Inovatec MachineryExhaust Pipe Polishing Service Provider and Manufacturer in China

Polishing Exhaust Pipe – Definitive Guide

Exhaust pipes are an essential part of the automotive industry.

If your business involves vehicle engines, then you will be dealing with exhaust pipes also.

So, you will be involved in the polishing process of exhaust pipes.

Inovatec machinery offers some of the best solutions for cleaning, finishing, and polishing exhaust pipes.

In this guide, we will cover the process of polishing exhaust pipes in detail.

1. What Is an Exhaust Pipe?

An exhaust pipe is an integral part of the exhaust system of an engine.

It removes the exhaust gas, which arises due to the controlled combustion inside the engine.

2. Why Polish Exhaust Pipes?

I will give you three good reasons why you need to polish exhaust pipes.

2.1 Professional Look

You need to polish the exhaust pipes of your engine to give it a professional look. In all the vehicles, some part of the exhaust pipe is always visible to the external world. So, polishing is essential.

2.2 To Strengthen the Pipe

Polishing helps to eliminate the weak spots on the surface of the exhaust pipes.

These weak spots can develop cracks in the future if it is not polished.

Thus, you can improve the exhaust pipe quality by polishing.

2.3 To Avoid Oxidation and Rusting

If you don’t polish exhaust pipes, then moisture and dirt particles can get quickly accumulated in the rough areas.

So, eventually, an oxidized layer will appear on the material surface that can degrade the material quality.

3. What Is the Traditional Way of Polishing Exhaust Pipes?

The traditional method of polishing exhaust pipes involves human labor.

It is a hand polishing method where the person will manually polish the exhaust pipes using materials like cleaning liquid, polishing stone, and other tools.

Polishing stones are abrasive materials.

They use such stones of varying abrasiveness to get the desired finish.

A set up will be made for holding the exhaust pipe to ease the polishing process.

Some also use the wheel grinding machine for grinding and finishing exhaust pipes.

Here, a person needs to hold and push the exhaust pipes into the grinder mouth.

So, if the pipe is having bents and varying cross-sections, the polishing effectiveness may be reduced.

He also may have to adjust the hole size opening of the grinder for different cross-sectional areas.

The polished pipes are then passed on for quality inspection for final approval.

4. What Is an Exhaust Pipe Polishing Machine?

A machine that can deburr, clean, burnish, and polish exhaust pipes is called an exhaust pipe polishing machine.

You will have to feed the machine with the cleaning media and exhaust pipes.

You will get cleaned and polished exhaust pipes as the output.

Thus, the whole polishing process happens automatically with minimum human intervention.

You can also use a metal polishing compound to bring extra shine to the pipes’ surface.

You can use it for polishing stainless steel pipes as well as for other metal pipes.

5. Why Use a Machine for Polishing Exhaust Pipes?

Let us have a look at the different advantages of using an Exhaust Pipe Polishing Machine over the traditional polishing method.

5.1 Saves Time

It will take lots of time to polish an exhaust pipe in the traditional process. If the complexity of the pipe is more, then even more time is required.

A machine will help to save a reasonable amount of time by polishing multiple pipes simultaneously.

5.2 Cost-effectiveness

In the traditional method, you need to invest in laborers as well as polishing tools.

But, you need only a one-time investment in the machine. So, the machine polishing process is cost-effective in the long run.

5.3 Batch Polishing

Batch polishing is another unique advantage of using a machine.

The machine with separators allows users to polish multiple exhaust pipes in a batch.

Thus, it saves a good amount of polishing time.

5.4 Professional Finish 

When you polish an exhaust pipe with a machine, then you can expect professional and consistent finish quality across all the exhaust pipes.

But, the finish quality may vary for different exhaust pipes if you use the hand polishing method.

So, you can avoid the finish quality issue by using an exhaust pipe polishing machine.

The process of cleaning exhaust pipes with water in a manual method will not help to bring a professional finish.

5.5 Not Labor Intensive

Exhaust pipe polishing that involves a machine requires only one person to operate the machine.

Here, the machine does the whole polishing process automatically.

But, in the traditional method, the polishing is a tedious job.

Multiple laborers are required to achieve a good yield.

5.6 No Skilled Labor Requirement

Only skilled laborers can polish the exhaust pipes properly.

So, you need to train your laborers for the hand polishing process.

With this, you will have to invest in labor training.

No skill is required to operate an exhaust pipe polishing machine. The person can easily use the user manual to learn the simple operating process.

5.7 Damage-free Polishing

If you damage the exhaust pipe while polishing, then you need to either refurbish the pipe or remove it.

Both of these processes will have an impact on the yield.

So, you need to ensure that there are no damages while polishing exhaust pipes.

Manual polishing can damage the pipes due to human error. You can avoid it completely by using a machine.

5.8 Low Maintenance Cost

Maintenance cost is one thing that most business owners are worried about when it comes to machines.

But, Inovatec exhaust pipe polishing machines don’t require much maintenance.

You can easily do any maintenance work by using simple hand tools. No additional investment is required on any maintenance tools.

6. What Are the Different Types of Machines for Polishing Exhaust Pipes?

Inovatec offers two types of machines for polishing exhaust pipes and exhaust clamps.

6.1 Tub Vibratory Finisher with Dividers

Tub vibratory finisher machine from Inovatec machinery is one of the best machines to polish exhaust pipes. The exhaust pipes are big in size. There is a chance that pipes may get damaged by hitting against each other. So, you cannot mix multiple pipes for finishing and polishing.

