Media Finish

At Northern Industrial Manufacturing our media finish expertise enables us to achieve the perfect surface finish for your parts. Our media finish services provide significant advantages to your project’s part production needs. Media finish results in an exceptionally smooth, uniform finish.

Media finish is especially important for high quality precision shims. The quality of precision shims can easily be diminished by burrs or rust. If precision shims aren’t deburred or media finished, then not only could workers accidently cut themselves with the burrs on the outer edge, but the precision shims will end up scratching up any shaft they’re placed in with the inner edge. Media finish not only improves the quality of manufactured parts and make them look pretty, but it makes the edges of the parts really smooth and safe to touch.

Our media finish experts know what options work best for your specific material and surface finish requirements and will adjust our advanced technologies to meet the needs of your unique project. This flexibility enables us to deliver the highest quality parts as quickly, affordably and efficiently as possible. Northern Industrial Manufacturing is your turnkey partner for even the most challenging projects. Our extensive array of manufacturing technologies, including our media expertise, will bring your parts to market on time – with assistance from prototype to volume production.

MEDIA FINISH

What Is Media Finish

Media finish, also known as deburring, is an industrial process of removing burrs or rough edges created as the result of fabricating parts from metal stamping or machining. There are several different methods of media finish. Which method customers select depends on the method of fabrication, and the industry the parts were fabricated for. It also depends on the manufacturing budget and desired benefits from the chosen media finish method. At Northern Industrial Manufacturing, we apply a dry to touch rust inhibitor to help with shelf life at the time of media finish.

Burrs are sharp, rough edges and/or sharp bits of material that remain on the edges of parts after stamping or machining. They’re inevitably created as an effect of these operations, regardless of the process used, on the fabricated parts. If the parts are not properly deburred, then the sharp edges could end up cutting someone, which makes these parts a hazard, even if it’s unintentional. When parts are being assembled into complex systems such as automotive transmissions, front axles, rear axles, or engines, any burrs left on parts will negatively impact performance.

Media finish not only improves the quality of manufactured parts and make them look finished, but also makes the edges of the parts smooth and safe.

Media Finish Methods

The simplest form of media finish method is manual media finish, which is when a person uses a low-cost tool to manually remove burrs from the part. The low-cost tool can be a file, scraper, sandpaper, or even stones, and reamers. Manual media finish allows the worker to immediately inspect the part after media finish, which is beneficial for parts with tight tolerances or complex designs.

Another media finish method is electrochemical media finish, which is when the area where the burr is located is soaked in a salt or glycol solution. Then electricity is applied to the area, which dissolves the burr. This process can only be active for 5-10 seconds, which is around the time it takes to dissolve the burr, so the rest of the part is unaffected. This method is useful for media finish in out of reach areas of a part.

Then there is mechanical media finish, which is when a machine is used to deburr the part instead of manual media finish done by a worker. Mechanical media finish is also useful for when media finish operations need to be completed at a quicker rate for parts manufactured in high quantity. Northern Industrial Manufacturing employs the mechanical media finish operations to ensure parts are delivered to customers free and clear of burrs and have a long shelf life to be rust free. Precision shims are usually deburred by mechanical media finish as they are usually manufactured in high quantity.

MEDIA FINISH

In an effort to vertically integrate our process and enhance our supply chain flexibility, Northern Industrial Manufacturing has developed an internal process for improving the surface finish and removing sharp burrs from our product.

We use high volume batch vibratory media finish equipment and are able to remove the potential for burrs developed during the stamping process, keeping our customers and employees safe. With batch sizes as large as 50,000 pieces, Northern Industrial Manufacturing has the ability to produce your parts entirely in house.

The benefits of Media Finishing include: