Valve seat cutting/grinding

[Eugen]

Once in a while you need to refresh some valve seats. The neway cutters are really pricey, even on the second hand market. Then there's the option of the Sioux or B&D grinders, which use pilots and grinding stones. Around here if you can find a set around 400 consider yourself lucky. I've been looking for one the last few months. Normally I would have the job done by Mike in Toronto but it's become increasingly difficult for me to add another 1.5 hours to my trips to visit him. So there were four sets on the market in the last few months, all around 500-550, and someone else swiped them before me.

The solution I came up to is this. Turns out there's a whole market of Sioux and B&D knock offs coming from India. The obvious problems with those are quality and shipping. But I came across a set on amazon, which made it less risky. The set contains the Sioux style stone holder, two popular pilots, 5/16 and 11/32, and a bunch of standard size stones up to 2". All for $80 including shipping.

Measured the pilots and they're right on, seems like good quality. Same with the stone holder. The stones are probably not very good, we'll see how much they wobble.

But a pilot for the big backhoe engine is not a popular size. It's 13/32+0.001 so I turned a big long 1/2" bolt into the right pilot.

The one in the middle

Fits well

But I'm missing one essential piece of equipment. The stone dresser.

[DavidBarkey]

All you need to dress the stones is you lather and a diamond point. https://www.amazon.ca/Diamond-Dresser-S ... B0744FVSB6
Chuck the stone in your 3 jaw , use your tail stock centre to align . If needed a shaft can be made to go into the stone holder allowing the center to support the end . set the tool post slide to desired angle and lock diamond in tool post . cover the bed ect. with card board covered in grease . This will collect the abrasives to keep the lathe clean .

[Eugen]

I was worried about the dust messing up the lathe. In fact when I turned the pilot I finished it with emery paper and it was too late when I saw the dust from it going over the bed and the chuck. I'm really worried about it, I'm thinking of taking the slide and chuck off and wash them.

[DavidBarkey]

I was worried about the dust messing up the lathe. In fact when I turned the pilot I finished it with emery paper and it was too late when I saw the dust from it going over the bed and the chuck. I'm really worried about it, I'm thinking of taking the slide and chuck off and wash them.

Thats why cover it with card board smeared with grease to hold the dust .

[Eugen]

@DavidBarkey been thinking about it and I'm not going to do it on the lathe. Just want to play it safe. It shouldn't be too hard to make a holder for the diamond tip that sets an angle.

[Eugen]

Well, the other day these old kwik-way tools came up on the market. A valve seat grinding set and a set for boring to install seats. Many pilots and stones, and stone dresser.

And to make it even more attractive, it came with the hard to find 13/32 pilot needed for the 680 backhoe heads. I tell you, God has been extra kind to me. So I was able to refresh the 680 valve seats in literally a few seconds.

But the story doesn't end here. When I went to the machinist shop to talk about that cylinder barrel I mentioned to him the set of two pilots and stones I got at the beginning of this thread from amazon. That's because he told me at some point in the past that he has a Sioux valve seat grinding set but no pilots and stones, as he's working on his vintage Ford muscle car. So I said he can just borrow my set anytime, no strings attached, and I'm not looking for a discount on any job I need him to do. He didn't want that, instead he wanted to buy the set.

My ramble on old tools guys.