the art of a valve job

[sbcharlie]

over the past 53 years I have been machining valve seats. my business is in motorcycle industry. back in high school I was taught to grind a valve seat. real basic three angle valve job 60/45/30 degree angles. was interesting to get the 45 degree angle at the right spot on the valve face. I met a very interesting head porter here in phoenix, named Dean Turk. he took under his wing and taught me porting basics.i taught at MMI machine shop classes, there we used Neway valve seat tools. my view not very impressed. I started my own machine shop in 1985. had hand valve seat grinders. I have to say it's a real art to grind a valve seat. then I was introduced to the SERDI 100 machine bought one it was a great machine,by the way my porting teacher Dean Turk bought a SERDI 100 also. somethings changed in my life, and sold the SERDI. I went to work for MSD ignitions CNC machining there parts in house.time to move back to phoenix to focus on cylinder heads. I bought a Sunnen VGS20 was great machine, struggled with metric heads. again it was an art to machine valve seat profiles one a formed tool machine. Then the game changer for my business was buying a NEWEN bb. after having the machine NEWEN hired me to teach customers on how to run there machines I have been training customers all over the world. what has been interesting to me is in past year, seeing customers that have never machine a valve seat profile buying these machines. interesting to see these young guys buy these machines and are designing custom valve seat profiles quickly and accurately single point valve seat machining is very interesting to learn Charlie

[PackardV8]

Many paths to the same watering hole, Charlie. Those who have taken more than one are less likely to miss the hazards on the other paths.

[resurrectionjoe]

Sbcharlie,

How do you check concentricity with a Newen bb?

[sbcharlie]

at factory we use a tally round to check concentricity its cmm machine we try to get 3 microns of runout before shipping a machine. I see if I can post a video we off a gauge for checking to our customers I usually see .0005-.001 run out in the field. I get to many different gauges used to check run out

[GARY C]

If you can buy a machine that does the job for you is it really an art?

[sbcharlie]

You still have program the machine and design the profiles. If you enjoy do Fred flint stone valve jobs enjoy

[bentvalves]

can you remind those of us out of the loop what one of these machines costs well tooled brand new?

how badly is the concentricity of the seat effected with a less than absolutely perfect valve guide?

[SpeierRacingHeads]

IMO, I don't care what you use for a S&G machine. If you don't hit it with a stone, it's not a precision machined surface. Everything in an engine has some sort of stone/diamond work.

[rebelrouser]

Not that I don't admire or am impressed with some of today's machining technology. I can't afford it, and I learned to do valve jobs with stones, 50 years ago. When I grind a set of valves and seats, they will hold a vacuum. I have seen more than a few brand-new heads with seats done with a cutter that look super, BUT they don't hold a vacuum. And then again if I was involved with some really aggressive porting work, or design work, a seat cutter system might need to be a necessity. But regardless the seat and valve need to seal well enough to hold a vacuum.

[sbcharlie]

A machine set up is about 150k. Interesting don’t you install new guides or liners. What I see that’s interesting is when I set up machine to see the owners how impressed and fast you can machine valve seats. And by the way surface finishes are amazing. No stones needed. Amazing the responses you guys are posting

[hoffman900]

A machine set up is about 150k. Interesting don’t you install new guides or liners. What I see that’s interesting is when I set up machine to see the owners how impressed and fast you can machine valve seats. And by the way surface finishes are amazing. No stones needed. Amazing the responses you guys are posting

Gatekeeping the machine a valve seat is cut is just silly, but it is the internet after all.

I'm know a machine like that isn't for everyone, but they're impressive.

[SchmidtMotorWorks]

Another option is to buy a CNC mill.
You can buy a very nice one for much less that $150K

It has the advantage of being able to make a 3D shape rather than only a revolved shape.
A CNC mill also has the advantage of versatility, if you design a part, it can be producing 24x7.

[sbcharlie]

that's good idea

[sbcharlie]

Must be easy to program on cnc mill just asking

[SchmidtMotorWorks]

Must be easy to program on cnc mill just asking

These days, it is super easy.
If anyone is interested in learning, probably the easiest and least expensive (free) way to go is get Autodesk Fusion 360.

https://www.autodesk.com/products/fusio ... n&plc=F360