The document describes Turbo-Abrasive Machining (TAM), a dry finishing process that uses horizontal spindles and a fluidized abrasive bed to deburr and finish complex rotating components. TAM produces isotropic surfaces with beneficial compressive stresses. It is an automated alternative to manual deburring that reduces cycle times and eliminates wastewater. TAM can process parts as small as 2 inches or as large as 48 inches in diameter for industries such as aerospace, power generation, automotive, and others.

1. Dry operation. Turbo-Finish produces both smoothing
and polished surface effects with an entirely dry opera-
tion. No wet waste effluent is generated.
Horizontal Spindle Operation. Unlike other spindle
methods, the Turbo-Finish method utilizes horizontal
spindles, accommodating several parts or part fixtures
on the same spindle or on multiple processing spindles.
Unique abrasive delivery system (fluidized bed) as-
sures uniform processing of all parts on the spindle.
The abrasive fluidized bed permits high-speed rota-
tional operation. Speeds of 800- 2000 rpm are com-
monly specified
Rapid edge and surface finish development. Unlike
other spindle-finish methods, spindle rotating speeds in
the hundreds and even thousands rpm are possible
because of Turbo-Finish’s unique media delivery sys-
tem for abrasive media.
Economical Tooling and Media. Much of the work-
holding tooling can be made from various plastic mate-
rials and still maintain extended service life.
Smaller diameter parts such as turbo-charger ro-
tors can also be run in multiple spindle equipment with
very short cycle times
The micro-impact of small abrasive particles and the
high velocity of the part rotation produce beneficial
compressive stresses and also improve the surface
integrity and fatigue resistance of many types of critical
components
Turbo-Abrasive Machining (also referred to as Turbo
-Finish) is a mechanical deburring and finishing
method originally developed to automate edge finish-
ing procedures on complex rotating aerospace engine
components. Since its inception this method of utilizing
fluidized abrasive materials has facilitated significant
reductions in the amount of manual intervention re-
quired to deburr large components. Additionally, the
process has also proved to be useful in edge and
surface finishing a wide variety of other non-rotational
components by incorporating these components into
fixturing systems. The advantages of this method go
beyond the simple removal of burrs. The method is
also capable of producing surface conditions at these
critical edge areas that contribute to increased service
life and functionality of parts that are severely stressed
in service. Among these advantages are::
(1) The creation of isotropic surfaces.
(2) The replacement of positively skewed surface
profiles with negative or neutral skews
(3) The development of beneficial compressive
stress.
TURBO-FINISH Corporation
25 Williamsville Road
(P. O. Box 344)
Barre, Massachusetts 01005
917.518.8205
michael@turbofinish.com
http://turbofinish.com.
Aerospace Industry
Turbine and compressor discs
Turbine blades
Turbine impellers
Turbine blisks
Gears for wind power turbines
(up to 40” in diameter)
Cutting tools
Taps
Drills
Hobs
Milling cutters
Power generation Industry
Turbine discs
(up to 1200mm+ in diameter)
Automobile industry
Automotive transmission
Gears
Clutch plates
Other applications
Boat or ship propellers
Medical parts, e.g. bone
screws
Jewelry parts
10 - 12 October 2017 | Trade Fair
Center at Karlsruhe, Germany
Trade Fair for Deburring Technolo-
gy and Precision Surfaces. See
Turbo-Finish in Booth 204
State of the Art Automated Deburring for Rotating Hardware.
BEFORE
AFTER

2. This Model TF-522 Turbo-Abrasive Machining Center is
capable of processing spindle mounted parts in a high-
speed dry finishing process called Turbo-Finish. The fix-
tured parts are processed through fine abrasive and or
when required, polishing grits to deburr, edge-contour and
develop needed surface finishes in an entirely dry pro-
cess, eliminating the need for wet waste treatment and
disposal of an effluent stream common to most other
mass media finishing processes. This machine processes
aerospace disks up to 500mm or 20 inches in diameter.
TF Models are available for processing parts as small as 2
inches (50mm) and as large as 48 inches (1200mm)
Equipment can be engineered to meet your production
deburring and edge finishing requirements. The process
develops isotropic surfaces simultaneously
TAM processing produces superi-
or metal fatigue resistance by
developing a compressive stress
equilibrium in the disk components
Conventional machined surfaces
are converted to isotropic surfaces
by blending in machining marks or
notches that are potential crack
propagation points
Abrasive Material such as Alumi-
num Oxide, Zirconium Oxide are
used.
Polishing and Micro-Finishing
media such as soft granulates can
develop lower micro-inch surfaces
and develop refined reflective
surfaces to assist visual inspection
Surface roughness pattern or
texture orientation to vector
Various abrasive grits are used
Multiple processes on the same
part can used successively finer
abrasive materials to achieve very
fine edge and surface finishes
when required
COLD PROCESSING
TF is a cold process, it causes no
structural phase transformation on
the surface. The TF technology
increases the service life from
30% to 100%, depending of the
part material (nickel alloy, stain-
less steel, titanium, etc.)
• Numerous advantages when compared with other mechanical finishing technolo-
gies
• Automation and mechanization of deburring for complex rotating parts. Edge
contour, surface-finishing improvement and compressive stresses developed on
parts SIMULTANEOUSLY
• Manual processes consuming many hours are minimized andreduced to automated
machining cycles of only a few minutes
• High flow of dry abrasive particles allows penetration of an abrasive action on
many difficult to access part areas
• Low energy consumption (unlike blasting, peening or other pressure or impact
processes)
• Low consumables cost. The current track record indicates that abrasive costs per
disk are approximately $USD 0.15 per disk for 10 inch disks (250mm), and $USD
0.50 for 20 inch disks (500mm)
• TF technology, in addition to producing a good radius on the feature can create an
isotropic surface finish. The isotropic surface effect minimizes potential crack propa-
gation points and improves stress equilibrium among part features. All common
machining and manual finishing methods produce non isotropic but linear character-
istics. This contributes to tension concentration of the sharp surface peaks and
easier crack propagation
• Rapid simple operation well suited to single piece continuous flow and cellular
operations
Uniformity/Consistency: Unlike single point of contact methods (manual, robotic, chamfering by milling) TF produces edge
contour on part features simultaneously and identically. Not only are beneficial compressive stresses imparted to the fea-
tures, but as part features are treated identically, an overall stress equilibrium is set in the