Confessions of a deburring butcher

Flynth said:
Regarding deburring. I have a one of those deburring tools mentioned. I'm not a huge fan of it. Sometimes it works well. Especially when deburring holes. Still a chamfering cutter in a cordless drill is much better. For long straight sections the deburring tool it is pretty bad. It either digs in, or it skates over the surface.

While squaring stock that will be machined further I deburr with a large flat file. When I'm doing a precision part, or I want it to look good I'll deburring with needle files, then I might stone the edges too.
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I have the opposite experience with deburring tools. I find a long straight is not hard, it's the short and beginning that are difficult.
I make sure I use the safety nub to control depth, and prevent dig in. I cannot get the typical deburring tool to work for an outside round or again a short piece of squared off stock. For those a file is my weapon of choice. And if I use a deburring tool on a larger piece, I go back and file the starting area, or try a triangle deburrer.
 
Flynth said:
That's a great idea. I have to try this. Thanks :)

I've been looking for a set of good files, buying lots of crappy ones online until I found these Polish made needle files (by Befana-Vis company). The quality is very good and the price was cheap. If you can get them I highly recommend them.

I also got a number of large files made by a different local company. They are of great quality too.

When I was looking for needle files I often came across good quality Japanese and German files. They looked great too, but a needle file is a consumable and I would hate to break a $10 needle file. I paid ~$13 for a whole set of these so I'm not afraid to use them. Still I haven't broken a single one. Even the super sharp tip of the round file.

(yes they are dirty - I use them often)
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I use a brass bristle brush to clean my big files. I don't clean the needle files. I sometimes blow compressed air on them. That's it. I have to try the ultrasonic cleaner tip.

Now, let's briefly talk about Chinese files as through buying so many of them looking for quality at low price I "discovered" few facts.

- Traditional needle and big files Chinese make for export are horrible. Perhaps if one needs the steel to make a scraper they are a good deal, but not to be used as files.
- However, Chinese made metal bonded diamond files (needle too) are really good (and still cheap). I used a set of these before I got my current set and there was nothing wrong with them.

Regarding deburring. I have a one of those deburring tools mentioned. I'm not a huge fan of it. Sometimes it works well. Especially when deburring holes. Still a chamfering cutter in a cordless drill is much better. For long straight sections the deburring tool it is pretty bad. It either digs in, or it skates over the surface.

While squaring stock that will be machined further I deburr with a large flat file. When I'm doing a precision part, or I want it to look good I'll deburring with needle files, then I might stone the edges too.
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I was looking hard at the exact set in your post because they aren't crazy expensive and they come in 0 cut.

Instead I bought a few lots of files in 0 cut I know I'll use the most like the crossing, equalling, 3 square, and barrette from Switzerland, Germany, and the US.
 
It's crazy how much I've learned about files in the last week. My old files are pretty great used more carefully but the new files I've bought in the process have been amazing.

The Dick Esslinger needle files and the Grobet Vallorbe needle files are unbelievable quality. The old AM Swiss files are really good.

Now I have some direction instead of flea market buying anything relatively new and cheap.
 
BTW, this thread is about files, but also about deburring so let me say a good 100~120 grit, hard , open structured, vitrified, stone is very good for deburring.

For example where I live there is this sharpening stone that has traditionally been used to sharpen scythes (by farmers before mechanisation). It is silicone carbide and very hard. It is important the stone is vitrified (the bond is glass like) and very hard not to dig into the items being deburred, also not to loose grit. Open pore structure prevents it from becoming packed with swarf easily.

It looks like this:
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(Andre is local abrasives manufacturer, 98C120 is the type of grit). Those stones often can be had for $1~$5 depending if on sale etc.

One can make really tiny barely visible even chamfers with a stone like this. The shape is handier than the usual cube.

A slight disadvantage of using a stone is that the part needs to be cleaned afterwards (with compressed air for example), because some grit is lost by the stone and remains on the part.
 
I bought several smaller files at the flea market today. Most of them went right into vinegar for clean up. I'll post pictures of the interesting ones after they are cleaned up.
 
Batmanacw said:
I bought several smaller files at the flea market today. Most of them went right into vinegar for clean up. I'll post pictures of the interesting ones after they are cleaned up.
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How do you stop the files from flash rusting after soaking in vinegar?
 
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