Manual deburring is a time-consuming and labor-intensive way to remove burrs from machined plastic parts. At a time when good workers are hard to find, hand deburring is also an inefficient way to deploy labor resources. The use of hand trimmers, deburring blades, rotary deburring tools, and wire brushes can also contribute to worker fatigue and increase the risk of repetitive motion injuries. Plus, the results of manual deburring can be inconsistent among workers, across shifts, or during different days of the week. That’s especially problematic for medical, aerospace, and other types of machined plastic parts that need to maintain tight tolerances and have specific surface finishes.
Nitrofreeze® cryogenic deburring is a fast, accurate, and cost-effective way to deburr plastic parts without the use of hand tools. This semi-automated batch process cleanly and consistently removes the machining burrs that are created when a cutting tool exits a plastic material, the edge of the tool extends beyond the workpiece, or the workpiece is separated from the material before machining is complete. Cryogenic deburring is also more efficient than manual deburring because it’s a computer-controlled process that can deburr many parts at the same time. Importantly, cryogenic burr removal will not affect your part’s dimensional tolerances or surface finish since only the surface imperfections (burrs) are removed.
Cryogenic Deburring for Machined Plastic Parts
Nitrofreeze® cryogenic deburring uses very low temperatures and a cryogenic-grade polycarbonate media that is both non-abrasive and non-toxic. First, your parts are placed in a chamber and cooled to cryogenic temperatures so that the burrs become brittle. Next, your parts are impacted with our non-abrasive media in a carefully controlled process that creates little dust and no mess as burrs are removed and part edges are maintained. This process is very efficient at removing plastic burrs from cross holes, blind holes, and other hard-to-reach part features. The cylinder-shaped polycarbonate media that we use is sized from 0.015” (smallest) to 0.060” (largest) to access specific part geometries.
Because your machined plastic parts are specific to your application, Nitrofreeze® can develop your optimal deburring “recipe” and store it for your future use. As part of this process, our technicians perform part measurements both before and after cryogenic deburring. Compare that to hand deburring where each part is like a new project and the results may be unpredictable. Plus, the Nitrofreeze® process is fast and flexible. No job is too large or too small for cryogenic deburring, and we can process tens or hundreds of parts at the same time. Then, because our standard turnaround time is just two days after receipt, you won’t lose valuable time by outsourcing your deburring operations.
Your Alternative to Manual Deburring
Nitrofreeze® cryogenic deburring is suitable for a wide range of commodity, specialty, and engineering plastics. Examples of the commodity plastics we can deburr include polycarbonate (PC), polypropylene (PP), and polyethylene terephthalate (PET). Delrin®, Teflon®, Tefzel®, Torlon®, and Viton® are just some of the engineering and specialty plastics that we’ve deburred. Our capabilities also include medical deburring for polyetheretherketone (PEEK), a lightweight thermoplastic that is compatible with diagnostic imaging and used in implantable knee replacements, bone screws, and spinal cages.
Are you ready to start deburring plastic parts without hand tools? Watch this YouTube video to see Nitrofreeze® cryogenic deburring in action and contact our experts to review your specific requirements. If your machined plastic part is a viable candidate for cryogenic deburring, we can perform sampling to demonstrate our process. The consultation is free of charge. To learn more, contact Nitrofreze® at the phone number and email listed below.
(508) 459-7447 x 109 | info@nitrofreeze.com