UT Bore Inspection

[Cyclone Joe]

Howdy!
Can anybody recommend  good shop for UT inspection of bores?  I have my 390 and its been punched 0.060" already.  It was running well before I took it apart and I'm about ready to buy a Prison Break kit for it, but before I do, I want to make sure I dont have any thin spots.

I'm in the Sacramento Area but I'm willing to drive the block to the Bay if need be.

Thanks in advance,
Joe

[thatdarncat]

Joe, you may want to consider buying your own Ultrasonic Tester. Jay Brown bought one of these a while ago when he started picking up those used 428 blocks. He was happy with it and on his recommendation I bought one off eBay too almost a year ago. Price at the time was about $117 shipped. The transducer is flat, so you need to use some sandpaper and give it a gentle curve to match the cylinder bores, wasn’t too hard to do. I was paying about $60 to have a block tested at a local shop ( sorry, in Minnesota), so for the price of 2 sonic tests I own my own tester. And you will be able to check as many spots in a cylinder as you want. Maybe Jay will chime in. Just a thought.

[Cyclone Joe]

Kevin,
Thanks for this!  This is sure a heck of a lot cheaper than the $1,000 units I was looking at earlier.  Looks like Santa came early for me!

Joe

[fekbmax]

I got one of those $130.oo deals off Amazon.  Same deal, just had to put a slight curve on the pickup. Compared it to the $1500 kit and for me and what i do with it i called it close enough..

[GJCAT427]

What make/model did Jay get?

[cjshaker]

So did anyone check it for accuracy? Seems like it would be easy enough to do, using some plate steel, or even better, the skirt of the block, since that has the same metallic composition. Just curious how accurate it is.

[Heo]

A friend have one like that that i used. I tested
it against the China Wall and some other cast iron
Parts i had that was easy to meassure with calipers
And it was accurate after i put new batteries in it

[fekbmax]

Mine tested reasonably accurate compared to the high $ rig at my friends machine shop. Once it got up around one inch thickness the numbers started getting off. I fig i wouldn't be using it for anything over a half inch anyway.  For sure always a good idea to use fresh batteries.  Down side to my little cheap rig is it only measures in mm, not a huge deal though. Good enough for a quick ball park test at swap meets and junkyards.

[machoneman]

Cool stuff fellas! I had read about Jay's tester before and liked the idea. Didn't know some followed his lead and bought similar units. Testing, as noted, s/b easy. I'll add that I'd use a broken off China wall chunk (easy to stick in your tool box) to validate the accuracy each and every time as this also may indicate the need for new batteries.

Here's another reason. The density and composition of cast iron does differ from say a thick aluminum or steel plate. While a tester should read the same way, you can prove or disprove this by actual back-to-back tests.

[Heo]

You have the calibration pad on the tester
But i tested with castiron to be sure and got some
Strange numbers so i put in new bateries

[ntheogen]

So what brand did you guys buy or use? I'm going to grab one at that little of an investment.

Jack

[Cyclone Joe]

Is the one I bought.  Thanks to Amazon prime it should be here later today!
https://www.amazon.com/UM6500-Handheld-Digital-Ultrasonic-Thickness/dp/B00UR6YR1U/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1511715465&sr=8-1&keywords=UM6500

Joe

[thatdarncat]

Sorry my picture wasn't clearer, it's a UM6500. There's no "Brand" name on it, but if you search eBay there are multiple sellers. This one will read in both inch & MM, as was pointed out above a few varieties of these ( but not this model ) only read in MM. It has multiple settings for type of material to measure, one of them works accurately for our FE cast blocks ( I always forget which ). Make sure when you are using it you are on the correct setting, a couple times after I had the batteries out I forgot to put it back on the proper material setting and spent time getting useless readings, just a tip. Also, a tip Jay gave me - it comes with a little bottle of couplant gel that you have to put on the transducer, Petroleum Jelly ( like Vasoline ) works just as well and is cheap. 

[Gregg]

I have read on another forum where someone changed the flat transducer to curved for cylinders and rendered the transducer useless.  I hope Jay jumps in here with more information.

[thatdarncat]

It’s such a small amount of curve you’re putting into it that it’s hard to even get a representative picture, but here you go. We did it by hand with a sanding block and lots of patience. Check your progress as you go against a cylinder wall until you reach a decent match. You want to sand on the sides and not across that narrow metal strip in the center. I wouldn’t do it on the bench grinder lol. Works fine.