The tub vibratory machine has different chambers with separators to avoid part to part contact. So, you can load one exhaust pipe each in every chamber along with the tumbling media. Thus, multiple pipes will get polished at the same time.

Thus, this machine is a cost-effective solution.

6.2 Round Wall Tub Vibrator Machine

If you are looking for a high-end exhaust pipe finish, then invest in a Round Wall Tub Vibrator machine from Inovatec.

It has excellent burnishing and finishing capabilities.

You can only polish one exhaust pipe at a time. It is ideal for sensitive exhaust pipes with complex structures.

Here, vibratory energy is used for the cleaning process.

You can use porcelain or zirconia tumbling media to clean, burnish, and finish exhaust pipes in this machine.

7. What Types of Vibratory Tumbling Media Is Used for Exhaust Pipe Polishing?

Vibratory tumbling media are the substances that are added along with the exhaust pipes for deburring, cleaning, degreasing, and finishing of pipes.

Inovatec machinery recommends two types of tumbling media for polishing exhaust pipes. The choice of media is entirely dependent on the material type of the exhaust pipe.

You can also use liquids like water or other polishing agents along with the Inovatec vibratory tumbling media for the wet polishing process.

8. What Are the Different Types of Vibratory Tumbling Media for Polishing Exhaust Pipes?

8.1 Porcelain Tumbling Media

Porcelain tumbling media is best suited for exhaust pipe polishing.

It consists of aluminum oxide. It doesn’t apply much pressure on the metal surface.

So, you will get the pipes polished with less wear and tear.

Inovatec offers different shapes like cylinder, ball, triangle, and tri-star.

You can also get a customized shape from Inovatec on request.

The life-span of the porcelain media is size-dependent. So, the life-span will be more for a bigger porcelain media.

It will take 6 hours to 24 hours to complete the polishing with porcelain media. The time depends on the amount of shine required on the exhaust pipes.

8.2 Zirconia Ball Tumbling Media

The high wear resistance feature of the zirconia ball makes it a popular polishing media for exhaust pipes. Thus, it helps to reduce operational costs in the long run. Zirconia oxide (ZrO2) is the primary ingredient of these media.

Inovatec offers four types of zirconia beads for exhaust pipe polishing. The top quality one is the yttria-stabilized zirconia beads. It has 95% zirconia and 5% yttria for stabilizing.

If you are looking for cost-effective media, then go for ceria-stabilized zirconia balls. Zirconia Silicate beads and Alumina Toughened Silicate beads are the other two options from Inovatec machinery. You can get sizes from 0.3mm to 60mm.

9. What Are the Different Types of Exhaust Pipes Supported for Polishing?

Inovatec finishing and polishing machines support different types of exhaust pipes.

9.1 Stainless Steel Exhaust Pipe Header

Stainless steel headers connect the engine to pipes. They require proper finish since they are designed to handle more heat.

9. 2 Racing Car Exhaust Pipe

Exhaust pipe materials used in racing car engines must withstand high temperatures and stress. So, high-end materials are used for such exhaust pipes.

9.3 Motor Cycle Exhaust Pipe

Motorcycle exhaust pipes are made of a variety of materials. Any tub vibratory machine from Inovatec is suitable for polishing these exhaust pipes.

9.4 Ceramic Coated Exhaust Pipe

People use a ceramic coating on exhaust pipes to extend the life of the pipes. You need to use a non-abrasive tumbling media to polish ceramic coating titanium exhaust pipes.

9.5 Mild Steel Exhaust Pipe

Features like lightweight, inexpensive, and easy to work with make mild steel a good choice for exhaust pipes in the early days.

9.6 Aluminum Exhaust Pipe

Aluminum is another popular choice for exhaust pipes because of its lightweight feature.

9.7 Titanium Exhaust Pipe

Titanium exhaust pipes are relatively strong and lightweight. But they are expensive.

9.8 Nickel Alloy Exhaust Pipe (Inconel)

Inconel is a superalloy of nickel and chromium. The higher-strength and melting point of this material make it a popular choice for exhaust pipes in high-end engines.

9.9 Exhaust Clamp

Exhaust clamps are metal clamps for joining different parts of an exhaust system. They are made up of different metals. So, select a tumbling media that match the exhaust clamp material.

9.10 Single Exit Exhaust Pipe

A single exit exhaust system uses one pipe to push out the combustion gases.

9.11 Dual Rear Exit Exhaust Pipe

Dual rear exit exhaust systems will have two exhaust pipes at the backside of the vehicle.

9.12 Opposite Dual Exhaust Pipe

The opposite dual exhaust system uses two exhaust pipes at the back of the vehicle, separated by a distance.

9.13 Dual Side Exhaust Pipe

Dual side exhaust pipes are two pipes that can be located on any side of the vehicle.

9.14 High-Performance Exhaust Pipe

High-performance exhaust pipes are made of high-performance metal and metal alloys.

9.15 Lake Exhaust Pipe

Lake exhaust pipes are exhaust pipes used in the bottom of vehicles, near the doors.

9.16 Tail Exhaust Pipe

Tail exhaust pipes are pipes that come at the back of the vehicle that is connected to the exhaust system.

When you use the right tumbling media with the right type of material, then you can get the best possible finish to the exhaust pipes.

All Inovatec exhaust pipe polishing machines are capable of delivering a high-quality finish.

So, you can consider investing in one of these machines to improve your business productivity.

If you choose a tumbling media with a longer lifespan, then you will not have to make any more investment in another few years.