Metal finishing Q&As since 1989

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Mirror finish on aluminum from burnishing or vibratory?

I'm looking in to new ways for my company to polish our alumimum. Right now we use polishing wheels and compounds to achieve a mirror finish before anodizing the aluminum pieces. Is it possible to get the same type of mirror finish with vibratory or burnishing? Are the two processes the same it seems some sites I've looked at describe them to be the same thing.

Thanks in advance,

Joe North
- Miami, Florida, USA
2005

A. I just had an article published in May's "The Fabricator" concerning confusion about the terminology finishing. There is negative A and positive B system ( my designation ). Anodizing is a positive B and mechanical finishing is a negative A system. One removes material negatively and one produces a positive B added value to the material. In your case the mirror finish can be achieved using vibes, but because you did not provide enough info about the parts, I can not determine the steps.

AF Kenton
retired business owner - Hatboro, Pennsylvania
2005

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Q. Thanks for you reply, I will look for your write up. Basically we use 6061 and 6063 tube or flat bar. the tube sections are about 8-10" long and ~2" O.D. The bar is punched to various sizes round and square no bigger than 5" each way and is ~1/4" thick. Thanks again for all your help.

Joe North
- Miami, Florida, USA
2005

A. Joe, your parts are a good candidate for mass finishing systems. I think you can also blend in the weld area better than what I see from the visuals. You have a nice finish on these parts right now and if you want to match those results you may have to go to a 3 step process. There are a couple of ways to go, but you need to get to around a 16 RMS to achieve the finish I see. AF Kenton retired business owner - Hatboro, Pennsylvania 2005 Q. I was wondering if I include two photos in my post to better describe my problem. Joe North - Miami, Florida, USA 2005