What is the Deburring Process?

At the Cleveland Deburring Machine Company (CDMC), we’re regularly speaking to members of the manufacturing industry about their processes, their product outcomes, and their needs. Many of them are refining their processes to reach greater quality standards, some are trying to improve their processes to re-attain a quality level they’ve enjoyed in the past. But, for almost all of these clients, we’re hearing about a need for deburring along the manufacturing line. Fortunately, here at CDMC, that’s exactly what we do.

The deburring process, for those who aren’t familiar, is a process that removes built-up burrs and other imperfections from a finished surface. A burr is a ridge or area of roughness produced during the cutting of metal parts or materials. In some cases, burrs are created in cutting plastic parts or materials as well. The problem that burrs create stems from their build up. When a machine part becomes “impacted” by a build-up of burrs, the end-product coming off that machine can suffer quality issues. As anyone in the manufacturing industry can imagine, rough edges on a piece of metal that is meant to be combined or joined with another piece of metal is going to negatively impact the seal or the edge or corner of the finished product. In short, rough edges don’t form a perfect joint when fitted together. Burrs can also create a plating build-up on edges, or, in some cases, edge fractures in certain kinds of materials. This, of course, can be a serious issue when the end product is meant to hold up well under stress, strain, or pressure. Fortunately, much can be done to eliminate the presence of burrs in manufacturing, saving product quality, reducing waste, and improving finished product numbers. Deburring is one of the solutions.

Some have asked about the deburring process, how it’s accomplished. We’ve engineered and built deburring solutions to meet the needs of numerous manufacturers in a wide variety of industries and markets. And, although each solution is often tailored to the needs of the client, the deburring process is much the same.

We have a number of deburring machines on hand to perform a wide variety of different processes on common types of gears, sprockets, and similar machine parts. In developing a solution, we know that certain variables – such as cycle times, part sizes, loading, and other specific limitations – must be considered. The processes developed by CDMC often allow for brushing and deburring on both sides of each part as it passes through the machine. In some cases, the parts are fed to the machine manually. In others, robotic loading is employed. Some machines make use of a magnetic conveyor belt (each part can be subsequently demagnetized as it exits the machine when needed). In the end, the process offers a consistent, reliable, and repeatable deburring to the part that is fed to the machine.