TECHNOLOGY www.metalfinishing.com 52 | metalfinishing | May/June 2013 spotlight W hat’s in a name? A little over 50 years ago, an invention came to the manufacturing industry that changed the world. Like many inven- tions, this one was an improvement on a device developed during WWII. The device is widely recognized today as the primary method for removing burrs and surface imperfections, or generally improving the surface char- acteristics on (usually) metal parts. The invention — the round bowl, internal separation, vibratory finishing machine named the “Spiratron®” — became the finishing industry standard with worldwide patents and licensing agreements in several countries. The key features that made the machine a Spiratron® were: a round bowl shape; an internal screen deck for the parts and media separation to be accom- plished inside the vibratory machine; and a spiral rise in the bottom of the finishing chamber which aided in the separation process. A movable gate, operated by hand or, later, with an air assist, changed the apparatus from a finishing machine to a separation machine in seconds. There are several different configurations of vibratory finishing machines, but the features outlined above make the machine a Spiratron®. As a comparison, several companies manufacture a pistol that is called a “1911.” Key features make a pistol a 1911 and none of these features are cov- ered under any existing patent — and yet they are called a 1911 because of the design. In the same sense, with the many different companies around the world V-Max® from Hammond Roto-Finish: The Latest Evolution in Spiratron® Deburring Technology Figure 1. V-Max 5 vs. HR-5 Surface Finishing Removal. Observe the higher level of surface finish reduction with V-Max 5. manufacturing round bowl, internal separation vibratory finishing machines, they are building Spiratrons®. FOLLOW THE LEADER The true Spiratron® is manufactured in Kalamazoo, Mich., by Hammond Roto-Finish, which has been located at 1600 Douglas Ave. in Kalamazoo since 1988. At that time, Hammond Machinery purchased Roto-Finish from the Ransburg Corporation and added the Roto-Finish product line to its family of products which had consisted of belt-polishing and buff- ing machinery, large rotary buffing cells, flat finishing equipment, grind- ing machines, and dust collection machinery. Also in 1988, Hammond Roto-Finish became a robot integra- tor for polishing and buffing. The drive systems in round bowl vibratory machines started with an “integral” vibratory motor — essen- tially a motor with protruding shafts on both ends, with weights mounted on either end with a 90 degree sepa- ration of the two, and the bottom weight leading the top. All round bowl machines operate with the same weight configuration, but some manufacturers — following after Hammond Roto-Finish — have replaced the “integral” motor with a cartridge drive assembly that is much more robust and can be manufac- tured in almost any size to meet the needs of machine designers. The car- tridge drive is driven by a belt with an offset mount to the motor. This also allows for voltage and horse- power changes at will. Spiratron® has been the design leader of this type of machine since it was first introduced. All of the vibra- tory bowl machines manufactured worldwide today are following the construction designs that have been established by the Spiratron®. Ham- mond Roto-Finish is building the design at generation 7 with the clos- est U.S. competitors on generation 3 or 4. Companies in China and the Pacific Rim are building machines equivalent to the generation 1 or 2 Spiratron®. The machines manufac- tured by these companies are usually built in the smaller process capacity sizes with typically the largest in the 10-to-12-cubic-foot range. By com- parison, Hammond Roto-Finish starts the Spiratron® product line at the small end with a 0.75-cubic-foot- capacity machine and continues to their largest round bowl machine with a 100-cubic-foot capacity; poten- tial media weight of 30,000 pounds.
What’s in a name? A little over 50 years ago, an invention came to
the manufacturing industry that changed the world. Like many inven-tions, this one was an improvement on a device developed during WWII. The device is widely recognized today as the primary method for removing burrs and surface imperfections, or generally improving the surface char-acteristics on (usually) metal parts.
The invention — the round bowl, internal separation, vibratory finishing machine named the “Spiratron®” — became the finishing industry standard with worldwide patents and licensing agreements in several countries. The key features that made the machine a Spiratron® were: a round bowl shape; an internal screen deck for the parts and media separation to be accom-plished inside the vibratory machine; and a spiral rise in the bottom of the finishing chamber which aided in the separation process. A movable gate, operated by hand or, later, with an air assist, changed the apparatus from a finishing machine to a separation machine in seconds. There are several different configurations of vibratory finishing machines, but the features outlined above make the machine a Spiratron®.
As a comparison, several companies manufacture a pistol that is called a “1911.” Key features make a pistol a 1911 and none of these features are cov-ered under any existing patent — and yet they are called a 1911 because of the design. In the same sense, with the many different companies around the world
V-Max® from Hammond Roto-Finish: The Latest Evolution in Spiratron® Deburring Technology
Figure 1. V-Max 5 vs. HR-5 Surface Finishing Removal. Observe the higher level of surface finish reduction with V-Max 5.
manufacturing round bowl, internal separation vibratory finishing machines, they are building Spiratrons®.
FOLLOW THE LEADERThe true Spiratron® is manufactured in Kalamazoo, Mich., by Hammond Roto-Finish, which has been located at 1600 Douglas Ave. in Kalamazoo since 1988. At that time, Hammond Machinery purchased Roto-Finish from the Ransburg Corporation and added the Roto-Finish product line to its family of products which had consisted of belt-polishing and buff-ing machinery, large rotary buffing cells, flat finishing equipment, grind-ing machines, and dust collection machinery. Also in 1988, Hammond Roto-Finish became a robot integra-tor for polishing and buffing.
