Amesja

Find cones that are close enough made for the same number and size of balls. This isn't rocket science. It's a bike wheel, not a turbine engine out of a fighter jet.

Cut new seals out of a plastic bottle.

Done.

jodphoto

Cool,

I was hoping to improve my craft with this process, but now I have a Plan C as well. I never even considered a plastic bottle even though the planet is inundated with them. Thanks.

Kimmo 

AFAIK, the bending strength of a tube is very little less than that of a rod; I'd wager there'd be an order of magnitude or more difference between a cheap one and a high-quality one.

trescojones

I havent done this with bearing cones yet either, (have done it with tools)
Perhaps cone life would be enhanced if after quenching, you cleaned them and tempered them, gently heating until the blue, yellow or pink colouration appears on the races(depending on how hard vs springy you want it), you can use fine dry wood ash as a gradual cooling medium by having a can of it underneath you just drop the piece into

jodphoto

Amesja,

Thanks for the reality check. Light bulb on.

Wheels Mfg cones seem close enough and with a variety of spacers, will work. Their diameter is smaller than the originals so I think it's a simple matter to close the gap with the grease seal.

I never even considered the issue of case hardening the cones afterwards.

I may still try fixing the old cones...after I have my bike back.

Thanks for all the good feedback everyone!

yellowbarber

I'm glad you guys have this thread going. Saved me from doing something potentially stupid.
I have a set of Resilion Continentals on a proper old British pathracer. The rear cones are pretty crunchy, and so far I've just been repacking new bearings every 200/300 miles or so. The last time, I did spin them in a drill press and buffed the races with a fine compound which made a little improvement.
It's more likely I'll find a new pair of complete Continentals before I find replacement cones (British, circa 1958) , but I will be patient and relace the wheelset with a garden variety sturmey archer 3 speed setup in the meantime.

sknhgy 

I pulled an old JC Penny 3 speed out of the trash and it has scored front bearings. I got nothing to lose by trying to resurface them. Thanks for the pictures. I take it the finished radius of the cone really isn't that critical?

Asi

The process for resurfacing a BB spindle currently under work (as mention on another thread):

The proper tool: rectifying machine with center support (some are free-center and may only give you round surface but may be eccentric which is very bad) with a ball profile wheel that match the desired radius, or even a profiled one for other shapes.
- this machine gives you the final smoothness as much as it can get, like for a crankshaft journals, very round and very true, with about 0.2 - 0.4 um rugosity.

After that it will go trough a high frequency currents case hardening giving about 0.3mm of case hardened material.


Total cost: a few beers to those few friends that work in a factory and have this kind of tools at hand. I was about to try the dremmel-lathe combo but after a few discussion with my machinist friend, I've given the spindle to him and awaiting it to get back

9volt 

Took a crack at resurfacing some old cones today. Used a dremel and drill press to clean the pitting and then a few rounds of sandpaper to smooth them out.

AnkleWork

Pretty. Now you only need to case harden them again.

CliffordK

Old thread, with new work

Looks like a nice job on the cones. Don't forget to add spacers as needed.

I tried cutting my Campy BB spindle on the lathe using normal HSS or Carbide bits.. Whew, was it hard. Next time I'll use a stone. Unfortunately one can't use spacers with the BB, so I had to be careful not to take off too much material, and it is tight fitting. However, I was just thinking, if one needed a 68mm spindle, perhaps one could cut down a 70mm spindle.

When I was at the Bike co-op a while ago, I snagged several broken axles. They probably wondered what on earth I needed half axles for, but they were cheap, although I'm not sure I got any Campy threaded ones.

9volt 

These are for an 84 Sierra that is going to get ridden around the neighborhood with my dog a few times a year. I'll pull them next fall and post pics.

dabac

I've hardened reground cones using a case hardening compound. And I've used them w/o hardening. So far, I can't tell any functional difference.

CroMo Mike 

I ground the ball dimples out of a Campy headset crown race by spinning it using a lathe while grinding with a fine dremel stone. Followed with polishing with crocus cloth. About 10 minutes work. Still working great after many miles.


To fix the dimpled alloy lower (fixed) cup, I swapped out the pressed-in hard steel race with an identical hard steel race pulled from an upper cup, since uppers don't dimple.

_ForceD_

I've been doing this same exact thing for years and have had good results. Although I never made a mandrel for it, and have always used an old axle. But I've often wondered why there isn't a device or tool to make it easier to do. I'm thinking something like an ice skate blade sharpener. For me, it's not the expense of new cones but more of a convenience. When I discover bad cones...instead of driving to a bike shop where they may or may not have the precise cone that I need (necessitating the purchase of an entire axle/cone setup if they don't), or worse yet waiting for an online purchase to arrive...I can have the bike back on the road within a hour or so when I resurface a cone myself.

Dan

Andrew R Stewart 

[QUOTE=sknhgy;15938893]I pulled an old JC Penny 3 speed out of the trash and it has scored front bearings. I got nothing to lose by trying to resurface them. Thanks for the pictures. I take it the finished radius of the cone really isn't that critical?[/QUOTE]


The radius of the cone is less important then the cone's surface being concentric and axial. But the radius needs to be larger then the balls being used, as in only a single point of contact is wanted. Andy.

mickeyaaaa

Thank you so much for posting this! gave me the confidence to give it a try - my drill press is a cheap Chinese one and had too much wobble to be useful - turned out my cordless drill had the straightest chuck of all my drills so i used that - put it in the vice and then used the dremel very carefully to have 2 spinning tools do the work - this worked surprisingly well. then i used rolled up 220 grit and then 400 grit sandpaper to clean & polish it.

CAN ANYBODY CONFIRM IF THIS TYPE OF FIX HAS BEEN RELIABLE FOR THEM********** - (without case hardening that is)