Braintree-based sub-contractor J Reeves Engineering, which specialises in machining and fabricating components and assemblies from sheet metal and tube, took delivery of a vibratory-trough deburring machine from Bletchley-based PDJ Vibro Ltd (
www.pdjvibro.co.uk) at the beginning of this year.
It joins a twin vibratory-bowl finishing and drying system from the same supplier that has given reliable service for more than 20 years.
The bowl is ideal for deburring and edge breaking of sawn and machined tube and bar. It accommodates batches of components weighing around half a tonne and finishes them automatically to a consistent and high standard.
The variability of manual finishing is eliminated, as is the labour cost associated with dedicating someone to the job. However, what the bowl does not handle well is some sheet metal parts.
If they are too long, they cannot follow the toroidal path of the abrasive media.
Moreover, parts that are too small tend to stick in the sides of the mechanism that automatically separates components after processing (the hinged arrangement that directs the finished components over a separator screen when a flap is lowered into the counter-rotating media has, by necessity, areas in which thin sheet can become wedged).
In this case, the solution suggested by PDJ Vibro was a Model 300DB trough. With this unit, the vibrations cause the ceramic abrasive media to tumble linearly across the width of the machine, rather than take a toroidal route, allowing batches of sheet metal components up to the internal length of the trough (787mm) to be finished automatically.
As with tube and bar parts, the benefits are consistency of finish and the elimination of labour cost.
The 300-litre trough is made of heavy-gauge steel that is coated with rust-inhibiting enamel and a hard-wearing polyurethane lining, thereby ensuring that it will last as long as J Reeves’ long-serving vibratory bowl.
A fluid-pumping system that includes container, hoses and fittings has been supplied for recirculating a surface-finishing compound.
Jerry Reeves, who started the privately owned family business in 1976, said: “Earlier this year, we started receiving orders for more repetition parts in sheet metal.
The ability to do away with the cost of hand finishing justified our purchase of the trough, which conveniently requires only a single-phase electricity supply.
When I phoned PDJ Vibro, I received the same prompt service from the second-generation directors as I did from the company’s founder — John Hurley — back in the mid-90s. This prompted me to go with the same supplier.”
There was another aspect of the PDJ Vibro approach that Mr Reeves appreciated. Bearing in mind that such finishing machines are relatively low-cost items, it did not make sense for him to drive for nearly two hours to the supplier’s showroom to see the trough demonstrated, so he bought it unseen on a sale-or-return basis.
Most of J Reeves Engineering’s work comes from firms within a 30-mile radius of Braintree, although the furthest customer is 160 miles away in Wimborne.
A hallmark of the business — and a prime reason for its success — is the quality of the assemblies supplied. Mr Reeves says: “Every order is a priority, and there is no room to have a bad day”.
The materials processed include steels and non-ferrous metals, such as stainless steel and aluminium. All these materials are suitable for processing in the PDJ Vibro equipment.