Hi there and welcome back to another episode of Gear up with Greggs!
My name is Dave Robertson and today we are going to be talking about a company called
Brush Research Manufacturing now more specifically we are going to be talking about a pretty
cool product that they have.
It's called a Flex-hone tool.
Brush Research Manufacturing thats a little bit of a mouthful to say, they are more commonly
known in the industry as BRM.
So they are headquartered out of Los Angeles, California and their products are actually
distributed to over 50 countries world wide, but the most important one of course is here in Canada.
BRM was founded by Steve Rand in 1958.
Now he was the original inventor of the plateau finishing concept in 1972.
Now that idea ultimately led to the conception of the flex-hone tools that we are going to
be talking about today.
Now the Plateau finish was originally created to deglaze cylinders in automotive applications.
Now deglazing is a little bit confusing.
So essentially the process of deglazing a cylinder is where you want to take the cylinder
walls and roughen them!
Now you might wonder "why would i want to roughen them if its going to create friction"
but by roughening the cylinder walls amongst the moving parts it actually allows the oil
to properly stick to the cylinder walls and reduce friction.
So flexible honing with the flex-hone tool produces an oil holding cross hatch pattern
and true plateau finish free of cut, torn and folded metals.
The flex-hone finishing process that was originally developed to finish automotive and industrial cylinders
has grown to include brake rotors, firearms, sporting goods, aircraft engine components,
hydraulic valves, and even musical instruments!
Now, parts as diverse as a shotgun chamber and aircraft landing gear
receive the same benefits of a flex honed finish.
The flex-hone tool from BRM is a flexible and resilient honing tool that removes burrs
from cross drilled holes and improves surface finish at the same time.
Known also as a ball hone, the BRM flex-hone features abrasive globules that are permanently
bonded to flexible nylon filaments, these filaments all have independent suspension
which ensure self centring and self aligning to the cylinder wall.
The abrasive globules or balls provide a soft cutting action that removes burrs from cylinder walls
while leaving the base metal undisturbed.
Oversized for any given bore, the tool pops out into the intersection removing any burrs
present and creates a radius at the transitioning edge.
The tool needs to be slightly oversized to function properly; the tools should always
be ordered to the true ID or inside diameter of the bore to be worked, and then they are
manufactured with the correct oversize.
So, lets use an example.
You know you have a 3 inch cylinder.
So what size of flex-hone tool are you going to order?
Well you're going to order a 3 inch one!
So when we order this Flex-hone it's labeled as a 3 inch Flex-hone.
But when you take a tape measure to it and you measure across the face you'll see that
its slightly oversized.
So this one here actually measures about 3 and a quarter inch.
So it's that oversize that gives you that nice soft cutting action on the cylinder wall.
Now what happens when you have a cylinder thats in-between sizes of a flex-hone tool?
What you do is you select the next size up.
Now speaking os sizes, there is another factor to note when using a Flex-hone.
The smaller the hone, the faster you'll have to spin the tool to work the bore.
You can see here the recommended RPM's for the size range of Flex-hone tools.
As well, there is a wide range of grits.
We carry them in grits from 120 up to 320, and your product selection will vary
based on how rough the inside of the cylinder is.
Keep in mind when using a flex-hone tool oil is required.
Flex-hone oil contains a blend of honing and lapping oils, a lard oil to prevent galling of aluminum,
a moisture dispersant and a non-ionic surfactant wetting agent to assure
complete lubrication of the surface.
Washing is a necessity after finishing, so using a BRM cylinder washing brush along with
a detergent and warm or hot water will do the job nicely.
The cylinder wash brushes are made with high quality nylon,
so your cylinder will be sparkling in no time.
When rebuilding an engine, It's tricky business to properly clean oil lines and galleries.
You need a tool that can effectively remove metal chips, sludge, dirt from all of the
oil passageways.
This is where BRM's Nylon and carbon steel cleaning brushes come in.
Their nylon brushes are made of the finest quality high density nylon.
The carbon steel brushes are of a similar high quality construction and are used for
rough spots that nylon can't really take care of.
One other unique product that BRM has is their flex-hone for rotors.
We don't have an exact application of where this would be used but we have an example
that we want to just try and show.
So i'm just going to pop my safety glasses on here.
So what we are looking at is a rotor!
So essentially the way that this one works is that rather than it going into a cylinder
wall like the other ones that we talked about earlier, its intended for a flat surface.
So really you would have a rotor thats rotating on a shaft and you would be able to use the
BRM flex-hone for rotors and you would be able to provide that same cross hatch finish
if its spinning on a rotor it gives you a nice smooth finish that is perfect for resurfacing
worn rotors and essentially the end result is reduced harmonic vibration and a smoother
operating vehicle.
Well that does it for this episode.
If you want to learn anything more about the products that you saw in the video today or
any of the other products that Gregg Distributors carries please visit our website or just call
one of our knowledgeable or friendly staff that are always more than happy to help.
Thanks again for keeping it 100% Canadian with us and we look forward to seeing you
on the next episode of Gear up with Greggs!