| Barrel tumbler deburring machines have been around a | | | | tumbler, the horizontal polygonal tumbler and the |
| long time. The basic principle hasn't changed in | | | | horizontal octagonal tumbler, to name a few. |
| hundreds of years. You put media of some sort in the | | | | Each of these types of barrel tumbler is appropriate |
| barrel, add the workpieces and rotate the barrel so the | | | | for deburring different kinds of workpieces. It's a |
| media have a chance to remove the imperfections | | | | testament to the proliferation of applications, as well as |
| from the surface of the workpiece. It worked for | | | | the effectiveness of its technology, that this ancient |
| metal spearheads. It still works for today's complex | | | | method has been able to be adapted to so may kinds |
| machine parts. | | | | of parts. |
| There have been changes, of course. Tumblers have | | | | Barrel tumbler deburring machinery does its work well, |
| been semi-automated or even fully automated. To | | | | not only because it's able to bring media into contact |
| protect parts from impingement and damage, fixtures | | | | with workpieces in a consistent way that leads to |
| are sometimes used to hold the parts in place. But it's | | | | even deburring but also because it can do more than |
| still a matter of media on workpiece doing the | | | | deburr. Deburring machines also can shape part edges |
| important job of making sure parts work as they | | | | - a process called "radiusing" - performing another |
| should when they're part of the finished product. | | | | function that is important for a wide range of deburring |
| Many variations on the barrel tumbler theme have | | | | applications. |
| been developed over the years to accommodate a | | | | It is the barrel tumbler's efficiency and effectiveness |
| wide range of deburring applications. For example, | | | | even in these times of increasingly tight tolerances and |
| sometimes the tumbler is perforated and submerged in | | | | rigid specifications that have kept it solidly in the ranks |
| a tank full of an appropriate compound. The media and | | | | of deburring equipment. It can do the work, ensuring |
| the parts are loaded into the tumbler and it's turned in | | | | that parts fit and operate as they should in the most |
| the compound. The slivers of metal and other | | | | demanding environments and products, from factory |
| contaminants flow out of the barrel tumbler through | | | | machinery to spaceships. |
| the perforations and settle out to the bottom of the | | | | The future looks bright for tumblers, and their variety |
| tank. | | | | will most likely continue to expand as time goes on. |
| Other variations have some interesting and quite | | | | This doesn't mean that they're the right deburring |
| descriptive names. There's the bottlenecked tilting | | | | solution in every case, of course. |