Stainless Steel Tumbling Media
Stainless Steel Tumbling Media is used for burnishing and polishing metals similarly to Carbon Steel Tumbling Media. Stainless Steel Tumbling Media reduces the need for rust inhibitors and limited storage requirements.
Stainless Steel Media | Stainless Steel Tumbling Media for Polishing and Burnishing
Stainless Steel tumbling media is used for burnishing and polishing metals, providing a dense finishing medium for applications where a bright surface, dimensional control, and long media life are important. Its substantial weight creates added pressure against parts, helping reduce finishing times while producing a polished surface.
Kramer Industries supplies Stainless Steel Media in multiple shapes and sizes for polishing, burnishing, pre-plate finishing, and surface work-hardening. The material is designed to reduce the maintenance and storage concerns associated with carbon steel media while eliminating iron impregnation during finishing processes.
Stainless Steel Media for Burnishing and Polishing
Stainless Steel Media is particularly useful when the finishing objective is a smooth, bright, highly polished surface rather than aggressive material removal. Its very high bulk density allows the media to exert significant pressure on the workpiece during tumbling, which supports efficient burnishing and polishing.
Stainless tumbling media is also useful when maintaining part dimensionality is important. For stainless tumbling media applications that require brightening without aggressive abrasion, the dense steel construction provides consistent contact across the workpiece.
The material can also impart compressive stress. Stainless tumbling media is also useful for applications where a bright, clean surface is required. It can improve pre-plate finish and reduce porosity on plated parts, making Stainless Steel Tumbling Media useful in production environments where surface quality and repeatability are important.
Choosing the Right Stainless Steel Tumbler Media
The correct shape and size depend on the part geometry, required finish, and areas that need to be reached. Round balls provide broad contact and are designed to produce a highly polished surface. Cones can provide useful contact on curved surfaces and reach areas that require more directional action.
Diagonals provide burnishing action while reaching corners and recesses. Ballcones combine characteristics of balls and cones, while ovalballs create an oscillating motion and increased surface-to-surface contact.
Pins are designed to reach recesses, grooves, holes, and threaded areas. Because pins are intended specifically for reaching recessed areas, they should be mixed with other shapes to produce balanced finishing results.
When selecting stainless steel tumbler media, size is just as important as shape. The right stainless steel tumbler media should also be selected according to the smallest openings and recesses on the part. stainless tumbling media can be selected in blends when different contact patterns are needed within the same finishing cycle.
Stainless Steel Tumbling Media for Production Finishing
Stainless Steel Tumbling Media can be used in both barrel and vibratory finishing processes. The heavy media mass creates consistent contact with the workpiece and can support shorter finishing cycles.
Stainless Steel Media is commonly used for metal polishing, surface work-hardening, increasing wear resistance, reducing metal porosity, and pre-plate finishing. It can also be used when a highly polished finish is required.
Kramer Industries offers several ready-made blends for specialized applications. The Jewelry Mix combines eclipse balls, diagonals, and pins to provide polishing action across flat areas, recesses, grooves, and corners. The Shooter’s Mix uses a different combination of shapes for cleaning and polishing while helping reduce the chance of media becoming stuck in critical areas.
Benefits of Stainless Steel Media
One of the main advantages of Stainless Steel Media is its long service life. Unlike carbon steel media, stainless material generally does not require rust inhibitors, and maintenance during overnight or extended shutdowns is considerably simplified.
Stainless tumbling media also reduces storage and handling concerns associated with carbon steel. Because it does not introduce iron through the chemical interactions associated with some carbon steel processes, it can be useful where contamination control is important.
The high density of stainless media creates strong contact between the media and parts. This helps support efficient polishing and burnishing while maintaining dimensionality. For production applications, long media life and short cycle times can contribute to consistent finishing performance.
Stainless Steel Media for Pre-Plate Finishing
For components that will receive a subsequent coating or plating process, Stainless Steel Tumbling Media can help improve the condition of the surface before the next production stage. Burnishing can create a smoother surface and improve the pre-plate finish.
The media can also reduce porosity on plated parts and impart compressive stress during processing. Kramer Industries provides multiple stainless steel shapes and blends for different finishing requirements.
For stainless steel parts specifically, the finishing objective should determine the media selection. When choosing tumbling media for stainless steel, consider whether the process needs aggressive deburring, smoothing, burnishing, or final polishing. Heavy deburring may require an abrasive media before a steel-media polishing stage, so tumbling media for stainless steel should be chosen according to the stage of the finishing process.
Selecting Tumble Polishing Stainless Steel Media
Tumble polishing stainless steel requires the right combination of media shape, size, compound, machine, and processing time. Round shapes can provide consistent contact across broad surfaces. Tumble polishing stainless steel can be especially effective when the media is selected to match the part geometry and desired brightness.
Tumble polishing stainless steel can be performed as part of a multi-stage process when parts require both material removal and a final bright finish. In such cases, an abrasive media can perform the initial deburring or smoothing stage before stainless steel media is introduced for burnishing and polishing.
For high-volume finishing, the long service life of steel media can make it suitable for repeated production cycles. The process of tumble polishing stainless steel can also be adjusted through media size, shape, compound, and cycle time. A controlled tumble polishing stainless steel process can help maintain consistent brightness across production batches.
The correct compound should also be selected to lubricate the process, carry away debris, and support the desired surface finish. Kramer Industries can help match the media and finishing approach to the part geometry and desired result.
