Question:
ve been machining aluminum parts and then putting them in
vibratory finishers with plastic media. Occasionally the parts ding
each other up and adds to my scrap pile. I want have been thinking
about getting a blast cabinet and bead blast
each(glass,plastic,corncob,walnut?) part individually so I know for
sure there are no ding marks. I would like to remove burrs and tool
marks then buff by hand on a buffer to a very high polish. Anybody
recomend the type of blasting media to use as a first step to achieve
a high polish in the end? Any other ideas or suggestions?
Answer:
-If your going to bead blast them individually why not throw them in the
tumber 1 at a time?
-Even with a big compressor, bead blasting is slow work. You can run walnut
shells and plastic media in a bead blaster which are the least abrasive.
You don't give the parts size, aluminum type, or volumes you're producing
so it's tough to give a specific recommendation. If you're producing parts
in volume, then they do make automatic bead blasting machines, but they are
very expensive.
For stuff I'm going to polish to a high shine, I prefer the vibratory
tumbler method with changing media sizes/types over bead blasting, but I'm
really lazy and would rather the machine do the work. Hard to beat a bead
blaster for a nice satin finish though.
Tip Tools http://www.tptools.com has a large variety of bead blasting
materials.
