Plated squish bands.... Grrrrr

[Brewz]

Hey folks
I have a couple aftermarket cylinders here that I would like to do some work on but am unable to cut the squish band as it's plated.

I don't have a lathe and usually cut the band using an old piston with a piece of power hacksaw blade tapped into a slot in the top of the piston.

This works great on cylinders with no plating on the band but it won't take the plating out.

Does anyone have a way they have found to get the plating out?

 

[jb-chainsaws]

You could use some coarse Emery on the top of the piston to cut through the plating? I've done it by accident trying to clean up an overly trashed cylinder so I know it'll cut through the plating!

Failing that maybe a piece of tool steel set into a slot on the piston if you've access to a milling machine

 

[Mattyo]

jb quick weld some 50 grit sandpaper to the top of an old piston. put a wrist pin in the piston, use a clutch tool from a husky 350 ... attach to your drill, spin the piston. be REALLY careful to not get grit on the sidewalls, and use oil / wd-40 as cutting fluid. i've cut as much as .010 out of heads. but it takes time.

 

[Brewz]

Is that on plated bands matto?

I can take material out easy with the cutter fixed to a piston top but it just spins on the plating

 

[drf256]

I bought diamond plated bit sets for this reason. Cheap in eBay.

There are flat ones that should be able to be used to just get through the plating, then use your piston method.

Haven't tried it yet. A popup piston is an option in these Tony.

 

[mdavlee]

I set the bit on an angle and start peeling it from the center out

 

[Mattyo]

Is that on plated bands matto?

I can take material out easy with the cutter fixed to a piston top but it just spins on the plating

Yep. ..but I don't like adjusting squish bands if they are nicely plated. And...it'll take a while. Gotta pull the piston out and clean with brake cleaner...it gets loaded.

 

[Al Smith]

The question is,is there really that much improvement by cutting the chamber size down ? I've never done it ,just lower the cylinder and call it a day .