The drive systems in round bowl vibratory machines started with an “integral” vibratory motor — essen-tially a motor with protruding shafts
on both ends, with weights mounted on either end with a 90 degree sepa-ration of the two, and the bottom weight leading the top. All round bowl machines operate with the same weight configuration, but some manufacturers — following after Hammond Roto-Finish — have replaced the “integral” motor with a cartridge drive assembly that is much more robust and can be manufac-tured in almost any size to meet the needs of machine designers. The car-tridge drive is driven by a belt with an offset mount to the motor. This also allows for voltage and horse-power changes at will.
Spiratron® has been the design leader of this type of machine since it was first introduced. All of the vibra-tory bowl machines manufactured worldwide today are following the construction designs that have been established by the Spiratron®. Ham-mond Roto-Finish is building the design at generation 7 with the clos-est U.S. competitors on generation 3 or 4. Companies in China and the Pacific Rim are building machines equivalent to the generation 1 or 2 Spiratron®. The machines manufac-tured by these companies are usually built in the smaller process capacity sizes with typically the largest in the 10-to-12-cubic-foot range. By com-parison, Hammond Roto-Finish starts the Spiratron® product line at the small end with a 0.75-cubic-foot-capacity machine and continues to their largest round bowl machine with a 100-cubic-foot capacity; poten-tial media weight of 30,000 pounds.
Figure 2. V-Max 5 vs. HR-5 Weight Removal. Notice how the V-Max® machine removes material from the surface of the part at rate of roughly two times faster than the HR-5.
When vibratory bowl finishing and the Spiratron® started taking off in the U.S., new patents were created at a comparably rapid rate. Through the years, incremental product improvements have been patented for the Spiratron® but this activity plateaued decades ago. There have been no device-changing develop-ments with this type of machine from any of the manufacturers for a long time — until 2012. The new improvement to this category of machine has come from the place where it all began — the Spiratron®.
Within the industry of round bowl design machines like the Spiratron®, there has existed a speed range for the vibration frequency of the machinery. The vibration frequency is what makes the media in the finishing chamber do its work on whatever type of part is being processed. Since the beginning, these machines have oper-ated in the 1,200-to-1,500-RPM range, with a few pushing a bit higher.
As a lot of innovation occurs, the development of a new line of Spira-trons® began with a simple question: “What happens if we stabilize a higher RPM?” But again, like most simple questions, the answer was hard to come by. Two years of development work by Hammond Roto-Finish has produced new technologies that allow for frequency in the 2,400 RPM range. This work has created a new product line for Hammond Roto-Finish — the V-Max®.
MORE POWER, LESS CYCLE TIMEThe V-Max® is the newest member of the Spiratron® family. From the out-side, the V-Max® machine looks the same as a standard HR® series machine (the latest design version of the Spiratron®) and features the same high quality level of construction that has allowed these machines to operate in 100,000-production-hour range before standard maintenance is required. The difference between the V-Max® and the HR® series is the
drive located inside, which allows the machine to do what it does.
While the V-Max® machines are capable of running steel media pro-cess, they have a more direct target in the non-steel media application area. The V-Max® excels at producing sur-face finishes in up to half the cycle times of conventional drive machines. Not only will the V-Max® machine reduce cycle time in standard media and compound processes, but with abrasive paste and chemical accelera-tion processes the results can be truly outstanding.
V-Max® achieves these results through a high frequency process. This allows for more vibrations per minute and lower amplitude, which gives the V-Max® definite advantages over conventional vibratory bowl machines. One very distinct differ-ence is the media is not moving with as much amplitude, thus allowing it to maintain more consistent contact time by quickly re-engaging the sur-face of the workpiece, creating many more strokes per minute. It is visually apparent when watching a V-Max® operate that the media is not moving with as much “bounce” or “air time” as seen in a conventional machine. The increase in the contact time between the parts and the media leads directly to a shorter process time and faster edge radiusing within the V-Max®.
The other clear advantage is the media and parts are not in as violent an environment as in conventional
speed machines. The decrease in vio-lent interaction between the parts and the media allows for a lower amount of surface impingement and a more consistent surface finish.
The two charts provided in Figs. 1&2 indicate the higher level of sur-face finish reduction, and weight removal from the test parts processed in our process lab. As shown, the two machines in the surface reduction test eventually will come together after an 8-hour time cycle. The V-Max® machine has a clear and distinct advantage over the conventional speed machine. The weight reduction chart indicates that the V-Max® machine removes material from the surface of the part at rate of roughly two times faster, and with the rate of removal being consistent throughout the test.
PROOF IS IN THE PUDDINGThe Spiratron® is only one part of a complete process for deburring or finishing parts. Media and compound are also keenly important to a suc-cessful system. Hammond Roto-Fin-ish formulates 1,700 different com-pound blends to meet the needs and requirements of its customers. Every project that is a quoted process will have some sort of input or validation from the Roto-Finish lab. With the full collaboration of our team we can proudly bring to you the newest member of our product line…the V-Max®.
