Mass Finishing – a finishing technology for mass-produced parts? True, but mass finishing can do a lot more! The highly flexible tub vibrators allow single part finishing of heavy, bulky/large and delicate work pieces made from different materials

When it comes to surface grinding, deburring, edge breaking/radiusing, cleaning and ball burnishing of large, delicate high value parts, cost pressures and demands for repeatability, validation and documentation of the finishing processes lead to increased utilization of mass finishing systems.

A typical tub vibrator application in the aerospace industry is the surface finishing of fan blades with a length of up to 1,200 mm and a width of 500 mm. To prevent any damage from nicking or other impingements during the finishing process the turbine blades are individually mounted onto special fixtures. This guarantees an optimum surface finish for the downstream manufacturing steps. Deburring and radiusing of structural fuselage components can also take place in tub vibrators. For example, crossbeams for air plane floors made from aluminum pass through a post treatment station after the mass finishing process where media and metal fines are rinsed off, and the parts are dried. This ensures that the parts are transferred to the subsequent manufacturing stage in absolutely clean and dry condition.

Another application for tub vibrators from a completely different field is the antiquing of wood and stone parts. Depending on the desired finish specially selected ceramic and plastic grinding media produce a certain "antique" look on, for example, wooden floor boards and stone plates or tiles. The work bowl can be divided into separate processing chambers. This separation allows, for example, the surface smoothing and radiusing of high value bearing races made from special steel alloys with one part per processing chamber.

High speed finishing systems

Machines with a special vibratory drive system complement our wide range of tub vibrators: Instead of running with the standard speed of 1500 RPM (in North-America 1800 RPM), these machines operate with 3000 RPM. This higher speed enhances the finishing effect, especially with special applications like ball burnishing.

The "baby" tub vibrator can be easily moved around the shop floor

With 180 x 530 mm usable width and length the RMO 180/530-30 is the smallest tub vibrator in the Rösler range. It is equipped with a 220 V electrical connection, has built-in process water connections and can be easily moved around on its built-in wheels. This allows the creation of flexible manufacturing centers where parts can undergo a mass finishing process directly after being machined without requiring any major material handling operations.

As an all-round supplier, Rösler GmbH is an international market leader in the production of surface finishing, shot blasting machines, painting systems and preservation lines  as well as process technology for the rational surface finishing (deburring, descaling, sand removal, polishing, grinding…) of metals and other components. Besides the German plants in Untermerzbach and Bad Staffelstein, the Rösler Group has branches in Great Britain, France, Italy, The Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, Switzerland, Spain, Romania, Russia, China, India, Brazil, South Africa and USA.

For Information:
Barbara Müller
Rösler Oberflächentechnik GmbH
96190 Untermerzbach, Germany
Tel. +49.9533.924-0
Fax +49.9533.924-300
E-mail: info@rosler.com
www.rosler.com