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Mass finishing refers to any deburring, edge-breaking or surface-conditioning process in which the workpieces, although confined in a chamber, are not fixtured. As the term is applied in manufacturing today, [...]

Mass finishing refers to any deburring, edge-breaking or surface-conditioning process in which the workpieces, although confined in a chamber, are not fixtured. As the term is applied in manufacturing today, [...]

I was blown away when reading the 'They Stand Alone' sidebar in the May issue. There was no mention of perhaps the greatest advancement in RV toilets: The Laveo Dry [...]

Q. We manufacture ferrous powdered metal (P/M) parts. They are machined and honed in soluble-oil coolants, vibratory finished, and then washed. The vibratory and washing solution is the same and [...]

Q. We make steel stampings from 10 gage CRS. They weigh an average of 120 grams (1/4 lb) each. The parts are deburred in a through-feed vibratory finisher at a [...]

If you use a refractometer to measure the concentration of your finishing compounds and other fluids, do you know what you're really measuring? Hint: The refractometer reading is NOT the [...]

Q. We make aluminum die cast pieces that are 4 inches wide, 14 inches long, and 1/2 inch thick. We burnish and deburr these pieces by tumbling them in stainless [...]

Q. Our tumbling media are 7/8 x 7/8 inch at 45-degree cut triangles in a medium cutting composition. Our parts are steel cylinders' made by cutting lengths of three- and [...]

Q. I have heard the term, 'gear media 'and I wonder what this is. We debur fine tooth drive gears for electric hand tools, and have always hoped for a [...]

Polishing Q. I have a tub style vibratory finishing machine. I always have customers asking for someone to polish wheels, motorcycle frames, etc. Would this machine work for that application? [...]

Mention superheroes and most people conjure up memories of their favorite comic book champions struggling to save the world. In life, the challenges are often less sensational, but no less [...]

Running Dry Running dry is not something you want to do if you are an airplane pilot. But, if you are a mass-finishing operator, you may want to consider it. [...]

Process and equipment selection has a tremendous impact on profitability, and even on the continuation of a segment of a business, if not the entire business. Examples to illustrate this [...]

TW3 was a popular television comedy back in the Kennedy days. TW3 stood for 'That Was The Week That Was,' and, unknown to them at the time, its name inspired [...]

Aluminum Oxide Impregnation Usually when someone says that he doesn't want any aluminum oxide used on his parts, he is concerned about aluminum oxide impregnation in the metal surface or [...]

Fixture processing may be the lost art in mass finishing. I haven't seen it in years, but it may still lurk in some corners of our industry. There was a [...]

The trick to benefiting from good vendors and to avoid being stung by the others is to have a gate that products and ideas must pass through before reaching the [...]

Q. Some staff in our shop say high amplitude is more beneficial to metal removal than high frequency; others point out that we can increase the deburring in our machines [...]

Q. I have been involved with vibratory finishing for about 12 years, mostly deburring large steel stampings (about 1-x 8-inch to 3-x 12-inch pieces) and machined parts of cast iron. [...]

Q. We use vibratory finishing to deburr powdered metal parts. Most of the time we are using 5/8-inch Tricyl ceramic media. (Tricyl is the name of a media shape that [...]

Q. We operate six round vibratory finishers that range in size from 3 to '25 ft3. Compound is fed to each machine from a central mixing system, each machine having [...]

* NITRITES AND FRACRANCES Q. We are using a vibratory finishing compound that has been satisfactory for more than 20 years. Recently, a potential new vendor pointed out that it [...]

* INTERNAL BURRS QUADRUPLE FINIGH TIME Q. I have a debarring problem on the inside of a steel ring. The ring is cut from three-inch steel tubing of Vs-inch wall [...]

Q. We have been generally satisfied with our vibratory finishing operation that has been unchanged for more than 10 years. It is trouble free and quite ordinary, yet your column [...]

Cumulative prospect theory (CPT) is a popular approach for modeling human preferences. It is based on probabilistic distortions and generalizes the expected utility theory. We bring the CPT to a stochastic optimization framework and propose algorithms for both estimation and optimization of CPT-value objectives. We propose an empirical distribution function-based scheme to estimate the CPT value, and then, use this scheme in the inner loop of a CPT-value optimization procedure. We propose both gradient based as well as gradient-free CPT-value optimization algorithms that are based on two well-known simulation optimization ideas: simultaneous perturbation stochastic approximation and model-based parameter search, respectively. We provide theoretical convergence guarantees for all the proposed algorithms and also illustrate the potential of CPT-based criteria in a traffic signal control application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

* MONITORING COMPOUND CONCENTRATION Q. How can we continuously monitor our mass finishing fluid? We debur and finish stamped parts made from 22-gauge spring steel. Our finishing room has 10 [...]

