Casting steel parts can leave a very rough surface finish and further machining or welding can produce burrs and surface imperfections that need to be addressed.
This relatively large part – about 8” tall – required a long deburring and surface finishing step to get as smooth a finish as possible. The part was tumbled with Ceramic Media for about 12 hours in a vibratory tub. You can still see some ‘bubbles’ on the surface created during the casting process that cannot be removed with tumbling.
After deburring the part, a dry tumbling step was used to take the matte, tumbled finish to the high gloss polish seen in the picture. That was also a long cycle time, but the results are excellent. This step used one of the Treated Tumbling Media.
Any time you are working with steel, it is important to be aware of potential oxidation issues. The first step was wet, so a solution of the Kramco 1510 Rust Inhibitor Liquid Compound was added to the load.