Brush Research Announces Availability of Massive Diameter Ball

Tag : abrasive finishing tools

The oceangoing engines that American Diesel services include mostof the international big bore models, including those from Sulzer,Yanmar, Daihatsu, Man B&W and MAK.
"The main engines are big bore diesels with cylinders rangingup to 40-inch diameter," says Guevera. "We also work onthe generators, which are pretty big too, with average bores of 20inches or so."
When doing overhauls or repairs that involve cylinders, it ispredictable that cylinder liners will have to be deglazed andcrosshatched with an industrial brush. For those jobs Guevera usescompact, portable and highly efficient industrial brushes .
Widely known by the brand name Flex-Hone, the ball-style hone is ahighly specialized industrial brush that is instantly recognizableby its unique appearance. Featuring small, abrasive globules thatare permanently mounted to flexible filaments, the industrial brushis a low-cost tool for deglazing, de-burring, edge blending andcrosshatching.
Guevera says the honing tool is available in a range of radiussizes, including the larger ones needed to service cylinders of40-inches and larger. The Flex-Hone's independently suspended,abrasive globules both self-center and self-align to the bore aswell as compensate for wear, all of which facilitateclose-tolerance finishing work.
Another important capability of a flexible hone is its plateaufinishing capabilities, a process by which cylinder walls aresubjected to a bore finishing procedure that increases the life ofboth the cylinders and the piston rings. The purpose of plateauingis to remove loose, cut, torn and folded material within thecylinder, create valleys and remove peaks that would otherwisedamage rings or seals. The result is that more lubricant isretained, improving engine startup and performance.
Guevara says he discovered the honing tool over 20 years ago whenhe worked on gasoline engines as a teenager. "I usedball-style hones for those small bore engines," he says."Years later at American Diesel I contacted Brush ResearchManufacturing, Co and asked if they had those same hones for largerbores. Although they didn't have a standard line of bigger sizes,they said they would supply whatever we needed, and we've beenrelying on their flexible hone ever since."