"I'll Tumble For Ya" was a popular song, in the early 80's by The Culture Club. I'm sure you've heard it before. You might even be humming that catchy tune to yourself as you read this. Did you know that Davies Molding will tumble for you??? Not quite the same way as described in The Culture Club's song! Here at Davies, we do shot blasting, where parts tumble in our Wheelabrator machine.
We do an extensive amount of compression molding and no matter the design of the mold, parts will have "flash" on them after they have been molded. Flash is the excess plastic that is typically found along the parting line or in molded holes on parts. To remove flash, we perform shot blasting. This is where we tumble for you!
Shot blasting is a technique that blasts an abrasive material at a part as it moves around to remove the flash. Sand is the most common abrasive material used for metal parts. We're manufacturing plastic parts, so we use walnut and pecan shells. Other organic materials used include, cherry and olive pits.
Compression molded parts are added to our Wheelabrator machines and walnut shells are blasted at them as they move around the machine. The average cycle time is 90-120 seconds. When the cycle is complete, the flash has been removed. The machine has a dust collection system that collects the particles of plastic that have been removed, along with the walnut shells used for the blasting. The parts come out of the Wheelabrator flash-free and looking great.
To learn more about our molding process and the post-molding operations we do, please visit www.daviesmolding.com or call us at 800-554-9208.