Benefits
- Easy Handling and Storage
- Rust Inhibitors Unnecessary
- Polished Surface Finish
- Improved Wear Resistance of Parts
- Multiple Shapes and Sizes
- Long Media Lifetime
- Very High Bulk Density
- No Iron Impingement
- Maintains Part Dimensionality
- Short Cycle Times
Tumbling Applications
- Polishing Metals
- Surface Work-Hardening
- Increasing Wear Resistance of Parts
- Reducing Metal Porosity
- Pre-Plate Finishing to Improve Performance
- Highly Polished Finishes
Stainless Steel Tumbling Media Specifications
Selected shapes and sizes are available in 1, 3, 5, 10, 25, and 50-pound packages. All other Stainless Steel Media is packaged in 50 lb boxes. Additional product sizes are available upon request.
 |
 |
 |
Round Balls |
Cones |
Ovalballs |
|---|---|---|
| Overall Size | Overall Size (Size A x Size B) |
Overall Size (Size A x Size B) |
| 1/16” 3/32” 1/8” 5/32” 3/16” 7/32” 1/4” 5/16” 3/8” 7/16” 1/2“ |
1/8″ 5/32″ 3/16” (.155″ x .200″ ) 7/16″ |
1/8” (.245″ x .125″) 5/32” (.320″ x .156″) 3/16” (.380″ x .187″) 1/4” (.445″ x .250″) 5/16” (.535″ x .321″) 3/8” (.325″ x .630″) |
| Round balls without flats for more critical finishing requirements. Produces the best finish. It also creates the best surface. | Center flange and tapered crowns provide contact angles on curved surfaces. Small sizes are ideal for ornamental designs. | This shape introduces an oscillating motion to the finishing mass and provides more surface-to-surface contact than balls. |
| SDS | SDS | SDS |
 |
|
|
 |
 |
Diagonals |
Ballcones |
|---|---|
| Overall Size (Size A x Size B x Size C) | Overall Size (Size A x Size B) |
| 3/32” (.093″ x .093″ x .170″) 1/8” (.125″ x .125″ x .225″) 5/32” (.156″ x .156″ x .275″) 3/16” (.187″ x .187″ x .325″) 1/4” (.250″ x .250″ x .445″) 5/16” (.312″ x .312″ x .545″) 3/8” (.375″ x .375″ x .655″)1/16″ x 1/16″1/16″ x 3/32″ |
1/8” (.125″ x .170″) 5/32” (.215″ x .270″) 3/16” (.270″ x .300″)7/32″1/4” (.320″ x .400″) 5/16” (.375″ x .465″) 3/8″ 7/16″ 1/2″ |
| Beveled edges of diagonally cut ends provide effective finishing action in corners. The cylindrical body offers wide area contacts. Good burnishing action with the ability to reach corners and recesses. | This design combines the burnishing abilities of balls and cones into one scientifically proportioned shape. Good burnishing action with the ability to reach corners and recesses. |
| SDS | SDS |
|
|
  |
 |
Pins |
Eclipse Balls |
|---|---|
| Overall Size | Overall Size |
|
3/64″ x 1/2″ 1/16” x 9/32” |
3/32” 1/8” 5/32” 3/16” 7/32” 1/4” 5/16” 3/8” 7/16″ 1/2“ |
| Tapering to pointed ends, pins reach into recesses and grooves, de-flash through holes, and clean threaded areas. Strictly for reaching recesses. Must be mixed with other shapes to produce good results. | Round balls with slight flattening at pole ends. Precise roundness is not required for the majority of steel media finishing applications. Thus, two small flat spots at opposite poles are not objectionable. Pole-flattened balls are less expensive to manufacture and customers benefit from these economies through lower prices. |
| SDS | SDS |
|
|
Selected shapes and sizes are available in 1, 3, 5, 10, 25, and 50-pound packages. All other Stainless Steel Tumbling Media is packaged in 50 lb boxes. Additional product sizes are available upon request.
FAQs
Q1. What type of tumbling media is best for stainless steel?
The best media depends on the finishing objective. Stainless Steel Media is commonly used for burnishing and polishing, while ceramic or plastic media may be selected for earlier deburring or controlled material removal.
Q2. How long does stainless steel tumbling media last?
Stainless Steel Tumbling Media has a long service life and is designed for repeated finishing cycles. Its actual life depends on the application, machine, parts, compound, and operating conditions.
Q3. Can you use stainless steel media in a tumbler?
Yes. Stainless Steel Media can be used in barrel and vibratory tumblers for polishing, burnishing, surface work-hardening, pre-plate finishing, and other metal finishing applications.
Q4. What shape of stainless steel media should I use?
The appropriate shape depends on the part geometry and finishing requirements. Balls provide broad polishing contact, while cones, diagonals, ballcones, ovalballs, and pins can reach different surfaces, corners, grooves, holes, and recesses.
Q5. Does stainless steel media need rust inhibitor?
Stainless Steel Media generally does not require rust inhibitors, which can simplify storage and maintenance compared with carbon steel media.
Related Products
-
Premium Ceramic Tumbling Media
Price range: $34.95 through $762.85 Learn MorePremium Ceramic Tumbling Media is designed for specific applications where precision deburring and polishing is required. The smaller sizes are ideal for intricate finishing jobs. Perfect for deburring and polishing in tight areas and smaller parts.
-
Carbon Steel Tumbling Media
$0.00 Learn MoreCarbon Steel Tumbling Media is used for burnishing and polishing metals. The high bulk density exerts added pressure to a mass of parts producing a high shine in reduced finishing times. Carbon Steel Tumbling Media is also used for surface work-hardening.
-
MB Series – Heavy-Duty Grade, Mini-Bowl Style, Vibratory
$729.00 Learn MoreThe MB Series is ideal for shorter cycle times and small batch runs. Economical and durable, the MB Series are great ?starter? systems for those looking to get into mass finishing or need a unit for scale-up testing. Some systems can be upgraded for use with steel tumbling media.