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] BOLTS OF LIGHTNING ELECTRIFY THE SKY OVER THE STRIP IN SIN CITY. THE REGION WAS HIT BY THUNDERSTORMS, HEAVY RAINS, AND FLASH FLOODS IN MID-OCTOBER. Send us your [...]

REDUCING SURFACE FINISHING COSTS Q. I am a manufacturing engineer for an automotive parts manufacturer. We purchase cast and stamped products, machining where necessary, and assembling the final products for [...]

Dear John, I just got done reading your hilarious JAG File blog on 'What Did That Dealer Just Say'? I used to sell guns/gun stuff and militaria at various gun [...]

* CYLINDERS TAKE A TUMBLE Q. I've been involved with vibratory finishing for many years, in three different companies, each of which had deburring applications using vibratory finishers. Two of [...]

Q. How fast will ceramic media wear in a vibratory finishing machine? I've determined that our media (a cone-shaped ceramic media made in China) is 20% consumed in 6 hr [...]

Q. We're shopping for a centrifuge for processing our vibratory finishing solution with the intention of reusing it. Options range from manually removing accumulated sludge to semi- and fully automated [...]

Q. Our problem is deburring around the ID of a flat, washer-like part 1.5 inches in diameter with a 5/8-inch ID, about 1/4-inch thick. The burr protrudes slightly into the [...]

Q. We are a secondary machining center providing mostly boring, honing, and cross-drilling on iron and aluminum castings. Most of the castings are housings and bodies for small engines, valves [...]

Q. We have a 2-[ft.sup.2] tumble style wheel blaster with a rubber belt conveyor. We are blasting small (1-inch diameter x 3/4-inch) zinc die castings to remove light flash and [...]

Q. Our shop was cleaning and painting several pieces of machinery in preparation for our annual open house. We took many small machines to the back yard, where we sand [...]

Q. Is there a non-destructive way to measure liner thickness in our centrifugal disc finisher? I believe the liner is made from polyurethane. A. If there is a removable door [...]

Q. We vibratory finish powdered metal parts that weigh 226 g, are 1.75 inch diameter x 1.25 inch. These parts take pretty rough action in the vibrator without damage. We [...]

Q. We have an 8 cu ft tub-style vibratory finisher. We use #00 aluminum oxide media to debur and radius large (about 10 x 14 inches) pieces that are laser [...]

Q. We have an Osrotron 10-cu-ft bowl Our operators like the low rim height and ease of loading and unloading by hand. The liner wore out--after about 20 years--and we [...]

Q. We use vibratory finishing to debur stampings. We are a job shop, so part sizes and configurations vary with every customer. You recommended part on part deburring for one [...]

Q. I have 4,000 parts/day of a flat stamping, much like a large flat washer. The part is 3 x 0.150 inches. I use round vibratory finishing equipment with ceramic [...]

Q. We have a long, continuous vibratory machine, about 30 inches in diameter by 16-ft long. We add media every day to keep the level up. The time cycle is [...]

Q. Recently we learned that our plant effluent is well above the city standards for oil and mercury. The maximum permitted oil is 250 parts per million, and the maximum [...]

Q. We have a seven cu ft tub style vibratory finisher used for steel ball burnishing. Last year we relined it, and the salesperson told us that we had to [...]

Q. What are some applications for mass finishing that I can relate to? A. This question came from my hostess at a neighborhood dinner. She did not relate to the [...]

This month I have a question for YOU. My last column responded to a reader who wanted to specify the size of a through-feed vibratory finisher for a production requirement [...]

Q. We need a vibratory finishing machine for deburring parts that are drilled and face ground. The parts are 6x4x1/2 inches. They are ground on both sides and have 1/4-inch [...]

Q. Last year we installed an expensive electric conveyor dryer to eliminate problems with parts rusting after mass finishing and/ or washing operations. (We use, and prefer, water-based inhibitors.) The [...]