Which ball hone abrasive are you using?

[PES+]

It never occurred to me until just recently that many people are using the silicon carbide ball hones and following the ball hone company recommended oversize diameter.

I only use aluminum oxide abrasives to clean out chrome and nicasil and slight under size.

 

[Haywire Haywood]

I thought I read somewhere that the 3 stone type glaze breaker was recommended because the ball hones get in the ports and do some kind of damage. I don't know, I don't have any experience in that area.

Ian

 

[Four Paws]

320 grit Silicon Carbide. Sized appropriately for the bore.

 

[PES+]

Why the harder abrasive choice?

Why the silicon carbide as a choice though 4 paws?

The theory that I was taught and shown with nikasil is that it does not use a cross hatch to hold it's oil film but it holds the oil in the silicon

The carbide ball hone is about the same hardness as the nikasil and I have now seen the results of someone over using one in a nikasil plated bore.

Not pretty

Are people still of the mind that a nikasil bore needs a crosshatch to hold oil?

I'll leave the three stone hone benefits and disadvantages out of this discussion for the time being.

 

[Four Paws]

Harder abrasive choice, but a finer grit. Are you using 240 AO or 320?

I use them mostly to de-glaze the cylinder - if a piston is stuck, I always use muriatic acid to clean the transfered aluminum off the bore prior to hitting it with the hone.

Never really gave it much thought - about the oil retention properties of nikasil. I am looking for a decently uniform surface to wear new rings in. So far the SC has worked fine for me.

 

[Lakeside53]

If no cross hatch was required, why would they be that way from the factory and not just "polished"?


I use 320 SC slightly oversized (to give tension on the cylinder walls) and have been very happy with the results. A few years back I only used 180 because they were cheap and available locally, but thought they were a bit coarse. Never had any failures or issues with them though.

 

[PES+]

IF there is a definate right or wrong I have yet to find it

I use the softer and coarser grit and then clean and clean again.

I think a lot of people wonder and I have never found anything close to an absolute answer for any source regarding the balls hones.

I also use acid but am quite careful with it as I have had problems with snowmobile cylinders that have been "cleaned" by others that when sent out for replate were rejected due to lack of care with the acid.

scrapers to remove the bulk of the acid treated do most of the piston aluminum removal from the bore then a quick clean up of the bore after neutralizing the acid is what I always try to do and it works for me.

I personally think that a harder material choice for the abrasive to too risky and did not realize how many do use the silicon carbide for clean up

Whatever works for an individual with success is what that persons choice is.

It is fortunate that replating cylinders is not cost effective for chainsaws as it makes it far less likely that a service tech can get caught in the middle of who did what with what tool and the reason for additional cost on a replate.