Can this style of valve seat cutter be resharpened? If so, would you use a valve grinder, lathe, or some other type equipment? I have older USA made cutters and I see newer India made cutters. The ones I have are dull, they cut but just barely. I believe they were used for decades before carbides were available but I find it hard to believe they were throwaway pieces. The pics are new examples, not the ones I have. Again, can these type valve seat cutters be resharpened in a reasonable manner?
The first year I worked in a machine shop, the owner taught us how to sharpen everything in the shop. Ir's all in the quality of your files, and holding them right.
302GMC is spot on. Yes they can be re-sharpened. The challenge is resharpening them without affecting the cutting geometry.
I recall a friend of my dad who talked about sharpening files, if memory serves, they were put in some type of acid solution. I wonder if that would work for you as well? PS, I have the same style of seat cutters.
I would check the local machine shops they may resharpen their own tools or have some outfit do it for them. There are many services for resharpening machine tools online. Dan
I would imagine those are too hard to sharpen with files. In my machinist apprenticeship I sharpened lots of various cutters using a diamond wheel on a "tool and cutter grinder". You'd have to make a simple mandrel to hold those cutters in the machine's collet chuck. With labour rates at machine shops, it probably isn't practical to pay for the service. Here's a typical unit:
I've only seen stones for grinding valve seats and valves, those can be "dressed" when they get worn.
As mentioned they could be sharpened with the right equipment, but those were meant for cutting the cast iron seats of the day. Even sharpened they'll have a challenge with hardened seats and won't last long.
The stone pictures is for hand cutting the seat, pilot goes through it, then (on mine) tighten a bolt on the bottom of the pilot and it expands and keeps it all centered.
Thanks for all the replies. Seems like not really practical to sharpen and I don't have the equipment to do so.
Do you have access to a die grinder, preferable one with a 1/8" collet? If so you can carefully grind the front edge/face of each tooth ..... carefully because you must remove a very similar amount from each tooth face otherwise their diameters will be inconsistent. Unless they are chipped you only need to rub a couple of thou from each tooth face to get an improvement. Much like sharpening a HSS lathe tool.
I have used a tungsten carbide brake lathe bit to bring the edge back on reamer flutes, also try McMaster Carr for a diamond file, several types, the one I have will dress 65R steel, cost $100. Thin ones are available. Not Harbor Freight, good ones are expensive . If you want to buy a new cutter ,try Regis Manufacturing.
That equipment is called a Jack Mill. Ran one for several years in the saw room of a large cabinet manufacturing plant. That said, seek out a saw sharping shop, not a machine shop. Big difference in labor cost.
Which size cutter is it? I may have, I two of quite a few of my set. And just for clarity, you are refacing the seats by hand? Ie not in a drill. Edit: I see yours screw on in place, mine fit on a taper.
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