De-burring inside tubes with nylon brushes

What is the volume and speed you need? (How many and how fast?)

Dave, Orbitool has the best tool in the world for this exact situation. They were designed for you problem and they are cheap and very effective.

Wow, it's a shame this list is really getting spammed these days. Thanks John, that's an interesting tool. I'm not sure if it would work at the lengths we're using... usually 4' or longer sections. Tom, we do about 100 pieces per run, most of which are 4-4 1/2" feet long, with an average quantity of 80 #27 and F size holes in each piece. Right now we use a combination of Cogsdill fork bit and a hand tool, which is murder. Anything faster than that would be an improvement. That's why I was thinking that maybe there was a nylon abrasive brush that could just be spun down the inside of the tube. It doesn't have to be perfect on the inside, just basic de-burr.

Thanks,

Dave

Do it from the outside on the machine. Orbitools can be used by hand of in the spindle.

How's about using an abrasive flap wheel on a shaft extension? Not sure if they are made small enough for you, but looks like one would do the job. It would be run down the inside length of the tube. I have often honed a tube or bore by slitting a 1/4" rod at one end for an 1-1/2" length on the bandsaw, and using emery cloth wrapped with abrasive side out for a long reach hone. Only start it up when it's engaged in the hole. Otherwise it makes a pretty buzzing sound, and the rod could whip. A drill or die grinder will drive it.

RJ

It just seems to me that it would be preferable to extent a tool through the material thickness rather than into the part through it's length. Maybe I didn't understand what needed to be accomplished.

--You might want to consider abrasive slurry deburring, wherein a viscous abrasive goo is pumped thru the length of the part. Can't name any company that offers the service but they're out there. Saw it at WESTEC a couple of times; very nice results..

Used in moldmaking.

Best regards, Spehro Pefhany

That's Extrude-Hone's original product. They're the ones that are doing the metal-powder rapid prototyping we discussed in another thread. They're called ExOne now, but I don't know if they're still the makers of the extrusion deburring goo.

-- Ed Huntress

It there any reason not to use wire? In any case, the way to do the inside is with a "Pig" of square cut brushes ganged on a shaft and pushed through or back and forth. Or a twisted-in-wire square cut tube brush. Neither will be cheap but they will reduce the job to almost nothing. To spin a brush down the length, you will need a series of support bearings fed in with the brush to keep the shaft centered. Send me a print and call me toll-free 888-411-3265 and we'll get you some solutions.

Thanks for the info guys. I ordered a few nylon abrasive spiral tube brushes that were the size of the OD for the tube sizes. That seems to make them just about the right size for inside the tube. Attached to a drill they work pretty well. I just need to find some sort of extension to make them long enough. But it looks to be a lot faster than having to do each hole individually. I wanted to use nylon because this is aluminum tube that's going outdoors, and I didn't want any steel shards coming off.