Honing

redvan22

redvan22

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Hello again,
I'm building a small steam engine and I'm going to be boring the cylinder to a specific size of 0.625"

I need to hone this cylinder and while looking online for a hone of that size (which I found much to my disbelief) they mentioned a finish of 35-50 Microinch(.9-1.4 Micrometer) (is this 0.9-1.4 thousands of an inch?) and this made me think that I might need to bore the cylinder undersize to allow for material removal.

Honing a cylinder is new to me and I have only one shot to get it right so please let me know if I'm understanding this correctly.

Thank you,
Michael
 
I would be of the mind of doing it on a scrap piece, if I only had one shot.
I’d bore to .623” and have a go with the hone, being careful to measure after every couple passes

Good luck!
 
1 Micron (micro-meter) is equal to 0.00003937". ~ 4 millionth of an inch.

What type of hones are you looking to use?
 
DAT510 said:
1 Micron (micro-meter) is equal to 0.00003937". ~ 4 millionth of an inch.

What type of hones are you looking to use?
Click to expand...
Not being familiar with honing, I went to Amazon and found a 5/8" brush type.
 
Ulma Doctor said:
I would be of the mind of doing it on a scrap piece, if I only had one shot.
I’d bore to .623” and have a go with the hone, being careful to measure after every couple passes

Good luck!
Click to expand...
I haven't made the piston yet so if I go oversize I can compensate but I'd rather stay within specs.
 
redvan22 said:
Not being familiar with honing, I went to Amazon and found a 5/8" brush type.
Click to expand...
Brush or Ball/Berry type hones are great for creating the cross-hatch pattern needed to seat the piston rings, but they aren't particularly good at increasing diameters or for creating "parallel walls", as they have point type contact patches.

Thinking off hand... You might look at brake cylinder hones. They use flat stones, very similar to the stones used by Engine Cylinder Honing machines. They also can be adjusted for (Expansion) pressure, for lighter or heavier honing. Certain models also have different stone hardnesses available.
51iY0l5-5nL._AC_SL1500_.jpg
 
DAT510 said:
Brush or Ball/Berry type hones are great for creating the cross-hatch pattern needed to seat the piston rings, but they aren't particularly good at increasing diameters or for creating "parallel walls", as they have point type contact patches.

Thinking off hand... You might look at brake cylinder hones. They use flat stones, very similar to the stones used by Engine Cylinder Honing machines. They also can be adjusted for (Expansion) pressure, for lighter or heavier honing. Certain models also have different stone hardnesses available.
View attachment 484758
Click to expand...
I looked at these but couldn't find one small enough. The smallest I could find was 7/8" for brake cylinders.
 
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