SURFACE FINISHING TECHNOLOGIES ADD VALUE TO “FINE BLANKED” COMPONENTS

Fine-blanking can achieve flatness and cut edge characteristics that are unobtainable by conventional stamping and punching methods and surface finishing adds additional value.

Fine blanking is capable of combining several steps normally required by traditional stamping making this procedure a very time-efficient process. In a single step, fine blanking can produce a part which would normally require multiple operations in terms of man hours and equipment set-ups. Fine blanking is known and is a recognized method for creating component parts with fully sheared crisp clean edges, close tolerances and profile, eliminating in many cases, secondary requirements.

The production of fine blanks can be formed from various metal types of steel, non-ferrous including zinc, aluminum, aluminum alloys, copper and brass for the automotive industry and other industrial sectors.

Many companies keep the important operation of surface finishing in-house and utilise various systems such as rotary vibrators, centrifugal disk machines and waste water treatment systems. The size and shape of the parts as well as the surface finish requirements, determine which type of mass finishing system is required.

To be cost-effective, mass finishing operations for many and various fine blanked parts require the utilization of different mass finishing technologies.

Shorter cycle times with centrifugal disk finishing

Centrifugal disk finishing systems are ideal for such applications. When it comes to intensive grinding and polishing, centrifugal disk machines are usually 10 – 30 times more productive. Their separation system guarantees batch integrity. However, these finishing systems are somewhat limited by the batch size. For example, a batch of relatively high quantity of parts weighing 400 kg require to be divided into several smaller batches.

Typically, for these larger production capacities, a fully automatic centrifugal disk finishing machine which processes the parts without any operator involvement all the way to depositing the finished parts into dedicated parts bins, is an ideal option. The effluent from this centrifugal disk machine can be cleaned with an effluent treatment process centrifuge after which the cleaned water and compound can be recirculated many times, to achieve considerable cost savings.

Alternatively, consideration could be given to a fully automated rotary system and possibly with several small centrifugal disk finishing machines. The effluent from all these finishing machines can be handled by a waste water centrifuge before being recycled. This allows running several surface finishing processes with optimum results and excellent cost control.