Drag Finishing Machine

Drag Finishing Machine Information and Introduction

Drag Finishing Machine is also called drag finisher or drag finishing system.

Although drag finishing is not a cheap metal finishing technique, it consistently outputs the same result without manual labor.

The drag finishing machines rotate at a speed of 160 rpm.

Because they have a 40 times faster metal removal rate than vibratory finishing machines, drag finishing machines can polish your parts in a short time.

Drag finishers tailor-made to your parts requirement.

Once we receive your parts sample, our engineers will design clamps that fix your parts to the machine holder.

Then, the drag finishing process is simulated in computer software before production.

Our target is to process as many pieces as possible without having the parts hit each other.

Drag finishing media play an essential role if you need first-class finishing quality.

Based on your requirements, Inovatec selects the right tumbling media among thousands of media types.

The applications of drag finishing machines range from aggressive deburring to high-gloss polishing and mirror-like finish.

They include milling cutter deburring, titanium medical implant polishing, stainless steel handle polishing, turbine blade surface finishing & smoothing, etc.

Inovatec has over 20 years of experience in metal surface finishing equipment and tumbling media.

We offer you a full package technical solution from sketch to a “ready-to-deliver” package.

Inovatec’s machines are CE certificated, and our clients well receive drag finishers all over the world.

• Drag finishing machines have manually interchangeable tumbling media tank for fast media change. It is convenient if your workpieces need several steps to finish.
• Drag finishing machines deliver the repeatable result once you decide the process parameters.
• The drag finishing machines operate in low noise.
• Hydraulic cylinder bowl-up control for components insertion
• Rigid metal frame and mechanical structure.
• Compact design and small footprint.

We have a professional after-sales service team and a strong technical background.

If you have any inquiries or consulting, you could get our positive feedback within 8 hours.

Contact us today for a quick solution!

Drag Finishing Machine FAQ Guide

1. What is a Drag Finishing Machine?

Drag Finishing Machines are an innovative surface finishing technology ideal for finishing high value and sensitive workpieces.

These sensitive workpieces should not touch each other during the finishing process.

In addition, they are especially useful for complex workpieces that must not have nicks or mars on their surface.

They are high-energy surface enhancement systems designed for components that require special handling and quick blemish removal, with no part-on-part contact.

And also no human factor involved.

The process effectively enhances surfaces with no workpiece impingement whatsoever.

Drag finishers are equipped with frequency inverters for variable rotary speeds of carousel and workstation drives.

Its main drive unit is generally designed for up-and-down movement.

2. How does a Drag Finishing Machine work?

In drag finishing systems, workpieces are clamped securely in specially designed holders.

These holders are then dragged by the motor in a circular motion through the work tub or bowl.

Meanwhile, the work bowl would have been filled with grinding or polishing media mass.

This high-speed motion generates high contact pressure between the workpiece and the media, guaranteeing an even treatment of the workpieces.

The workpiece-media friction produces the anticipated, high-precision edge rounding, smoothing, or mirror finish results, in a very short time.

The finish quality is usually equivalent to that obtained by manual polishing, and perhaps even better.

And this makes a good choice for mass finishing sensitive workpieces.

3. What are the components of a Drag Finishing Machine?

The Machine

The main technical components of a drag finishing machine include the following:

The Processing Unit (work bowl)

This is the bowl within which the drag finishing process takes place.

It contains the media mass and compound that combine to grind and polish workpieces.

Inovatec will design the workpiece holders according to the size and shape of your parts.

Carousel/Spindle

This is the technical component to which the workpiece is secured bound and attached.

The spindle spins media mass and workpieces at a speed defined by the operator.

It goes at it until the required finishing result is met.

Water system

Most Drag Finishing Machines usually have control systems in place to regulate the flow of cooling water.

The essence of the water is to cool down the machine, including its motor and other relevant, essential components.

The machine also requires water to wash away materials that are shredded from the workpieces.

Electrical controls

Like most heavy industry-scale machinery, drag finishing systems possess standalone electrical control systems.

The board includes push-button controls and display units for all machine functions.

The Compound

This is the wet or dry substance that is introduced into the machine to enhance the drag finishing process.

It helps to reduce the corrosion of the machine’s moving workpieces.

The Media

This is an abrasive or a non-abrasive substance that rubs on workpieces’ surface.

In the Drag Finishing Machine, media and workpieces come in contact to produce the desired finish.

4. What are the functionalities of a Drag Finishing Machine?

Drag Finishing Machines perform different functions, depending on the make and version.

Generally, they are deployed to achieve various economic surface improvement effects. Some of its functionalities are:

Cleaning:

One of the widely accepted usages of Drag Finishing Machines is surface cleaning.

They help to cleanse a product from dirts.

Such dirt or stain may include grease, dust or other residues stuck on the workpieces.

Surface refinement:

Drag finishing machines also help fine-tune and tweak the surface composition and outlook of workpieces.

Such surface refinement and fine-tuning include deburring, polishing, descaling, and burnishing.

Deburring:

It is one of the most common usages of the drag finishing machine.

It involves removing sharp edges or burrs on metals, left after machining.

A common example of deburring is smoothening a sharp corner into a rounded corner in a workpiece.

Surface roughness decreases steadily during the process.

Burnishing/Polishing:

This involves brightening a workpiece surface to produce a successful luster finish.

To achieve this, appropriate media, including steel media, ceramic porcelain or other dry media, are primarily used.

5. What are the Drag Finishing Machine beneficial for?

A lot of direct benefits come along with the usage of Drag Finishing Machines.

Prominent among them are:

Corrosion Resistance

Drag finishing burnishing machine helps eliminate roughness and micro-notches in a workpiece.

It helps give a workpiece greater resistance against rust and other forms of metal corrosion.

