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 Flexible hones are used to
blend edges, improve surface finish, and remove cut, torn, and folded metal.
Unlike other deburring and honing tools, they have "dingle berries" - abrasive globules
mounted to nylon filaments - that provide a soft cutting action. These flexible
"dingle berries" feature different types of abrasives, but always use a low-temperature abrading process to
produce a controlled surface condition.
Flex hones have been used to quiet
the brake rotors in Cadillacs, and to deglaze and refinish the walls of engine cylinders. Their applications extend beyond the automotive industry, however,
and include uses in agricultural, commercial, manufacturing, military, and transportation
applications. Part of what makes flex hones so "flexible" is that they can be
used in any rotating spindle. These honing tools are also self-centering,
self-aligning to the bore, and self-compensating for wear.
In high-level production
environments, flex hones are used in machining centers. But they can also be used
by an at-home hobbyist with a hand drill. Here's how flexible honing is used across
a variety of surface finishing, deburring, and edge blending applications.
Agriculture
- Farm tools and equipment
- Overhaul
Automotive
- Gas, diesel and motorcycle engines
- Piston cylinders
and piston pin bores
- Valve guides and valve
seating
- Crankshaft oil passage
holes
- Cam shaft bearing
bores
- Brake rotors
and brake cylinders (wheel)
- Clutch and brake master
cylinders
Commercial
- Lawn maintenance
products
- Brass musical
instruments
- Firearms (shotguns; barrels
and chambers)
- Golf club
re-shafting
- Musical
instruments
Industrial and Manufacturing
- Pneumatic, hydraulic, and
hydraulic ram cylinders
- Hydraulic valve bodies and valve guides
- Hydraulic motor bodies
- Air compressors
- Reactor tube sheets
- Surface finishing of boiler
components
- Compressed air tool bodies
- Finishing of stainless steel tubing
- Rod seals
Military and Defense
- Jet engines and
aircraft missile systems
- Fire weapons
- Marine motors
Transportation
- Aviation
- Aircraft and helicopter engines
- Rail transportation
- Hydraulic landing gear
Have you used flexible honing
in an application or industry that's not on our list? If so, please let us
know. We'd like to hear from you!
Editor's Note: CR4 would like to thank Brush Research for contributing this blog entry, which originally appeared here.
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Re: Flexible Honing: Applications and Industries
