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Recommendations for *quiet* vibratory tumblers?

aarongough

Stainless
Joined
Oct 27, 2014
Location
Toronto, Canada
Hey guys,
Anyone have any recommendations for quiet vibratory finishers? I currently have a C&M Topline 3 cu ft unit that works great, but even with an enclosure built around it still makes a lot of noise. This wasn't nearly as much of an issue in my previous industrial unit, but I think the slab in this new building moves a lot more as you can feel the tumbler through the floor and walls at least 30' away! It hasn't happened yet but I'm definitely anticipating noise complaints from the neighbours and I hate being in my shop with the unit running as it shakes everything...

I have already had one recommendation of the 'Burr Bench' units which actually look really nice, but I was wondering if anyone with experience of this type of machine has other recommendations?

I'll be running ceramic media and max part size is 12x2x0.156" so I don't need a huge unit but the really small 'donut bowl' shaped units will not work for me unfortunately. I did talk to a vendor about some rotary tumbler units but they steered me away from that as I'm finishing 63HRC A2 parts and they said I would need 2-3 days minimum to get the deburring/finishing that I expect. Currently I'm only running for about 2-3 hours for each part in my vibratory tumbler.

Thanks!
-Aaron
 
It's hard to put "quiet" and "vibratory finishing" in the same sentence. Having said that, the "parachute" style sound covers are very effective. Weather or not they will get you where you want to go would have to be for you to decide. Vibe Tech has them (269) 344-3878
soundcover.jpg
 
It's hard to put "quiet" and "vibratory finishing" in the same sentence. Having said that, the "parachute" style sound covers are very effective. Weather or not they will get you where you want to go would have to be for you to decide. Vibe Tech has them (269) 344-3878
View attachment 289188

Thanks Rick! Yeah I know exactly what you mean... Previously I ran my current unit un-enclosed and it was a nightmare. I made an enclosure for it which worked great in my previous workshop, but in the new workshop the tumbler shakes the entire slab and makes my whole workshop into a drum!

Here you can see some photos of my current setup, worked great in my previous shop:







The vibration through the slab in this building is so bad that if I whistle while the machine is running you can hear the pitch of the whistle oscillating (like when you whistle into a pedestal fan)... Not sure what's going on with the slab but it's definitely not as dense as the previous units I've been in.

I think the only solution for this will be to move to a unit that is not coupled to the floor. I am considering mounting the current unit onto a steel plate and then putting that on rubber feet, but that will add a lot of weight and make the unit even harder to transport... The Burr Bench units look really nice, self-contained and portable, just wanted to find out if there were any similar options as the Burr Bench units are fairly expensive and I haven't been able to find any info on exactly how loud they are unfortunately...
 
How often do you really have to transport it? Can you build some fork pockets into your steel slab? Do you really need a steel slab, or just the right isolation feet? Do you need to lift the box as well?

It seems like your problem occurred when you changed the coupling to the ground, and so that's where the fix should be.
 
Can you weld up a base (6" channel) fill with concrete, and then use firestone (or equiv) air bags on the corners ?
 
How often do you really have to transport it? Can you build some fork pockets into your steel slab? Do you really need a steel slab, or just the right isolation feet? Do you need to lift the box as well?

It seems like your problem occurred when you changed the coupling to the ground, and so that's where the fix should be.

Unfortunately the machine itself doesn't have the mass to free-float without being bolted to something really solid. The manufacturer recommended that if I was to make a 'floating' base plate for it (from steel or poured concrete) that it would have to be about 4x the weight of the machine which works out to around 1600lb... Without enough weight I imagine the whole machine will walk around when running. The first time I bolted this machine down I tried using 3/8" tap-cons rather than proper anchors. It sheared the heads off all the tap-cons within 15 minutes and started hopping around my shop.

I definitely haven't moved it very often in the past, mostly because it's bolted to the floor! I work in a very small shop so having the option to re-position the machine occasionally to optimize things might be nice, but it's not necessarily a deal breaker.
 
You can use vibration isolators that won't 'walk', but if you put too much flex between the machine and the floor it might have a negative effect on the vib amplitude and cycle. With the machine on a massive base and then isolators between the base and the floor it should have minimal effect.
 
there was a thread a few months back about hanging the tub from the top ,,, it sounded like the guy got it working WAY better by doing that ,,, I have seen the burr bench and there WAY nicer but do cost more ,,,

Please keep us posted on how you do it... I have three of the C&M units and like them but they drive me nuts
 
The goal wasn't isolation, but for a past project I made a box out of 2 layers of 3/4" plywood glued up and filled it with sand. I wonder if the damping nature of dry sand would let you get away with a much smaller mass? My goal was an energy absorber (things plunged into the sandbox), but it also rather nicely eliminated the mid and high frequency vibration that would have gone out to the rest of the building.
 
One more thought, and I'll admit that it's a hack upfront. In the past I had an issue with something that was walking around on its rubber pads (think washing machine). I built a small 2x4 wall around the sides and then put some rubber padding in. This way it would vibrate up to one of the boards and bounce against it. It still let the item float, but kept it from going across the room. It seems like you'll still need something somewhat hefty to make sure the bin still vibrates correctly, but maybe this would let that something be smaller.
 
I visited an old Nike missle command bunker. Every piece of machinery in the bunker was mounted to a 1 foot thick block of cement sitting on springs. I suspect that would work here.

The problem with your sound enclosure is the sides work like a speaker cone. The inside surface needs to be disconnected from the outside surface and filled with insulation.
 
"there was a thread a few months back about hanging the tub from the top ,,, it sounded like the guy got it working WAY better by doing that ,,, I have seen the burr bench and there WAY nicer but do cost more ,,,

Please keep us posted on how you do it... I have three of the C&M units and like them but they drive me nuts"



There is a problem with the burr bench's deep tub and your part size/shapes as the tub is deep and allows the parts to get all jacked up, spit out the media and bang up the edges of the parts. I revamped 2 of my C&M machines to hang from the top, they are a lot quieter, don't shake the floor 25% as much and are now on casters. C&M is working on doing something like I just described but that won't help you.
Your machine can be fixed, though they shouldn't need it, let me know if you plan to fix it.
 
Here ya go.

472dbf2954e591027a81c9abf7a9a185.jpg


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I know centrifugal disk finishing machines are super fast (and probably expensive) but they might be quieter than “tumblers” since I think they’re just spinning instead of shaking. Maybe you can find a small used one.
 








 
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