Hi everyone, new to the forum.

I'm making an IC engine and want to use mild steel, I'm not trying to make it last, I'm just wanting to experiment with different designs and do it cheap as possible.

I'm sure everyone feels the same with mild steel regarding the finish, the only real way to get a good finish is to sand it afterwards. I'm wanting to make the cylinder liners out of it, 30mm bore, around 45mm cylinder length.

So I have been looking into some way of grinding in the lathe. I made a toolpost holder for the bench grinder, but I only have a crappy wheel that came with the grinder, a diamond wheel which I later found is no good for anything but carbide and a cbn wheel which is no good for soft steel.

I want to spend as little as possible, but I have a couple of questions;

I have some die grinding wheels to do the bores, is 3000rpm fast enough as I can modify the grinder to hold collets, if so, should I get something like a white wheel for the grinder to do the outside of things.

There is a bosch die grinder that I can buy which can be mounted. Not sure how long the wheels last, but would I be able to achieve a bearing surface, and would I be able to achieve a parallel bore – how fast do they wear. They are the cheap dark blue kind, should I look for something else.

Or any other recommendations

Help would be greatly appreciated,

Thanks, Joe

Hi guys, thanks for all of the replies,

I think I will go for a hone to see how that turns out, I turned some mild steel yesterday and the finish came out pretty good so hopefully it shouldn't take a great deal of lapping.

Now there's two hones to go for, the shoe type or the flexi-hone type. In all of your experiences what do you all prefer, and if it is the shoe hone type then are the £7 ones on ebay any good or should I go for something with a better quality,

Thanks,

Joe