I'm picking up one of these and would be grateful for any tips or techniques. I understand the desired result is a nice cross hatch pattern accquired with a slow rpm on the drill while moving up and down in the cylinder. Could anyone be more specific? Is a lube or cutting fluid required?
I'm picking up one of these and would be grateful for any tips or techniques. I understand the desired result is a nice cross hatch pattern accquired with a slow rpm on the drill while moving up and down in the cylinder. Could anyone be more specific? Is a lube or cutting fluid required?
Speed "as low as you can get it" 60 - 120 rpm perhaps
Feed "whatever it takes to achieve an included angle of approx 45 degrees in the crosshatch" - please note, INCLUDED angle, not the total angle.
The thing has a spring-loaded flexible coupling so that slight misalignment of your drill motor to the tool can be accommodated, but try to hold the drill pretty close to centered so that the flexible coupling doesn't run out of travel.
I used WD40, rightly or wrongly.
When you want to finish up a cylinder, either to have a look or when you declare it to be good enough, keep the drill motor turning as you pull the tool out of the cylinder so as to not produce any vertical score marks.
Clean the bore very thoroughly afterward. WD40 on a white paper towel, wipe off the inside of the cylinder, repeat until you see no greyish grit coming out with your paper towel.
I am absolutely not an expert in the use of these. On an engine that really matters, take it to someone who knows what they are doing. There is a lot more science in achieving a good ring-seal that achieves all of (a) doesn't leak compression and (b) doesn't lead to the engine being an oil-burner and (c) holds up in the long term, and it has to do with both the surface finish and the type of piston rings used. (b) is especially hard to achieve. (I didn't.)
The feed and speed that gives you a 45 degree pattern... it takes some practice. You have more control the slower you go. Slow is good, hopefully you can catch it before you wear a hole through the cylinder liner....
It is probably easier to put the hone in a drill press and use the gib handle... but it'll make a mess... LUBE EVERYWHERE.
You want lube... doesn't really matter what, you can use water if you want, WD40 is popular and I bet you have some. What ever you use, use LOTS.
A ball hone is easier to use, but a bar hone does a better job (you can see low spots), is faster and it's a LOT easier to get 45 degree cross hatch.
Try to distract the wife and wash the cylinder in the dishwasher when you're done. Works great.
If some one asks for tips, I usually point them to the safest option. 3 stone hones work great, in experienced hands they can fix small issues and create a great finish. But they can remove a lot of material quickly, not uncommon to butcher a cylinder while learning.
Dingleberry hones are easier to use and do not remove material quickly or unevenly. Better imho for learning.
It’s kinda like mig vs tig for learning to weld sheet metal. Both work, but mig is a lot easier to learn and less likely bugger your learner projects.
With a 3 stone hone, you can control the force the stone puts on the cylinder, therefore controlling how fast you're honing, you can't do that with a ball hone.
Take the hone, and CRANK down the preload, so the stones are hardly touching the cylinder walls, and you can practice cylinder honing till the cows come home and you won't wear out anything but your arm... and if you've never honed anything before... it's probably a good idea to do just that, till you GET the 45 degrees, once you get the rhythm, crank up the preload and hone the cylinders. If you're going to "practice", if you blue the cylinders first, it's easier to see the grind marks... and if you don't have "blue" and hi-liter or magic marker works
Honing is NOT supposed to remove material , nor do you "clean up" a cylinder with a hone. The ONLY purpose of a hone is to get cross hatch.
A ball hone is to deglaze, not grind cross hatch
If you're hacking stones while honing, your surface wasn't ready to hone.
... and I forgot to mention: in favour of using a drill press: it is VITAL you keep the hone centered in the bore.
Struggling with what you mean by this. Do you mean that instead of seeing sideways squares (with 90degreee corners) I see diamonds with 45 degrees at the ends and 135degrees in the middle?
I have set of jugs that will only be good for going to oversized pistons (damaged from being seized) so this will be my training unit.
Flex-Hone tools don’t require special training, but users need to understand the basics of cross-hatch patterns for optimal cylinder wall surface finishing.
Thanks all. I knocked together some scrap wood to hold the head while I did it. Also made a quick cardboard splatter shield to contain the lube. Honed my skill (pun intended) on the jugs that need 1st over and then tackled the real one.
Went very well. I'll try and post a pic.
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