Deburring equipment removes burrs or other surface defects, smoothes parting lines in castings, de-flashes molded parts, rounds off sharp edges, and radiuses or chamfers corners. Deburring equipment and burr removal machines use a variety of processes and tools. Examples include abrasive flow machining (AFM), electrolytic or electrochemical deburring, etching or chemical deburring, hydro-deburring or high pressure water blasting, sandblasting or abrasive blasting, thermal deburring or thermal energy machining (TEM), and wire or abrasive brush deburring. Rotary cutting uses rotary burrs, files or chamfering tools. Fixed abrasive finishing or surface conditioning uses abrasive belts, discs or non-woven wheels. Deburring equipment and deburring machines that use mass finishing techniques are also available.

Selecting deburring equipment requires an understanding of processes such as thermal deburring, chemical deburring, and vibratory deburring. Electrochemical deburring (ECD) directs electrical energy to specific areas on a part’s surface. Thermal deburring intense, instantaneous heat for surface finishing operations. Vibratory deburring uses a thick-cast, polyurethane liner for ease of mobility and sound abatement. Depending on the specific process, a deburring machine can work in manual, off-hand, fixtured, automatic or robotic modes. The removal of burrs, generation of accurate radius geometry, and achievement of a smooth surface condition helps eliminate potential stress concentrators and can improve fatigue strength of the component. Fatigue strength is particularly important in applications where components are exposed to a high number of load cycles. Other specifications for deburring equipment depend on the technology used.

There are many industrial applications for deburring equipment, including the finishing of dies and molds, automotive and combustion engine parts such as injectors and manifolds, medical devices, spray and nozzle orifices, aerospace or jet engine blades, and mechanical components such as disks, hubs, and shafts. Deburring equipment is also used to produce high-cleanliness or high-purity pharmaceutical or semiconductor flow components such as tube fittings, elbows, tees and reducers, valve bodies or housing, regulators and flow controllers.