Inovatec MachineryYour Best Piston Polishing Solution Provider in China

Piston Polishing – Definitive Guide

Are you in a business that involves engines and pistons?

If yes, then you must read this guide on the piston polishing process, machines, and materials.

It will help you to choose the right piston polishing solution for your business.

Inovatec machinery provides different types of solutions for automatic piston polishing.

1. What Is a Piston Polishing Machine?

Piston polishing machine is an equipment that does the job of smoothening, drying, cleaning, and polishing pistons automatically.

You can use it for any piston type. You will get a batch of thoroughly cleaned and polished pistons as the output.

2. Why Use a Piston Polishing Machine?

Let us have a look at the different advantages of using a piston polishing machine over the wheel grinding polishing method.

2.1  Time Saver

You can save lots of time by using a piston polishing machine. The manual polishing process that involves wheel grinding is a time consuming one.

2.2 Finish Quality

Excellent finish quality is achieved with the help of an automatic piston polisher.

In the case of wheel grinding polishing, the finish is dependent on labor skills.

You need to train the laborers for manual polishing.

For the piston polisher machine, you have to know to operate the machine, which is a straightforward process.

2.3 Saves Labor Cost

Labor cost is another factor that comes favorable when you use an automatic piston polishing machine.

Here, you need a single person to operate the machine.

But, for the manual grinding process, you will have to employ multiple stations with many laborers to achieve the same yield rate.

2.4 Polishing Error Rate

In the wheel grinding polishing method, the error rate is more since it is done manually.

So, you will have lots of rework to do with the defective pieces. The error rate is very less for an automatic piston polisher.

2.5 Batch Polishing

If you go with the manual method, then you can polish only one piston at a time.

But, a piston polishing machine allows you to polish multiple pistons at a time. So, make use of this batch processing benefit.

Now, you know the benefits of using an automatic piston polishing machine.

3. What Are the Different Types of Piston Polishing Machines?

Inovatec machinery offers two types of machines for piston polishing.

You can choose any/both of these based on your polishing requirements.

3.1 Vibratory Finishing Machine 

Vibratory finishing machines, as the name suggests, use the vibratory action to polish pistons.

Here, you need to add the vibratory tumbling media along with the pistons for cleaning and polishing purpose.

You can use this machine to clean and polish small and medium-sized pistons and piston rods.

Porcelain tumbling media is a good media for cleaning and degreasing pistons of small and medium sizes.

3.2 Centrifugal Barrel Machine

If you are looking to do top surface cleaning and polishing, then go for the Centrifugal Barrel Machine.

You can use it for wet polishing as well as dry polishing. You can use different types of compounds for wet polishing to get the desired finish.

4. What Is a Vibratory Tumbling Media That Is Used for Piston Polishing?

Vibratory tumbling media are granules that get mixed with the pistons when added into the automatic piston polishing machine.

It does the job of cleaning and polishing the pistons. It removes unwanted materials from the pistons.

A rigid abrasive material is infused with a bonding agent to get the tumbling media.

Quality of the tumbling media is very critical to get an excellent finish on the pistons.

If the wearing of the media is too low or high, then it will have an impact on the finish quality.

Inovatec ensures that the tumbling media quality is maintained by adhering to strict quality control steps.

5. Different Types of Vibratory Tumbling Media for Piston Polishing & Their Function in Piston Polishing?

Inovatec has different types of material options for tumbling media.

They are available in different shapes and sizes. So, you can choose any depending on your polishing requirements and the type of piston used.

Inovatec also provides tumbling media on custom sizes based on the customer requirement.

5.1 Ceramic Tumbling media

Ceramic tumbling media is one of the best options for polishing pistons. It does the job of deburring, de-flashing, edge breaking, and rust removal.

Different available shapes include triangle, cylinder, tri-star, pyramid, arrowhead, cone, pyramid, ellipse, and tetrahedron.

The three grades of ceramic tumbling media are light cutting, medium cutting, and fast cutting ceramic media.

Light cutting is used to remove minor burrs. Fast cutting is good for extensive material removal. Medium cutting comes in between these two.

Low upfront cost and longevity make ceramic media a popular choice for piston polishing.

5.2 Plastic Tumbling media

If the pistons are aluminum, then go for the plastic tumbling media.

It is good for deburring aluminum machined parts without leaving scratch marks on the surface.

They are made of polyester resins and abrasives.

Popular shapes include a pyramid, cone, paraboloid, lens, tetrahedron, tri-star, etc.

Plastic tumbling media is available in five grades.

Inovatec provides light cutting, medium cutting, fast cutting, ultra-fine cutting, and zirconium plastic media.

Ultra-fine cutting plastic tumbling media is used to provide a fine finish to the surface.

You can use it on the pistons if you are planning to do plating. Zirconium plastic tumbling media is used to clean and polish titanium pistons.

5.3 Porcelain Tumbling media

Porcelain tumbling media mainly consists of aluminum oxide.

You can use it to get a smooth and shiny surface on your pistons.

It polishes the metal pistons without material removal.

