Help with sonic probe modifications

[fairlaniac]

I have an older sonic tested I bought a few months back. It works great on all flat surfaces that I've checked. It had been mentioned on another post that I modify my probe. I cannot find these for sale anywhere so it may be the only one I may ever get. Looking at the picture the pink side is the sensing side, the O.D. is 1 inch. Ideally I wouls radius the face to match the bore of a cylinder but it may cut into some vital parts. I'm not sure how to take the probe apart to see how much materia land where I can grind away. Any ideas? I'm not sure what is inside. If I screw this up could I buy another type of probe and get it "wired" to work with my tester? I'm not sure how these things work at the probe so I'm looking for an education as well.


thanks,
Doug Bender

[country63sedan]

Let me start by saying that I have ZERO experience with sonic testers. I assume the pink side is the contact side? Could you have a cap made to go over it? The cap could have the rounded surface to match the bore and be retained by set screws on the side of the sensor. I assume the machine could be zeroed to account for the cap? Just making a couple guesses in the dark. Later, Travis

[jayb]

Yours looks different than the one I've seen modified; on that one, you could see a single line running vertically through the plastic, and we assumed that was the sensing element, so the machinist who did the work radiused the sensor at 90 degrees to the line, so it wasn't affected.  I doubt that the sensor is designed to be taken apart, so I don't think you would be able to find out if there's a preferred way to machine the radius on yours.  On the other hand, on your sensor it might not care.  As long as you can get a replacement at some reasonable price, you could give the machining a try and see what happens...