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#41
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I used the probe that came with it. I think they only offer 2 other types. One for hot metal and the other for real thin stuff. Nothing specifically for the inside of a cylinder.
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#42
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I will know a lot more when I do the whole block and diagram it all. I am pretty sure the 67 block is a good one. I will do my std 455 block and my 71 .030 400 block also. And when I pull the heads on the .060 455 HO block I will post them up too. Its a great tool and worth every penny of the 135$ I spent on it. Will also come in handy when I do some Jim Hand style porting to a set of 96s for my brothers 4.25 stroke 400 block. |
#43
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Am I missing something? How does the flat face of the probe accurately measure the curved surface of the cylinder wall?.....John
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#44
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Kind of hard to test it on a iron block but I am looking for a junk Pontiac block to do just that. |
#45
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I still don't get it. The surface of a cylinder bore is concaved, so the flat surface of the probe will still leave a slight gap between the two surfaces. The 8mm probe is about 5/16in. What am I not understanding here......John
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#46
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It will not work on any surface without it. Flat, round, does not matter. |
#47
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You can shape the probe to the cylinder wall with a piece of sand paper or figure out how much distance there is of a gape from the cylinder wall to the probe and subtract that distance from the number you're getting ..
__________________
My Half AN Injun..... |
The Following User Says Thank You to charlie66 For This Useful Post: | ||
#48
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There is a problem with doing that. There is a flat calibration plate on the sonic testers. If you make your probe curved can you calibrate the instrument ?
We have a wiz kid electronics expert at work. He can fix any fixable electronics device put in front of him. Best I have ever seen in my decades of maintenance work. Home schooled, never been to a school in his life and knows more about electronics than anyone I have ever seen. One of those guys. He is the one who first fired up both my sonic testers. Handed it to him and told him to nerd out on it which he did. Went and got different types and shapes of metal, steel, iron, brass. Flat and round stock with calipers in hand to check accuracy. It was accurate on everything we put it on. Even on the machined 1/4" wall steel cylinder, 3 1/2" inside diameter it showed .249 . That is smaller than a Pontiac 4.12 bore by a long shot and it measured the steel accurately. I have to believe it would measure iron the same. I need to test it on the kind of iron sleeve you press into a engine block, that would tell you for sure. When I asked him about sanding it to fit the curve of the bore he was against doing that. Said, how are you going to calibrate it ? The one I bought https://www.ebay.com/itm/314314770567 the add says can be used on all kinds of pipeline and those are not flat. The instructions say it can be used on pressure vessels , boilers, tanks ect and those are many times round. Says nothing about only testing flat stock. Last edited by Dragncar; 01-27-2023 at 04:44 PM. |
#49
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What brand sonic tester did you buy, and how much was it? I looked on Atech's website but didn't see one offered.
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62' Lemans, Nostalgia Super Stock, 541 CI, IA2 block, billet 4.5" crank, Ross, Wide port Edelbrocks, Gustram intake, 2 4150 style BLP carbs, 2.10 Turbo 400, 9" w/4:30 gears, 8.76 @153, 3100lbs |
#50
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I grabbed a short piece of a old brass cylinder 2 1/2" in dia and I will see how it does on that this weekend. https://www.ebay.com/itm/16543871685...3ABFBM1uS47L5h |
#51
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This weekend I did some testing with my sonic tester. First I calibrated it on the 5mm steel plate that comes with it.
I then tested a brass cylinder, 130 wall 2 1/2 " inside dia. I checked thickness with a Harbor Freight digital caliper. After setting the instrument for brass I checked the thickness on the outside. It measured about .005 thicker than the caliper. But the inside measurement was considerably higher. About .070 on the 2 1/2" circle. I also measured a 3 1/2" inside dia steel cylinder, .210 thick after changing the setting to steel. It was like the brass test effort. A tiny bit thicker measuring on the outside but a larger number than actual thickness when testing on the inside. I could try putting some emery cloth on the inside of a cylinder and sanding it to fit. That idea came from a comment on Amazon. The only thing you would risk is buying a new probe, seems reasonable. Or finding out what the space is between the probe and a given dia of a circle you are trying to measure. The probe is .431 wide. Then subtract it like Charlie said and see how close it is. Any math/geometry experts out there who know that formula ? It would be easier than actually sticking something in there and measuring it. It would take a little doing but it could be done. Also will try some different oils, some might be better than others. I just used some Fluid Film for this test. |
#52
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If you had a fine pin gage set, you could check the gap with various pin gages using them like feeler gages. I'm not sure I would trust one of those meters unless it had a very tiny probe, or was contoured to fit......John
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#53
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I don't know much about Sonic checkers but I use one regularly in the shop. I paid $1200 (many years ago) for mine and it came with one probe. I want to say each additional probe was around $200. I purchased the the unit I have after a lot of research and finding out it seems to be the most common one used by other head porters. I have four probes, two curved for testing round surfaces and two flat ones for checking flat surfaces. They probes are different for aluminum and iron. If you don't use the correct probe for the shape and material you are working on you won't get an accurate reading. That's just my experience with the unit I have. Others maybe different. I have seen several Sonic tests for Pontiac engine that have shown cylinder walls a LOT thicker than any we have ever tested.... I've often wondered if the test was performed properly and with the correct probe.
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The Following User Says Thank You to PAUL K For This Useful Post: | ||
#54
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I did some testing today with the last sonic tester I bought.
First I used a 4" inside dia air cylinder . The distance under the flat spot of the probe is only .007-.008. Not much. The cylinder was .131 thick checked with calipers. Used 46 hyd oil on the probe, tested on the outside and it read .134, pretty good. But on the inside it read .163, not so good. A difference of .029 of what it actually is. Then I tested a plain steel pipe section, 3" inside dia, .233 thick. Checked on the outside and it came in at .232, very good. But the inside, where it counts was also a problem. It came in at .278. A .046 difference. Big problem. So I tried to buy just the probe so I could contour it to the inside of a Pontiac bore with emery cloth and see how that works. Probe was 80 $. But I found a different sonic checker that said it does 2 types of cast iron for the same 80 $. So I ordered it. It will be here the 2nd and I will let you guys know how it works out. This is the one I bought. My 3rd (sent one back) https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...1AI5Y5G6&psc=1 I need a junk Pontiac block so I can cut out a chunk of a cylinder wall for testing. |
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