"Gunner Asch" wrote in
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...
On Sat, 14 Apr 2012 20:57:48 -0700, "Bob La
Londe"
wrote:

"Gunner Asch" wrote in
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On Fri, 13 Apr 2012 10:26:40 -0700, "Bob La
Londe"
wrote:

"Bob La Londe"
wrote in message
...
I need to put a smooth finish on the inside
of some aluminum tube. 1"
ID smallest - 2" ID biggest. Same
application different sizes. If it
was steel or cast iron I would just run a
brake hone or cylinder hone
down it, but I think the stones would just
pack up with aluminum if I
tried that with this. It doesn't need to be
precise, just smooth. I
want to round off the weld seam (not to bad
to begin with) and make it
fairly shiny inside. Flap wheels? Buffing
wheel with a "course"
substitute for rouge? Other?

Ok shiny was probably not the best term.
Smooth is more important. It
will
have a low pressure pneumatic seal with am
o-ring and piston. The raw
tube
works ok, but I was thinking with a better
than mill finish the o-rings
might last longer.

So far I have not worn out an o-ring with the
existing units, but I would
like to make future ones "better."

The ball method..at a steady speed.

Or a cylinder hone (which is what I would use)

You don't think the stones will plug up with
aluminum?

Not if you apply liberal amounts of kerosene and
dont try to take off
huge amounts at one time. If anything..it will
tend to burnish the
thing into being round. Shrug

I see lots of aluminum parts being honed on
Sunnen hones every day in
machne shops. They just dont try to take off
many thousands at one time.

Gunner

Using a hone to remove weld irregularities will
result in an oval cylinder.
When the stones contact the weld there is also
contact with the opposite
side. As the weld is cut so is the area opposite
which you don't want to
happen. Is this weld longitudinal or
circumferential? Try to only cut
the problem area with perhaps a piloted scraper as
another poster
suggested. If the weld is circum. then maybe an
expanding pilot
with a rotating cutter?
Going back to the oval cylinder, I've seen this
happen with small engine
cylinders where a guy tried to hone out aluminum
smears with a hone.
As the hone worked on the smears it also cut the
opposite side and
gave an oval hole out of spec. What I do with
these smears is use
sodium hydroxide and room temp water. Lay the cyl
horizontal and
work on one area at a time and it will remove all
of it. Then hone......
phil k.