Deburring Debuts: Feature Article

Machining firms in North America have a couple of new toolholder options designed to help users automate and improve edge-finishing operations.

The products are additions to the FM-DBR7 line of deburring holders developed by the Japanese firm Kato Manufacturing Co. Ltd. and sold in North America by Bel Air Finishing Supply Corp. in North Kingston, Rhode Island. Patented in Japan and suitable for CNC machining centers and robotic systems, FM-DBR7 holders feature special load mechanisms that enable front-, back- and dual-side deburring in a variety of production scenarios.

Traditionally, deburring has relied heavily on manual processes that require a good deal of time-consuming setup and maintenance and also produce inconsistent edge-finishing quality, noted Steve Alviti Jr., vice president of Bel Air Finishing. Alviti said the quality issues “were especially significant during high-volume production, where you get a lot of variance and rejected pieces.” So Kato’s goal was to create reliable toolholders that can adapt to some variety in part tolerance in order to allow stable deburring that can be maintained during long hours of continuous machining.

New to the North American market, Kato’s FM-DBR7-1D series deburring toolholder is designed for automated top and bottom (tension and compression) deburring of machined holes in one pass, eliminating tool changes. By compensating for workpiece dimensional changes during production runs, its telescopic compression/tension mechanism is meant to ensure consistent deburring volume and stable cutting performance even in high-mix, variable-batch operations. Originally developed for cast iron, the 1D series now includes three holder options that each provide a specific spring load — light, medium or aggressive — for the different cutting- pressure requirements of a variety of materials, including aluminum and stainless steel.

Bel Air’s other new holder offering is a product recently introduced by Kato, the FM-DBR7-SC, which is designed specifically for front-side deburring and chamfering. The SC features an adjustable spring-load mechanism that maintains consistent cutting pressure during machining of parts with minor height or dimensional variations. The unique four-stage mechanism can switch between pressures ranging from “soft” to “very hard.”