How to achieve a good looking aluminium die casting?

  • Thread starter Thread starter GarethW
  • Start Date Start Date
Hi Gareth,

I know vibration grinding is the popular and cheap way to de-burr the aluminum parts from die-casting. You can choose different grinding materials (ceramic, glass ball, steel ball) to get different outlook from shining to matt. There is another prevail way in industry is sand-blasting, you can get the very nice look after sand blasting, but the cost is higher than than vibration grinding.
 
Thanks to everyone for the helpful suggestions. So great to get so much feedback now from people when I get stuck. That's exactly why I set this site up in the first place!

wizardofid said:
Just thought I would jump in with a related question. How do they get the milling marks off the ipad and MacBook Pro shells, AND get such consistency on tight tolerances?
Click to expand...

I'm really amazed how some products effortlessly seem to achieve such a great cosmetic appearance. I'm usually fighting hideousness with stuff I design. Getting some suppliers to achieve a basic level of acceptable cosmetic appearance can be a major headache!!! Grr.
 
A different thought might be to use corn cob in place of shot or media. It will polish the surface and remove small amounts of contaminates. As it's used, it will break down into a powder, doesn't use any liquid and is safe for the enviroment.
 
If you spent a little more money polishing the die you might not then need to do any further work on finishing the casting.
 
vic.blackall said:
If you spent a little more money polishing the die you might not then need to do any further work on finishing the casting.
Click to expand...

Could an unpolished die be the reason for the unaesthetic surface? What type of surface defects are you seeing? In addition to polishing, are there different aluminum alloys/mixtures or process parameters which might yield a better surface?
 
Stainless bead

I have seen very good results achieved with blasting using Stainless steel bead, it imparts a great looking finish that is partially corosion resistant without any further threatment.
 
hi, you can send the aluminum die casting parts to do a rumbling. we call rumbling in china maybe you call tumbling in usa. rumbling with SS balls will give the aluminum parts a very good looking, very shine, and you adjust the looking by the different rumbling time.
rumbling is a sheep process, right?
 
Hi Franz,

I think we would call it tumbling if the parts were put in a rotating drum. But I suppose it could be rumbling if the parts were put in a vibrating bin of SS balls.

With this process, can you do multiple parts at once?
What size balls do you use? (I suppose it depends on the particular part that you're working with.)
In rough terms, how much time does this process take?

Should your last sentence read "rumbling is a cheap process, right?" Sheep are an animal. :)

Thanks for your thoughts on this; I always love learning new things.
 
Hi Franz,

I think we would call it tumbling if the parts were put in a rotating drum. But I suppose it could be rumbling if the parts were put in a vibrating bin of SS balls. yeah, rumbling with sending parts into a vibrating bin of SS balls, or poly balls, depends on the surface requirement.

With this process, can you do multiple parts at once? yes, you can. but usually people will not do that, diffent parts with different shape & size will need different cycle time of rumbling to achieve the same looking.
What size balls do you use? (I suppose it depends on the particular part that you're working with.) yes, it depends on the particular part .
In rough terms, how much time does this process take? ususally 2 ~ 15 minutes

Should your last sentence read "rumbling is a cheap process, right?" Sheep are an animal. :) sorry for the typo:rolleyes:

Thanks for your thoughts on this; I always love learning new things.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top