Vibrating barrel polishing is a method of applying zigzag motion and high cyclic vibrations on barrel contained parts and polishing agents.

There are box type and circle type of vibrating barrels. The former performs one dimensional motion whereas the latter performs three dimensional motion.

The vibrating barrel, similar to the rotary barrel counterpart, also uses the parts and abrasives together in the barrel to polish.

The [Fig.1] shows the flow of the barrel contents, and [Fig.2] shows external appearances of the machines.

In general, 7~5mm at 1,800~2,400cpm vibrations for heavy cutting. For gloss finish polishing, the vibration speed in increased to 2,000~2,800cpm while the amplitude is decreased to 5~3mm.

The most important point for barrel polishing is the selection of the abrasives, as it is common for a various barrel polishing types.
As polishing abrasives, there are various shapes and sizes of ceramic materials commercially available.
The shapes and sizes are selected from: diamond shape, triangle, oval, spherical, and granular depending on the polishing subject.
Compounds are added for grinding, polishing, or gloss finishing purposes, and act as agents to lubricate, de-scale, and to prevent from rusting. Some alkali salts such as 0.5~0.8% of sodium stearate soap and sodium phosphate are also used.
When the polishing is finished, the parts and abrasives are separated by magnetic separation if ferrous, or by sieving otherwise.