Appreciation post: that guy who showed me why you should deburr every part

I watched a old timer at a job shop in Detroit deburr a aluminum bracket for like 5 minutes and I thought he was wasting time. Turns out he was right, that little edge left on there made the next operation a pain because the part would shift in the vise. I started spending an extra 2 minutes per part last month and my scrap rate dropped from 8% to almost zero. Has anyone else noticed a big difference just from taking the time to clean up edges before the next step?

2 comments

2 Comments

gavinlopez12d ago

Wait, who's got that kind of time in a real production environment? Look, I get that it sounds nice to be all perfect and clean, but most shops are running jobs where the part goes from the saw straight to the mill, and you're losing money every second you stand there with a file. I've seen guys spend 10 minutes deburring a single part that's gonna get thrown in a bin and beat up anyway, and the next guy just deburrs it again before welding. It's a rabbit hole. Plus, what about the parts that are specifically designed with a sharp edge for a press fit or a seal? You deburr that too much and you just created a leak path or a loose assembly, and now your scrap rate is up again for a different reason. So while I'm glad it worked for your one job, don't act like it's the magic bullet for everyone.

dakotawood12d agoMost Upvoted

@gavinlopez nailed it about press fits and seals, I've had guys take a 45 to a bore edge and next thing you know the o-ring's popping out like a bad joke. It's one of those things where you really gotta look at the print and decide if that edge is sacred or just a leftover from the plasma table.