How to efficiently remove thick burrs on heavy plates

How to efficiently remove thick burrs on heavy plates

On heavy plates the consequences of cutting are more undesirable. Laser cutting is suitable for plates up to 10 millimeters; for thicker materials other processes like plasma or flame cutting are needed.

Just to make an example, during plasma cutting a jet melts the material in a plasma state at a temperature up to 30.000°C.

If material is very hot, burrs will be more pronounced, up to 3-4 mm high. Other factors that influence the burr formation are composition of the material, thickness, surface condition and temperature of material being cut.

Grinding off thick burrs by hand is time-consuming, doesn’t ensure good results and, last but not least, the vibrations caused by the hand grinder can harm employees’ health.

Deburring machines are much better suited for the task of processing heavy slags. Machines can also process components that are too heavy for manual handling.

On surfaces or flat components, disc brushes are used for deburring, but also wheel brushes. Disc bushes are the best of choice for working on surfaces; meanwhile wheel brushes are used when a flat component is perforated and it becomes necessary to deburr the edges within the surface.

Flat components and surfaces made of aluminum, steel or sintered metal can be deburred with abrasive trimming material such as aluminum oxide, silicon carbide or ceramic. On the other hand, for non-ferrous metals, crimped steel wire or stainless-steel wire are generally used.