Plastics worm gear teeth grit blasted cleanly

Grit blasting solved the problem of efficiently deburring super-tough polymer plastics gears without damage to the critical gear tooth or alteration of the surface finish.

The world's largest automotive component manufacturer trusted Guyson to solve the problem of efficiently deburring plastic gears without damage to the critical gear tooth or alteration of the surface finish.

During machining of the teeth of a worm gear that is part of a next-generation steering component, the super-tough polymer material does not cleanly separate and fall away, but rather remains attached as a curly fringe on one side of the outer edge of the gear.

In lab testing, Guyson Flashgrain media proved effective in removing the burrs when blast guns were positioned at multiple angles to concentrate blast on the site of the burrs.

The blast process does not alter the surface finish of the plastic gear teeth - and has no effect on surface texture or average roughness.

Flashgrain also has the advantage of being extremely durable and long-lived in production use.

Guyson recommended a Model RXS-900 indexing spindle-blast machine which can utilise a variety of abrasive and non-abrasive media to perform impact treatment operations such as shot peening, deburring, cosmetic finishing, etching and surface preparation, in which all round coverage is required on components that must be handled and blasted individually.

The customer had a strong quality control requirement that Guyson prevent the possibility of any media particles or burrs being retained in the hollow shaft of the part, so the component-holding fixtures were specially designed to tightly seal off both ends of the shaft during blasting and airwash blow-off.

The components index through separate entry, blast and airwash chambers within the blast cabinet before returning to the front load/unload position.

Vertical sliding doors actuated by pneumatic cylinders are available to seal the blast enclosure and isolate dust and noise from the work environment.

A full depth door with abrasion-protected view windows on each side of the cabinet enables full access for inspection, adjustment and maintenance.

Within the blast enclosure multiple blast guns are positioned to cover all critical aspects of the rotating component.

Nozzle movement, if required, can be oscillating, linear or multi-axis.

The system is available with direct pressure or suction-blast media delivery and includes a cyclone media reclaimer and cartridge dust collector with capacity matched to the number of blast nozzles.

Guyson's advanced media reclamation expertise was essential to the success of this application, since volumes of burr material must be continuously separated from the recirculating bead.

The design of the load/unload workstation of the RXS-900 makes the machine especially operator-friendly with a wraparound downdraft work table preventing the escape of media and dust, returning it to the reclamation system.

A light curtain controls the pace of automatic operation by signaling when components have been loaded and prevents indexing or door closing when the operator is not clear.

Guyson offers larger and smaller spindle-blast machines, as well as other types of automated blast systems.

Prospective users are encouraged to submit sample components for free laboratory testing and a feasibility study.

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