Thermal deburring, tumble barrel deburring, vibratory deburring, what is deburring and what are the differences between the three? This is a common question and one we can definitely break down for you. Simply put, deburring is a process used to smooth the rough edges of a material, usually metal. The rough imperfections on the piece of metal are called burrs. But, there are various methods of deburring metal products that can be used depending on the product and type of metal it is made from. Therefore, we will be discussing the differences between the three main deburring methods we use at Mechanical Metal Finishing.

 

Thermal deburring

  • Thermal deburring uses bursts of heat for very short amounts of time to burn away the burrs (or imperfections) on the metal pieces

Tumble barrel deburring

  • Tumble barrel deburring is a deburring process used in conjunction with a tumbling machine shaped like a barrel used to finish metal pieces smoothly; the barrel rotates the metal until it is smooth

Vibratory deburring

  • Vibratory deburring is a mass finishing manufacturing process used to clean and deburr small metal parts in batches

As you can now see, there are many ways to deburr metal parts, but the main three are thermal deburring, tumble barrel deburring, and vibratory deburring. These are the three methods that we use here at Mechanical Metal Finishing and the main differences between the three methods are the means by which the metal is being smoothed out. Thermal deburring uses heat, tumble barrel deburring uses a rotating barrel, and vibratory deburring uses a vibrating machine.

If you have any further questions regarding this information, our deburring processes, the other services we offer, our prices, or any other general questions, please feel free to reach out to us. We look forward to speaking with you!