Ball Hone

Okay, I've just read of a "ball hone" and have read a bit about 'em on the web. Sounds interesting.

Replaces the spring tension 3 legged honing tool?

What's the scoop and how to use without too much wear on walls?

Am I really that far behind the times?

no it dont replace the ridged hone. they have been around forever also. they are used for the final piston to wall clearance. first boring , then ridged use, then use ball hone. it is to produse a smoother surface for easier break in.

Go to YouTube. There are a ton of videos showing you how to use one.

Four types of hone: Machine controlled Honing (Pro rebuilders)
Sunnen Brand style straight hone
center pivot hard abrasive hone
Ball Hone
The pro rebuilders use Machines that drive the hard abrasive stone axially through the cylinder in alignment with the boring bar that was used to resize that bore. (jasper engine rebuilders and many others use that machine shop floor model tool.
The Straight hone is a parallel actuated honing system that can make a cylilnder correctly cylindrical and straight, but follows the axis of the cylinder as found (floats in the cylinder) It is best in all ways for surfacing a bore that needs to be sized to a piston after machining.
The center pivoted stone based hones, and the ball hones are not ever used (correctly) to change straightness, or roundness, or axial alignment. Both are surface finish modifiers for placing a compatible cross hatching on the metal of the cylinder wall. both conform to the existing shape of the hole, and do not correct wear. Both of these should not be used for material removal as they can (and do) make trumpet shaped irregular wear at the ends of thrir travel if attempts are made to use them for sizing. Jim

I never have and never will use the ball type hone. I have 2 or 3 of the stone type and have used them for 40 plus years so guess some times you get set in your ways. If you plan to reuse the sleeves you need a ridge reamer no matter what. By the way I just looked on the shelf and low and behold there is a piston and rod laying there from one of the 3 engines I used to build the BA

Thanks, sflem, for your reference to YouTube. I had never gone there to search for a video. Now, I've tried it and it's great. Now, I can see videos there without someone having to provide a link.

(quoted from post at 13:42:44 07/29/12) Thanks, sflem, for your reference to YouTube. I had never gone there to search for a video. Now, I've tried it and it's great. Now, I can see videos there without someone having to provide a link.

Click to expand...

I have found it pretty helpful in the past. Remember, just because it is on YouTube doesn't mean it is the correct method! (Same goes for YT for that matter) If I remember correctly one of the ball hone mfgs has a how to video and I would take their word with a lot of confidence.

equeen,

Jim in the post below explained it well.
But in laymans terms what he said was that a
ball hone is a step below a spring loaded
hone which is junk. If you are going to the
trouble to hone a cyl,at least use a sunnen
or hall none as they will correct the out of
round and taper .

george

Ball hones are fine. They are never used to straighten or increase bore size to correct piston clearance. They are used to establish that final plateau honed finish to a new cyl, or put a nice cross hatch on a slightly worn cyl. Those three legged flex hones are the ones you want to throw away. Use a good rigid hone to size or correct uneveness of cylinder.

(quoted from post at 16:09:46 07/29/12)
equeen,

Jim in the post below explained it well.
But in laymans terms what he said was that a
ball hone is a step below a spring loaded
hone which is junk. If you are going to the
trouble to hone a cyl,at least use a sunnen
or hall none as they will correct the out of
round and taper .

george

Click to expand...

I didn't read it like that. I read the post to say that every hone has it's place. From what I have seen, some machine shops are using a ball hone to put a cross hatch on.

Good or bad, right or wrong, my purpose of using the 3 prong hone on the Cub cylinders last year was merely to clean off the light rust. A few passes up and down the cylinders and they were bright and shiny.

The engine rebuild shop would have done what, if anything else, needed to be done to the cylinders.

I keep learning this other "stuff" from you folks and my head gets to a-spinning. But, it's still attached; so keep on a-teachin'.

Thanks.


I don't know