• International Journal of Precision Engineering and Manufacturing
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.34-38
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• 2008

Commercially available magnetic barrel machines equipped with permanent magnets have certain limitations: work can only be finished effectively in limited areas of the container because permanent magnets are arranged two-dimensionally on the magnet disk. We overcame this problem by developing a new magnetic barrel machine equipped with a three-dimensional magnet arrangement. The effectiveness of the new machine has already been reported; this study improved the machine's polishing ability by changing the polarity of magnets on a magnet block. Polishing experiments confirmed the most effective arrangement of magnets on the magnet block. An alternating arrangement of north and south poles produced far superior polishing characteristics than a uniform arrangement of the same pole facing outward. Alternating polarity probably causes increased quantities of barrel media to work together. Finally, we introduced stronger permanent magnets to the magnet block, and found that the increased magnetic field also improved polishing ability.