I'm told it's called a "rabbit turds" hone . . .

I call them a similar name, "Dingleberry Hone". These work fine for a quick pass to prep for new rings.

The three hone one with some light cutting oil (Marvel Mystery Oil) is the way I would/did go. Just don't pull it too far out of the barrel; tends to trumpet mouth the barrel. Work it back and forth to get the cross hatch pattern.

El Paso Bob again

Rocky, Both are adequete and the ball one is much more forgiving. If you are not careful you can easily break a stone on the three armed one. I have always used the ball type.

-- the Grokdoc Tom Malmevik all that groks is god

67 Baja "marti"

One thing to remember, the rabbit turd type, although is very easy and forgiving, it will do nothing if you have a taper or slightly out-of-round condition in your cylinders. The three stone type, will show this condition as you hone and if you have one of the better models with adjustable tension and variuos grit stones, you can actually correct these conditions with some persistance. The rabbit turd type became popular for rebuilding wheel cylinders years ago, where you have a rubber cup that would take up any variance in the bore. Just another opinion.

Thanks, Butch

The ball type is called a Flex Hone. It is really a much more sophisticated hone than most people realize. It won't square up a bell-mouthed cylinder, but it actually leaves a better finish on the surface.

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----------------------------------------------- Jim Adney snipped-for-privacy@vwtype3.org Madison, WI 53711 USA

-----------------------------------------------

"Flex hone" is right. My FLAPS was confused, they did not have any flex hones for $12 -- the clerk though I meant brake cylinder hones. Another FLAPS could get flex hones, at $140 each. "The boss marks things up pretty high," the salesman whispered into the phone. I tried a local speed shop. Didn't have them but referred me to a local industrial tools and abrasives wholesaler. This guy could get them, and lists them for $40. But I was unsure about diameter and grit size, so he referred me to the manufacturer. We discussed my application material -- iron -- and I found what grit sizes he makes. A little more research and I settled on

120 grit, since I'm not making a racing machine and a finer finish would offer little. Except a lot more work.

Only trouble was that none of retailers for this line had the size/grit I was seeking. I called all over the darn country and no stock anywhere. The manufacturer was willing to sell me one for $50 + shipping (you protect your retailers by never underselling them).

Then I thought -- wait a minute, I have an account with McMaster-Carr, a great industrial supplier -- and McMaster is a retailer for this line of ball hones.

search for "hone" and Hey Presto! a huge selection of Flex Hones. Including the one I want, for $29. One day later and the hone is here.

Now I gotta build up some plywood fixtures to clamp the jugs, get a kitty litter box for a cooling fluid sump, hire a small boy to keep coolant flowing over the work with a bucket and hose -- and start working on decent biceps so I can pump the hone in and out, in and out, in and out . . . for a long, long time without crying like a little girl.

don't wear out your cylinders; you only need to break the glaze on the cylinder walls.

John Aircooled.Net > > > >

Which leads to "how does a shade tree mechanic know when he has done enough honing?"

There is a whole body of knowledge about things like this that many of you possess: how to hone cylinders, how to adjust the veeblefetzer, what adhesives to use, etc., etc., Some of this information is in books and can be learned, some of it is passed from Old Mechanic to Young Mechanic and some tricks are invented.

The challenge for me (and other novices) is finding the information, and learning to tell the difference between those who know their onions and those just passing on misinformation they were taught. I wish there was a canonical list of the Core Knowledge.

Anyway, as I've discovered, it's not real cost-effective in terms of time or tools for a fellow to do his own honing if he's only going to do four cylinders. New pistons and cylinders are not that expensive. I'm doing it for the experience.

Being the cynic that you are, as evinced by your worldly experience in the publishing domain, perhaps we should start billing you for all the help you get here so that you can feel at home. Does that sound fair enough?

..............My dad always told me that I was a 'half-assed-mechanic' so maybe I can get the same rate as you're gonna get.

LOL

On Sat, 05 Jun 2004 08:19:05 -0700, "Mike Rocket J. Squirrel Elliott" ran around screaming and yelling:

Mcmaster is blazingly fast... i ordered some NPT taps on monday(memorial day) and those things were here by 10 am on wed... JT

snipped-for-privacy@xyzzy.stafford.net (jjs) wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@m-0-135.docsis.hbci.com:

Yes and where do you get this word veeblefetzer?

................Get on the Google train Bill, it'll take you anywhere you want with just a few clicks of your mouse.

"Tim Rogers" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@uni-berlin.de:

MAD magazine...of course!

MAD's twisted sense of humor made me into what I am today.

"...probably a 19th century yiddish word, possibly with limited usage. In German, "Fetzer" is any contraption, while "Veeble" is a likely corruption of "Webel" -- meaning weaving. Textile mills of this period were crammed with very complicated, wildly active and very loud pieces of machinery.

This definition mentions early issues of MAD magazine, but veeblefetzers had already been mentioned in the September 1954 issue of its predecessor, the MAD comic book. This featured "Gasoline Valley," a parody of the Gasoline Alley comic strip written by Harvey Kurtzman and drawn by Bill Elder, in which Skizziks Willit & Wilber Booble meet up and start a business partnership to fix cracked veeblefetzers: Willit & Booble"

..............I wonder how many RAMVA readers have ever seen a Gasoline Alley comic strip? If you're less than forty years old.........maybe never.

And sure got lots of stuff in their catalog. The paper version is easily

2'' thick. Their online version is more easily searchable.

Anyone know of an equivalent company that sells laboratory supplies: rubber tubing, burettes, etc.?

....................Yeah...........I want to start CC'ing my heads too!

Maybe a group purchase? I need a burette or two too.

Jan

I'm old enough to remember them. I found the 1930's imagery interesting.