Deburring or DeFlashing Engineered Plastic Parts

[rickthompson]

I am trying to determine if there is a need for deburring solutions for engineered plastic products. My client provides abrasive filled nylon brushes which are used mainly in Powdered metal, fine blanking and aluminum extrusion industry, but they have a couple of applications in the plastics thermal forming industry where the brushes are the final step on the CNC operation. Thanks for any help or direction you can give.

[slym143]

do these brushes leave marks on acrylic??

[rickthompson]

Yes, the brushes do leave marks on acrylics. The best they have been able to do is to make it a matt type finish.

[jeyarajshankar]

I have the same problem. A friend suggested I try the nylon brushes normally used for aluminium deburring, but it was too abrasive for ABS & PC parts, leaving the part badly scratched & deformed at the thin wall areas.

Hope someone can suggest something soon.

~Jey~

[JonGreve]

Typical newbie mistake...
Reviving an old thread, but here I go.

At a thermoforming plant involving mostly ABS we made our own deburring tools.

Take a metal band (old bandsaw blades seemed to work best, about 12-18" in length), sharpen it in the center section like a knife on both sides (about 1-2" in length), double it over without creasing it (you want the loop to be where it was sharpened), and duct tape yourself a handle (4-5").

The tool will cut off flashing/burrs quite easily by dragging the loop against plastic edges; without much damage at all. There is a bit of a "feel" to it to keep from damaging the part, and the sharpness of the "blade" dose matter some.

Works great on ABS, PC, and rigid PVC, though we had to be extra careful on "softer" materials like HDPE. Not so sure it would be a blessing on thinner materials either.

--Jon