Mass finishing is a surface treatment process that makes it possible to treat a variety of parts using machines that generate a rotary and vibratory motion.
There are several types of mass finishing machine, each designed to meet a specific need.
Below are some examples of applications made possible by mass finishing:
- Deburring: a mechanical friction action that removes burrs from parts.
- Polishing: a mechanical friction action that produces parts with a smooth, polished surface.
- Smoothing: a mechanical friction action that produces a uniform visual appearance.
- Edge radiusing: a mechanical friction action that rounds off the sharp edges of a part.
- Superfinishing: a mechanical polishing action that produces a mirror-polished surface with a near-zero Ra.
- Parts cleaning: descaling, pickling, degreasing, scale removal…
What are the advantages of mass finishing?
Mass finishing is a process that offers a multitude of advantages and ensures, among other things, an optimal and infinitely reproducible result on all processed parts, including 3D-printed parts.
Mass finishing processes also make it possible to prepare part surfaces to facilitate manual polishing.
Mass finishing offers many advantages:
- Quality processing: the surface treatment guarantees a uniform, quality result.
- Savings: mass finishing is one of the solutions with the most advantageous unit processing cost per part, while also reducing labor costs.
- Speed
Which machine do I need?
There are many machines to choose from, and the choice depends mainly on each customer’s application and budget.
Finishtech offers a wide range of mass finishing equipment , from circular vibrators to linear vibrators, rotary bottom centrifugal machines, dual machines, rim polishing machines and other equipment…
How does the mass finishing process work?
To process parts by mass finishing, several elements are needed:
- Equipment suited to the desired application.
- Consumables : there are several kinds, namely ceramic, plastic and porcelain abrasive media , plant-based media… The choice of one or the other depends on the type of process required and the nature of the parts.
- Chemical additives.
- The parts to be processed.
Before starting the machine, the operator places the abrasive media in the machine’s processing tub, then loads the parts to be processed into the mass finishing machine, and adds the appropriate chemical additive and the amount of water needed for the processing cycle to run properly.
