Extrude hone Media

[bl409]

I am trying to find anyone using a extrudeHone machine that would sell me some media. Extrude Hone will not sell it direct to me unless I have them come in and inspect my machine. Any help appreciated. BL

[TCCOUPE]

I'M GOING THRU THE SAME PROBLEM AND MAY HAVE FOUND TWO SOLUTIONS. (1) THERE IS A COMPANY IN CHICAGO THAT MAKES ABRASIVES AND HAS CLAIMED TO HAVE MADE SOME FOR THIS APPLICATION. THEY ARE: THE STUTZ COMPANY. PHONE # 773 287 1068 - JIM STUTZ IS THE GUY I TALKED TO. I ORDERED 10 GALLONS OF THE STUFF TODAY. WHAT I ORDERED IS 24 GRIT ALUMINUM OXIDE IN A POLYMER SLURRY. IT'S NOT THAT EXPENSIVE - $200.00 +- FOR 10 GALLONS. DON'T KNOW IF IT'S THE EXACT RIGHT STUFF BUT FOR $200 CAN'T GO TOO WRONG. 2. THERE IS A COMPANY CALLED -MICRO TECHNICA TECHNOLOGIES- YOU CAN GOOGLE THEM. LOOK UP THE U.S. REPRESENTATIVE & CALL HIM. I TALKED TO HIM A FEW DAYS AGO AND HE CAN SUPPLY THE MATERIAL. THE ONLY PROBLEM IS THE MATERIAL COMES OUT OF GERMANY AND SOUNDS LIKE IT COULD BE EXPENSIVE. IN ANY CASE ONE OF THESE POSSIBILITIES WILL SOLVE OUR PROBLEM AND WE CAN TELL EXTRUDE HONE TO KISS MY A--..

[bl409]

Thanks for the info TC. I will give these sources a try. Let me know how you first run of media works out. BL

[carbidecraters]

How did it go? We are looking at a coupel of older units for cast iron and dont want to buy the media from Extrude hone.

[bl409]

I still have not found anyone that has media for these except extrude hone.
I am willing to buy it from someone that already is an extrude hone customer but I have not had any success with that either. I anyone knows od another source please let us know. Thanks, BL

[carbidecraters]

What did extrude hone want for an inspection? Was it a safety concern or did they want to update you with new electronics ect?

[bl409]

We bought our hone used. We contacted extrude hone about buying new media and they told us that we would have to have our machine inspected.
They wanted to send out a tech to inspect our machine. This was going to be at our expense(Around $1500). We already had the hone up and running.
Everything on it was working so I do not want to spend the money for nothing. It seems like BS. Thanks, BL

[carbidecraters]

Do they ask for a serial number anytime you try to place an order? I wonder what the deal is with the inspections...is it a liability issue I mean we are talking about some pretty good pressures. What about the above link didnt that media work out?

Also what size is your machine? We plan on cleaning up exhaust ports on cast iron and aluminum cylinder heads with ours

[bl409]

Since we were new customers we were not in their database and we gave them the machine serial numbers and went from there. Our machine has 12" cylinders top and bottom. We move the media from one cylinder to the other thru our fixture and workpieces. Thanks, BL

[carbidecraters]

These links look interesting

http://www.micro-technica.de/abrasiv...Machining.html
http://stutzcompany.thomasnet.com/it...833?&forward=1

[cnc61]

I have now found out that Extude Hone will NOT sell you their media, unless you have bought one of their machines. I do not know if this is a market ploy or liability factor, but... The media is a silicon carbide base material. Those of you that have your own shops and do any lapping this may make some sense. I use a product called Clover lapping compound. It is 1000 grit and made by LocTite and available through McMaster-Carr. Now, I have seen the Extrude hone media in their brochures which show a few colors being red, blue and yellow. This is just a marketting scheme to make you feel... Cool! neat colors! In reality its a drab grey. So is the Lapping compound!! Hmmm.... I did some more digging and found that when extrude honing was invented, they used a hand pump hydraulic cylinder to push this compound through the parts. So what was good then should still in effect be good. I built my own extrude hone and will try out using this Clover lapping compound. It is a bit soupy, not putty form but I can always thicken it. Extrude Hone (Kennametal) wants 125K for a machine that I built for under $500.00 and is being quite closed lipped on the media. This is America and its full of smart people who can figure things out. The article I read about Extrude Hone in their early days, it said they tried peanut butter and tooth paste!!! Ok, its fun to experiment and who knows... maybe toothpaste works.