Valve seat cutters?

[Andrew TinsleyParticipant @andrewtinsley63637]

My Sykes Pickavant cutters has gone walk about. So I need to buy another set. There seems to be a lot of choice, which manufacturer would people advise?

Thanks,

Andrew.

Edited By Andrew Tinsley on 14/10/2021 13:54:16

[Andrew TinsleyParticipant @andrewtinsley63637]

[Chris Evans 6Participant @chrisevans6]

Sykes Pickavant must be made with legs. Can't remember who borrowed it but not seen for years. I tend to take my cylinder heads to a mate now, he has diamond coated cutters and it only takas a few seconds per seat.

[Andrew TinsleyParticipant @andrewtinsley63637]

Hello Chris,

I am firmly convinced that SP cutters have legs. Are the diamond coated cutters specifically for valve seats ? Sounds a good idea providing the cutters are not an arm and leg.

Andrew.

Edited By Andrew Tinsley on 14/10/2021 13:58:09

[Oily RagParticipant @oilyrag]

Without any doubt the best cutters are Neway. They have an expanding pilot system that accurately locates the cutters concentric to the valve guide and are carbide multi tooth diagonal serrated faced blades. Remove stock with the minimum of effort. They also come in a range of angles (15, 30, 45, 60 and 75 ) to triple angle the seat – the angles for the 'seating' cutter are also set 1/2 degree off to give top end location to the valve mating face. Expensive but the only system to use other than a motorised Hunger single blade valve seat bench, which is eye wateringly expensive.

The agent used to be based in Oxfordshire.

Do not lend a Neway to anyone!

Martin

[StueeeeParticipant @stueeee]

What material are/will the valve seats be made of? The Sykes Pickavant set I still have somewhere is OK on cast iron, but won't touch the seat inserts that modern production motors use. The carbide seat cutters are supposed to be good for the hard seats, but even the Indian made ones aren't cheap.

You could use a single point pilot cutter tool providing that you can secure the block/head casting to the table with the valve guide true to the cutter pilot. I made this one with a carbide toolbit to reshape the cast in 'valve guides' on a vintage motor. It wouldn't be difficult to produce a single point cutter with the correct 30 or 45 degree angle to do the valve seat in the same way.

I do quite a bit of work on old cars, so bought a Black & Decker 'Vibro Centric' seat grinding kit along with the valve grinder. Once the stones are dressed with a Diamond, they produce excellent results. I've seen the Vibro Centric kits sell for not much money at boot fairs, they seem to be a bit spendy when they turn up on ebay though.

[John MCParticipant @johnmc39344]

I too was a great fan of Neway valve seat cutters until I acquired a Wolf valve seat grinding set. Overall much lower in cost than the Neway kit and easier to use especially if there is a lot of material to shift. These wolf sets come up for sale on Ebay regularly and new stone are available. Dressing the stone for truth and shape is easy. The photo shows a spindle that fits in to the valve guide, stone turns on that. The thing that looks like an electric drill (it's not) spins the stone at ~10000rpm.

[Nick WheelerParticipant @nickwheeler]

Posted by Andrew Tinsley on 14/10/2021 13:57:44:

Hello Chris,

I am firmly convinced that SP cutters have legs.

I suspect that your cutters eloped with my SP flaring set, and are now knocking out tapered cutters…..

[noel shelleyParticipant @noelshelley55608]

Neway cutters were I think at one point marketed by sykes and were very good. I also think the blades were carbide. If one was really keen you could buy the blades and make your own heads/ holders, and the guides. wolf and B&D did electric grinders, I have an almost new B&D, ex us mil. Where are you ? Noel.

[Andrew TinsleyParticipant @andrewtinsley63637]

Hello Noel,

I am in Rutland.

Andrew.

[StueeeeParticipant @stueeee]

Posted by John MC on 14/10/2021 15:00:41:

I too was a great fan of Neway valve seat cutters until I acquired a Wolf valve seat grinding set. Overall much lower in cost than the Neway kit and easier to use especially if there is a lot of material to shift. These wolf sets come up for sale on Ebay regularly and new stone are available. Dressing the stone for truth and shape is easy. The photo shows a spindle that fits in to the valve guide, stone turns on that. The thing that looks like an electric drill (it's not) spins the stone at ~10000rpm.

John MC almost certainly knows this already, but for the information of other interested parties, the Wolf and Black & Decker grindstones are interchangeable, both have the same 9/16" OD thread. The valve guide mandrels are also interchangeable @ 3/8" diameter. But the 'ball hexagon' driver and hexagon socket on the Wolf grinder kit are smaller than the B & D one, so don't happily interchange. I had both sets at one time, but sold the Wolf kit on to avoid (my) confusion.

[John MCParticipant @johnmc39344]

Stueeee, no, I didn't know about the interchangeability between Wolf and B&D. Useful to know.

I buy my replacement stones from Goodson in America. They do a very wide range of stones, both grade and size, pre-dressed or not. Interestingly with several different sizes of threads, I find that useful for smaller diameter seats.

John

[Andrew TinsleyParticipant @andrewtinsley63637]

Hello and thanks for all the helpful information. It seems that the power of advertising is greater than I expected.

I had a phone call from a model engineering "friend" this morning. He had read my post and realised he was the guilty person who had borrowed my Sykes Pickavant cutters. They will be returned tomorrow.

A special thanks to noel Shelley who offered me the loan of his kit to do the job om my MGB stage 2 head.

Thanks again everyone,

Andrew.

[Chris Evans 6Participant @chrisevans6]

Andrew, for future reference next time I visit my friends workshop I will try and remember to ask re seat cutter. It is all motorcycle work that he does. I did have a valve refacing machine but gave it away as it was unused for many years.Age and health now mean that I take on very little work.

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