How is the best way to de-bur small steel parts?

I have a couple hundred pieces of small steel parts laser cut out of 12ga and 16ga CR steel. The biggest part is about 6" X 1/2". How is the easiest and best way to get rid of the sharp edges from the laser cut? Would tumbling or a vibratory unit work and if so what media should I use?

Shaybuilder said:

I have a couple hundred pieces of small steel parts laser cut out of 12ga and 16ga CR steel. The biggest part is about 6" X 1/2". How is the easiest and best way to get rid of the sharp edges from the laser cut? Would tumbling or a vibratory unit work and if so what media should I use?

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A vibratory tumbler is the normal way.. c&m top line is a good place to get media and compound. I use df type.

Sometimes we tumble just parts without media. And add a little rust inhibitor compound mixed with distilled water. Works well on parts that won't "barrel of monkeys" into a mess.

Don't use a cement mixer and gravel.. someone will suggest it and it's a waste of time money and parts.

a couple minutes in a tumbler is the key. 50/50 parts to media.

csspecs said:

Don't use a cement mixer and gravel.. someone will suggest it and it's a waste of time money and parts.

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For ALL parts ?
Materials ? Burrs ? Shapes ?

W-O-W.....

Semi related.....not specific to your application.
I suspect others have done this BUT.....back in the day when i was pretty new to this stuff I was working in a job shop and had to mill some easy parts from plastic....(maybe ABS or similar I dont remember specifically) Roughly 3/4" square with a hole or 2 and a milled feature. The print called out "NO SHARP EDGES .005" max break. I had no idea how i would do that. Old timer at the shop told me to make my parts and he would show me how to deburr them when i was done.
He brought in a small rock tumbler and dry ice. He put the ice and parts in the tumbler and let it sit for 30 minutes or so then turned it on for 10 minutes???? tough to remember exactly. Voila....perfect.

Most companies that sell the media also repair tumblers/bowls and contract out deburring services. You can usually send them samples and they will run it and tell you which media to use and for how long, etc.

If you're going to constantly do them, but a tumbler. I have a C&M Topline Mr. Deburr 300 and it works great. For steel, you will need ceramic media. They are very helpful if you call them and will let you know which media will work best for you.

If you just need to do these parts once that you have, like someone else mentioned, there are places that contract out, or go to some local shops and you could probably find one you could pay to tumble for you.