Vent: I keep hearing guys swear by the old manual shakeout method over a vibratory table.

We ran a side by side test last month on a batch of 200 small gear castings. The vibratory table cleared the sand in 15 minutes with two guys, while the manual crew took over an hour and had way more broken edges. The time and breakage difference is just too big to ignore, even if some folks say it 'feels' more controlled by hand. Anyone else actually measured the results and found the same thing?

4 comments

4 Comments

emma_jones29d ago

Exactly. Numbers don't lie. Seen the same thing in a shop I worked with. That "feel" argument falls apart when you're looking at the scrap pile and the clock. The manual method just can't match the consistency. You get tired, you press harder in spots, that's where the breaks happen. The table does the same thing every time. Stick with what the test showed you.

derek_stone9829d ago

Listen to Emma, scrap metal doesn't care about your feelings.

wood.jana28d ago

My buddy learned that lesson the hard way, just like derek_stone98 said, after his "feel" broke a whole batch.

angelamurphy1h ago

That "feel" argument is about control, but you lose control of your own fatigue. A tired guy on hour two is the least consistent machine in the shop. The table wins because it never gets sore.