What is deburring process?

Deburring is a finishing method used in industrial settings and manufacturing environments in order to form into a serviceable, efficient enclosure. Machining operations such as drilling, milling, turning and grinding may leave behind burrs removing these unwanted imperfections is called a process of deburring. There are three types of burrs Poisson, rollover, and breakout. 

Deburring significantly increases the quality and functionality of metal and wood parts, making it a time and cost-effective process that is essential.

Purpose of the deburring process

Burrs can impact functionality, longevity, safety and effectiveness. Burrs can cause all of the following issues. 

• Unsafe handling
• Unwelcome friction and heat
• Fastener and material problems
• Due to increased stress in certain areas
• Shortened fatigue life
• Material failure due to cracks
• Improper seating of fasteners
• Risk of static discharge
• Issues with lubrication due to increased wear at interfaces

Deburring process techniques

• Manual deburring 

This is typically completed by experienced craftsman, is the most common method because of its flexibility, customizability, and low cost. However, this is a time-consuming process. 

• Electrochemical deburring : 

For the mass production of extremely difficult metals, precision work, and hard-to-reach sports, many manufacturers use this deburring technique. A combination of electricity and salt or glycol solution dissolves the burrs without impacting the surrounding material. 

• Thermal deburring :

This technique can also remove hard-to-reach burrs, and it can target burrs on multiple surfaces simultaneously. This fast-paced process requires an explosive gas mixture, which provides thermal energy that burns off burrs.  

• Mechanical deburring : 

This technique removes burrs mechanically by either grinding off the burr or rolling the edge into itself. It provides high-quality finishes in a fraction of the time and it takes to deburr by hand. 

Applications of the deburring process 

• Deburring of all kinds of gears such as spur, helical, bevel gears, shaft gears, wheel gears etc. 
• Deburring of housing bearing.
• There are various automobile application such as crankpin cross-hole deburring, steering gear piston deburring, engine thrust washer deburring.
• Deburring and finishing of batch production sheet metal parts. 
• Deburring of sprockets.