What methods are you guys using to measure ring tension? is there a tool I can buy / make to measure ring tension?
Rob.
Measuring ring tension
Moderator: Team
How are you using your fish scale. Can you explain the method that you are using.
We build our own tension scales, with load cells and air cylinders. This is for a production facility, so repeatability is a must.
There is a company out there that makes tension scales, be they are very expensive. http://www.c-kengineering.com/tgage.htm
I would like to know what everone else uses also.
We build our own tension scales, with load cells and air cylinders. This is for a production facility, so repeatability is a must.
There is a company out there that makes tension scales, be they are very expensive. http://www.c-kengineering.com/tgage.htm
I would like to know what everone else uses also.
That is correct ADR.ADR wrote:I think the fishing scale method is used to gauge the amount of force it takes to drag the piston thru the bore with a given ring set.
Usually i just use a piece of wire tied to the piston pin and put the piston in upsidedown(pin facing deck) and slowly pull on the top end of the scale and carefully watch to see how much pull tension is needed before the piston moves. It might not be the most accurate method because cylinder hone finish also plays a part in the firction coefficent. But 9 times out of 10 you can find out quickly if the ring pack is a low tension set or not.
Make a note though always put the rings in the bore first and square them up. then take a flashlight and check to make sure the ring is touching correctly to the bore. I have seen a fiew sets that the ring was not made correctly and light was seen around the rings in a fiew places.
Hope this helps.
Thank You for the fishscale method, I have used that method as well. As you stated, it is not the best way to check tension, as the finished bore size and finish has a lot to do with the pull force on the piston. Just a .001 larger/smaller bore can change the pull bore by a couple of pounds alone.
The way we check tension (piston ring manufacturers) is how many pound of force does it take to close a ring to bore diameter (gage diameter). This is done by placing the ring in a special fixure that has load cells and some means of closing the ring to bore diameter. This is done on the top and second rings. The oil control pack is checked with all three rings (2 rails and 1 expander) as if it was installed on a piston. These fixure are very expensive.
We check light similar to how you are doing it, we install the ring in a small plate bored to gage diameter, (plate about .500 thick) and use a colored neon light to check for light.
The way we check tension (piston ring manufacturers) is how many pound of force does it take to close a ring to bore diameter (gage diameter). This is done by placing the ring in a special fixure that has load cells and some means of closing the ring to bore diameter. This is done on the top and second rings. The oil control pack is checked with all three rings (2 rails and 1 expander) as if it was installed on a piston. These fixure are very expensive.
We check light similar to how you are doing it, we install the ring in a small plate bored to gage diameter, (plate about .500 thick) and use a colored neon light to check for light.