What You Need To Know About Ceramic Tumbling Media

If you’re looking to polish metals, figuring out what type of tumbling media to use can be tricky. Here’s what you need to know about ceramic tumbling media—learn more about each kind of ceramic tumbling media to decide what’s is right for you.

Why People Use Ceramic

Ceramic can be an excellent tumbling medium for hard metals. It’s a reusable medium that produces little dust, and it can effectively clean, deburr, and polish most metals. When used in a vibratory finishing machine, it’s excellent for giving metals a smooth surface and bringing them to a high shine.

The Cons of Ceramic Media

Ceramic media are very heavy media, so they can cost more to ship than other types of tumbling media. Ceramic media may also deburr too much, depending on how you use it. For example, your ceramic media may eliminate the threads if you polish a piece with fine lines. Ceramic media may also be too hard for softer metals such as brass and aluminum. Also, they can occasionally chip and create divots or other undesired results in your materials.

The Types of Ceramic Media

Ceramic media can come in many shapes, sizes, and grit sizes, and you’ll need to know what’s best for the project you’re working on. Grit sizes are simple: the smaller the grit, the brighter and shinier the resulting polish will be. The larger the grit you use, the more deburring potential you’ll have, but you’ll also have a duller resulting product.

Furthermore, angular media break through lots of material, while round media provide a more delicate polish that creates an even, smooth surface. When you’re choosing a media size for your project, consider the size of the parts you’re trying to polish. Larger pieces will require larger media, while smaller parts will require smaller media.

Should You Use Ceramic

Now that you understand everything you need to know about ceramic tumbling media, it’s time to decide if ceramic media is right for you. Ceramic can be a great tumbling medium to cut through burrs and bring metals to a high-shine polish. However, if you’re tumbling a softer metal or a metal with fine threads, you may be better off with plastic tumbling media.

Whatever you choose, consider polishing your metals in one of our vibratory finishing machines. AccuBrass offers high-quality finishing machines to bring your metal to a bright, lustrous shine. Polish your metals with AccuBrass today!