I recently started a new job and have a few questions. I am newish to the manufacturing field so forgive my ignorance.
This is a small shop, just two of us, each running a CNC lathe. We primarily make small aluminum parts and finish/prep in house, typically for anodizing. All parts are manually deburred/finished/polished. This is done by chucking each part in a small lathe and rubbing with Cratex and/or various grits of scotchbrite. A lot of the edges of the parts are deburred by using X-Acto blades.
Recently I have been asked to pick out tiny metal pieces left in knurls with an X-Acto knife (for anodizing prep) while looking through a microscope. This takes a tremendous amount of time and seems extremely inefficient. I have asked my boss the reason for this and he said that it's always been done this way.
The time it takes to manually polish/rub each part is huge and picking the knurls is even more extreme, not to mention carpal tunnel inducing. Am I crazy or is this common practice? Is there a simple solution to this? Are these guys just stuck in a "if it works, don't fix it" mindset?
From a bit of research it seems like a vibratory bowl/tumbler and/or a small sandblasting unit would be a good route to go. Faster, more efficient, result in more consistent parts and safer to perform.
Examples of parts:
I appreciate any insight, thanks!
This is a small shop, just two of us, each running a CNC lathe. We primarily make small aluminum parts and finish/prep in house, typically for anodizing. All parts are manually deburred/finished/polished. This is done by chucking each part in a small lathe and rubbing with Cratex and/or various grits of scotchbrite. A lot of the edges of the parts are deburred by using X-Acto blades.
Recently I have been asked to pick out tiny metal pieces left in knurls with an X-Acto knife (for anodizing prep) while looking through a microscope. This takes a tremendous amount of time and seems extremely inefficient. I have asked my boss the reason for this and he said that it's always been done this way.
The time it takes to manually polish/rub each part is huge and picking the knurls is even more extreme, not to mention carpal tunnel inducing. Am I crazy or is this common practice? Is there a simple solution to this? Are these guys just stuck in a "if it works, don't fix it" mindset?
From a bit of research it seems like a vibratory bowl/tumbler and/or a small sandblasting unit would be a good route to go. Faster, more efficient, result in more consistent parts and safer to perform.
Examples of parts:
I appreciate any insight, thanks!