A smooth surface is essential to reduce the friction inside the engine for better performance.

Inovatec offers two main types of porcelain tumbling media – standard and fine.

The standard porcelain media comes with 30-40 % alumina content and the fine porcelain with 70% alumina.

Four available shapes include ball, cylinder, triangle, and tri-star.

You can use it in the final stage of the piston polishing process.

6. What All Types of Pistons Can Be Polished?

You can use these machines along with the different vibratory tumbling media to polish different types of pistons.

6.1 Cast Piston

Cast pistons are the most commonly used piston type in automotive engines.

They are a popular choice for automotive manufacturers because of their durability and low manufacturing cost.

Inovatec machines are capable of removing all tiny burrs and imperfections in cast pistons.

Thus, the carbon deposit on the piston side can be reduced.

6.2 Hypereutectic Piston

Hypereutectic piston is a choice if you are looking for pistons stronger than cast ones.

High-end automotive engines use hypereutectic pistons.

You can get a mirror-like shiny finish on these pistons using Inovatec machines.

Both vibratory finishing machines and centrifugal barrel machines are suitable for these pistons.

6.3 Machined Piston

Machined cast aluminum pistons will have some burrs on their surface.

You need to remove it before doing any surface treatment process like coating.

So, use any of these machines for polishing.

6.4 3D Printed Piston

With the rapid growth of 3D printing technology, we see more 3D printed pistons in the market.

These pistons are quite robust and strong.

Many piston manufacturers are moving to this technology because of its cost-effectiveness and lower material wastage.

But, the surface of a 3D printed piston is rough. So, you need to polish it properly before installing it inside an engine.

6.5 Piston Head

The piston head is one of the most critical sections of a piston.

It is in this area where the combustion takes place inside the engine. So, you need to make sure that it is very smooth.

Otherwise, there will be more carbon deposits in this area due to friction.

Such deposits reduce the combustion rate of the engine. Thus, there will be an impact on the overall efficiency of the engine.

Piston heads come in multiple shapes like flat top, disc-shaped, and dome-shaped.

Piston polishing machines from Inovatec are suited for all shapes of piston heads. A centrifugal barrel machine is recommended for top surface polishing.

6.6 Piston Rod

A piston rod is a part that connects the piston head to the crankshaft.

So, it is an important part as far as the engine efficiency is concerned. It is a circular-shaped part of the piston assembly.

These are lengthy parts. So, you need to take care of it properly and separately.

Manual polishing is a time consuming one in this case. So, go for an automatic piston rod polishing machine.

6.7 Aluminium Alloy (Al-Si) Piston

Gasoline and diesel engines use aluminum-alloy pistons. It has better durability and reliability.

It requires better polishing and finishing to reduce carbon deposits. So, an automatic polishing method would be the ideal solution.

6.8 Forged Steel Piston

Forged steel pistons are a preferred choice in diesel engines.

They have better strength than the aluminum ones. Their main advantage is the ability to stabilize piston temperature with large internal cooling galleys.

These pistons are expensive. So, the best quality of cleaning and polishing is required on its surface.

Only then these pistons will become affordable in the long run.

6.9 Trunk Piston

Both diesel and petrol engines use trunk pistons. They are relatively long with respect to their diameter.

They do the job of the piston as well as the cylindrical crosshead.

6.10 Crosshead Pistons

Big slow-speed diesel engines use crosshead pistons.

These are heavy pistons that give additional support for the extra force from the massive engine.

So, you need to ensure that they are cleaned and polished correctly.

6.11 Slipper Piston

Small size petrol engines use slipper piston. Their primary purpose is to reduce reciprocating weight.

Thus, more speed is achieved with better balance. You need to ensure that the slipper pistons don’t have any burrs for the best possible engine speed.

6.12 Deflector Piston

Two-stroke engines use deflector pistons with crankcase compression.

The crown of this piston has a raised rib.

The purpose of this rib is to deflect the incoming mixture towards the combustion chamber at the top.

It will take time to polish the raised rib part in the manual polishing process.

6. 13 Racing Piston

Racing pistons demand higher strength and durability since they are used in racing vehicles.

They are made up of materials with high strength and durability.

The material also needs to be lightweight to get the maximum possible speed.

So, you need to choose the high-end tumbling media for better polishing of such high-grade pistons.

6. 14 MMC Pistons

MMC piston is the short form for metal matrix composite piston.

It is the latest concept where multiple materials are fused to generate a high strength compound for pistons.

They have better thermal conductivity and durability.

6. 15 Squeezed Cast Fiber Reinforced Piston

Squeezed cast fiber-reinforced pistons are made by mixing porous ceramic fiber with the aluminum-silicon alloy via squeezing.

You need to polish these pistons to remove burrs on the surface.

Conclusion

Now, you know, how to polish pistons and different machines for it.

So, go ahead and select one of the best solutions from Inovatec Machinery.

You will definitely see an efficiency increase in your piston polishing process with a better yield.

Thus, investing in an automatic piston polisher can take your business to the next level.