In essence, a ball burnished workpiece is less likely to develop cracks and other imperfections.

Stress Hardening

Drag finishing machines condense the structure of inserted metals to increase their hardness.

A drag finished workpiece is 50 to 100% harder than its unburnished counterpart.

This makes it more resistant to fatigue failure.

6. Are Drag Finishing Machines any different from other Mass Finishing Machines?

Yes, they are. They take mass finishing to a specialized level that’s different from what is obtained in other finishing processes.

Here are some of the factors that distinguish Drag Finishing Machines:

High Speed & Pressure:

The efficacy of mass finishing is hinged on pressure and speed.

The higher the speed of “rubs” or contact of the media on the workpieces, the faster the desired finishing results can be achieved.

Here’s how the drag finishing stays above other finishing methods:

Workpieces are dragged at high speed inside the media mass.

The high pressure generated by the speed makes drag finishing works 40 times faster than other mass finishing systems.

No Part-on-Part Contact

Another outstanding characteristic of drag finishing is that workpieces are individually mounted onto the workstations of the spindle.

The number of workstations, however, depends on the machine size – it ranges between 4 and 12 workstations.

It operates differently from conventional mass finishing machines where the workpieces free-float in the media.

In drag finishing machines, the individually-attached workpieces never touch during the finishing process.

In this way,  it helps prevents part-on-part contact and, by extension, nicking or marring of the finish.

Consistent and All-Round Finishing

Once a drag finishing machine is set up, it consistently churns out the same high-quality finishing every time.

Such finishing is done on all parts of the workpiece.

This occurs because the whole of its parts is submerged in the media mass.

Other mass finishing machines do not however offer full submerging of workpieces.

7. What type of workpieces are Drag Finishing Machines best suitable for?

Drag Finishing Machines are widely noted for their controllable high speed and pressure.

It is preferable for high-value parts which require repeatable result.

These premium qualities make them a perfect and most preferred drag finishing choice for finishing heavy metal. By heavy metals, we talk of workpieces made from hard-to-machine, “tough” metals.

The list of such metals would include high-alloy steel (stainless, titanium, Inconel, and so on).

In addition, tool steel or workpieces with a high surface hardness.

8. What are the industrial applications of a Drag Finishing Machine?

The drag finishing applications range from aggressive deburring grinding and edge breaking to high gloss polish of a range of parts.

Even parts with complex surface geometry can be finished in the equipment.

Here are a few specific use scenarios:

Grinding and polishing of stainless steel, boat propellers & turbine blades: 

These are castings that undergo a drag grinding process in one machine.

This is then followed by a polishing step in a second drag finisher.

Paint preparation of outboard marine drive components:

These are die castings that require the smoothening of sharp edges and a uniform surface finish before painting.

Grinding and polishing of medical implants:

After casting, implants such as artificial knees, hip stems, ankles, and so on are machined.

They then undergo a multi-stage drag finishing process for aggressive surface grinding, smoothing, and high-gloss polishing.

Tabletting Tools Polishing: 

Tabletting tools are essential components used in Tablet Press Machines. A smooth and polished pressing surface is achievable because of the low friction force.  Inovatec drag finishing machine effectively polishes the pressing surface area in a short amount of time.

Furthermore, this reduces the tendency of tablets to adhere to the tools, which in turn gives a smoother tableting process. This process is a great cost-saving for pharmaceutical manufacturers. You can polish your tableting tools in a fully automatic process without hand contact.

9. What media type is best for Drag Finishing Machines?

Drag Finishing Machine makes use of several abrasive and non-abrasive media to achieve the desired finish quality.

There’s, therefore, no one-fits-all media type that’s best for drag finishing machines.

Inovatec machinery provides media developments. We choose the correct tumbling media for your surface finishes.

Moreover, some of the most popular media composition includes Steel, Plastic, Ceramic, Porcelain, Walnut shells, Corncob, etc.

And for media shapes, the most-seen types are Spheres, Cones, Cylinders, Wedges, Tetrahedrons, Pyramids, and many more others.

With the many options available, there is a technique in selecting the best finishing media.

Incorrect media choices can result in problems like stuck media in the workpiece hole or workpiece damage.

Ensure to get familiar with the technology.

10. How can a Drag Finishing Machine be properly maintained?

To get the most out of any device or machinery, periodic maintenance is important.

Timely upkeep and monitoring of a Drag Finishing Machine are absolutely unnecessary if you’d like to keep it for long.

Some maintenance checks include:

Stabilize the media level:

Don’t shortchange the media level in an attempt to save money.

Doing that opens you up to issues like slow process time, workpiece damage, non-qualitative finishing, and many more.

Check the essential components:

As with all finishing machines, a lot of wear and tear is involved.

If not properly monitored, damaged components could result in total machine or workpiece damage.

Observe the working tub, spindles, and other essentials before and after use.

11. Can a Drag Finishing Machine’s speed be adjusted?

Yes. Drag Finishing finishing machines usually have finishing speed control boards and switches.

This level of control allows an operator to set lower speeds for finer finishing and polishing.

In the same vein, one could opt for higher speed to facilitate aggressive deburring and edge smoothening.

12. Are there any economic advantage in the usage of Drag Finishing Machine over other types of mass finishing machines?

Drag Finishing Machines are high-energy finishing machines.

They are suitable for tough metals, including medium-sized and large-sized workpieces.

Its controllable high pressure and speed help efficiently finish a workpiece in no time at all.

In addition, the scrap rework rate reduces with no operator’s contact.

However, an efficient device can be more expensive than other types of mass finishers.

But looking at the quality of its results and the care with which it goes about it, Drag Finishing Machines do indeed have an economic advantage over other finishers – in the long run, that is.