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Deburr before flaring

How are you deburring your aluminum tubing before flaring? Deburring blade on the tubing cutter? File? Scotchbrite wheel? A specific deburring tool? If this has been covered in another thread, please let me know.
 
Just me

I use a countersink by hand for the inside. Sandpaper for the outside. The tubing Vans uses is really soft. Just make sure you dont scratch the inside of the tube away from the end; poor technique could leave a scratch in the shape of a ring an 1/8” or so down the inside of the tube which could lead to failure of the tube in vibration environments , or a leak.
 
Debur tube

I debur the cutting ring out of the inside with a hand deburring tool then square up the edge on the scotchbrite wheel. Beford flaring, I polish the end on a flat steel block like a tungsten bar with 400. Clean really good then flare.
 
I learned some good tricks here in A&P school from our teacher.

Use the tubing cutter and give yourself just a millimeter or so extra (thickness of a dime). This will account for the length lost by the flaring.

Use a deburring tool like this model from SkyGeek. This will get the large burrs removed.

Take a small block of wood (like 3/4" thick, 2"x 2"), and use a drill press to drill a hole the size of the outer diameter of the tubing so it can be tightly pressed into the block. Put the tubing in the block with just a tiny bit proud of the surface of the block of wood. Lay down some sandpaper on a flat surface and use the block with the tubing in it to lightly sand away at the end of the tubing to get a nice squared off end to the tubing.

Final step is to polish the end you just sanded with some fine scotchbrite, then do your flaring. If you want to go crazy, use a buffing wheel with some polish.

The main consideration is to get a perfect 90 degree end on the tubing, and completely smooth edges so that no stress cracks will form during the flaring.
 
The tubing cutter is hit or miss for me with flares. I use the smallest one I can and it still deforms the soft aluminum tube. If used on stainless tube, it work hardens the tube and leads to cracks in the flare. I started using an abrasive cut-off wheel then squaring the tube end with a sanding disk. All my cracking issues went away.
 
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