What’s the best deburring tool for plastic parts? It’s not one that you hold in your hand or mount in a machine. So, forget deburring blades, hand trimmers, and rotary deburring tools. Put away the deburring cutters and wire brushes, too. If you’re a manufacturer or a machine shop, the best way to remove burrs from machined plastic parts is with Nitrofreeze® cryogenic deburring. This semi-automated batch process uses cryogenic temperatures and non-abrasive polycarbonate media to remove burrs quickly, cleanly, and consistently without affecting surface finish or dimensional tolerances.

What are plastic burrs – and why do you need to remove them?

Plastic burrs are raised areas or protrusions that are produced when a cutting tool (such as a drill) exits a plastic material, or a plastic material is torn from a workpiece. Burrs can also be created when the edge of a cutting tool extends beyond the workpiece or the workpiece is separated from the material before cutting is complete. No matter why you need a deburring tool for plastic, burrs can complicate assembly, prevent sealing, and cause injuries. Plastic burrs might not be as sharp as metal burrs, but even minor surface imperfections can give parts an unfinished appearance that suggests poor-quality machining.        

What is cryogenic deburring – and what are some advantages?

Cryogenic deburring for machined plastic parts uses very low temperatures and a cryogenic-grade polycarbonate media. Your parts are placed in the equipment’s chamber, cooled to cryogenic temperatures so that the burrs become brittle, and then impacted with our non-abrasive media. There’s little dust and no mess as burrs are removed and part edges are maintained. No job is too large or too small for Nitrofreeze®, and our standard turnaround time is two days after receipt.

Importantly, the Nitrofreeze® cryogenic deburring process is very efficient at removing plastic burrs from cross-drilled holes, blind holes, and other hard-to-reach part features and geometries. The polycarbonate media that we use is sized from 0.015” (smallest) to 0.060” (largest) to accommodate a range of burr removal challenges. Because the parts you need to deburr are different than anyone else’s, Nitrofreeze® can develop the right “recipe” for your parts deburring project and then store it for your future use.

What are some disadvantages of using another deburring tool for plastic parts?

Manual deburring tools such as blades, cutters, and trimmers require hand labor. At a time when good employees are hard to find, having workers deburr plastic parts by hand isn’t the best use of resources. Plus, it’s hard to get consistent results when workers have different skill levels. Using a deburring tool with a cordless drill can speed operations, but it’s still a manual process. Automated deburring can reduce cycle times and improve consistency, but parts still get deburred one at a time. For that matter, a deburring tool mounted in CNC equipment consumes precious machine time that can’t be used for other operations.     

Which types of plastics can you use with cryogenic deburring?

As a deburring tool for plastic materials, cryogenic deburring is suitable for a variety of commodity and specialty polymers. Examples of commodity plastics include polycarbonate (PC), polypropylene (PP), and polyethylene terephthalate (PET). Examples of specialty polymers include Delrin®, Teflon®, Tefzel®, Torlon®, and Viton®. Nitrofreeze® has used cryogenic deburring with these and other materials, including PEEK plastic for implants that require medical deburring.

Choose the right deburring tool for plastic parts

Is cryogenic deburring the right deburring tool for your plastic parts? Watch this YouTube video to see our process in action and contact the experts at Nitrofreeze® to review your requirements. If your 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 us at the phone number and email listed below. (508) 459-7447 x109 | info@nitrofreeze.com