Flexible hones save damaged parts

END USER: Elmar Industries, (716) 681-5650, www.elmarworldwide.com.
CHALLENGE: Bring damaged components back into spec.
SOLUTION: A flexible cylinder hone.
SOLUTION PROVIDER: Brush Research Manufacturing Co. Inc., (323) 261-2193, www.brushresearch.com.

Whether for smoothing rough areas and high points, deburring, edge blending, chamfering, polishing, crosshatching or removing cut, torn and folded metal, a flexible cylinder hone can be an indispensable tool for field repairs, according to Brush Research Manufacturing Co. Inc., Los Angeles. Products like BRM’s Flex-Hone allows parts such as carbide bushings, bore sleeves, hydraulic and pneumatic cylinders, and others with cylindrical cavities to be resurfaced using a standard drill.

Characterized by the small, abrasive globules that are permanently mounted to flexible filaments, the Flex-Hone can deburr and clean passages or provide IDs with a smooth plateau finish, according to the company. The tool is ideal for field applications because it is self-aligning and self-compensating for wear, which facilitates close-tolerance finishing.

Brush’s Flex-Hone allows parts with cylindrical cavities to be resurfaced using a standard drill. Image courtesy Brush Research Manufacturing.

Elmar Industries, Depew, N.Y., a food processing company that designs and manufactures filling machines for the food, beverage, petrochemical, personal care and pharmaceutical industries, reported that a flexible cylinder hone helped save the day for one of its customers. That customer had purchased one of Elmar’s 45-piston machines but the machine incurred damages prior to production. The rotary-piston models have a large, rotating bowl for product with six to 72 filling stations. Each station is built with a valve housing and rotary valve, which dispenses a metered quantity of product, and the tolerance between valve and housing is 0.001 ” (0.0254mm).

Construction at the customer’s facility one floor above the machine caused some concrete and metal shavings to fall into the filling bowl. When the machine was started, the concrete particles and metal chips moved from the rotating bowl into the rotary valves, scarring the housings and damaging the valve plugs. The estimated replacement cost for the damaged equipment was $60,000.