates to 1p every two seconds? And if you think deburring 'in cycle' is 'free' just think what benefits you might gain and costs you might save by thermally deburring your parts.
We offer free sampling of your components.
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