Kwik-Way Info Sheets

The Kwik-Way Heavy Duty Wheel Dresser

WHEELS commonly referred to as Seat Grinding Stones or Rocks.

The most common cause of wheel breakage is due to improper mounting and abusive and/or careless  operation.  Only  through  proper  use,  regular  grinding machine  maintenance,  service  and inspection procedures can wheel breakage be prevented.
 
It  is  the  responsibility  of  the  user  to  inspect,  at  regular  intervals,  to  be  certain  that  mounting flanges are in usable condition, are of proper size and shape and that no damage has occurred to the wheel or the machine.
 
The following DO'S and DONT'S should be used as a guide to safer grinding

WARNING
IMPROPER USE MAY CAUSE BREAKAGE AND SERIOUS INJURY.

KWIK-WAY WHEEL DRESSER SET-UP

1. Loosen handle #3 and rotate the pointer line until it aligns to the index angle desired and retighten.
2. After attaching the correct grinding wheel to the grinder unit, carefully lower the grinder unit onto the dresser arbor item #1
3. Loosen item #5 and raise or lower the arbor until the face of the wheel is in relative position to the diamond (#6). Retighten # 5
4. Adjust the diamond #6 by turning the knurled knob #2 until the diamond is nearly in contact to the face of the grinding wheel.
5. Engage the grinder motor hex drive to the hex cap on the grinder unit start the motor and begin  dressing  the  wheel  using  handle  #  4  and  slowly  sweeping  the  face.  (Follow  the directions below)

DRESSING OR TRUING THE VALVE SEAT WHEEL

It is necessary to true or dress seat wheels that have become dull or loaded, or have lost their form (angle). To obtain the best possible dress, observe the following.

1. Feed the diamond into the wheel very slowly until the diamond just touches the wheel.
2. Move the diamond across the face of the wheel beginning from the bottom and sweep up.  A slow sweep will provide a smoother finish while a rapid sweep will provide a coarse finish. 

NOTE: How  the  wheel  is  dressed  will  directly  influence the finish of the valve seat. Take care when dressing the seat wheels, this will improve valve seat finish and increase diamond life. Check the  dress  of  the  wheel  frequently  during  the  seat  grinding  operation.  It  is  better  to  dress frequently and remove a slight amount of wheel than to wait too long and have a necessity to remove an excessive amount to correct the wheel 

Changing a valve seat stone angle is only advised if it is to increase the stone angle, i.e., taking a 15-degree angle wheel and making it a 30-degree. 

It is not cost effective to attempt to reduce an angle, too much abrasive and diamond is required to perform this operation. 

Valve Grinder Chuck Inspection

Chuck accuracy is critical to producing a quality valve job. Most O.E.M.'s require a valve face run-out to be below .0015. To accomplish this, the chuck in a valve grinder must not only run-out below .0015, but must repeat this every time. High performance engines require even greater accuracy. In some cases run-out must be below .0005. How do you determine the accuracy of the chuck in your machine? There is basically one easy method that can be used which provides an accurate evaluation.

Start by finding a known round and straight part. A valve seat pilot, carbide if you have one will work very well. If you do not have one, use a section of drill rod that is straight and round. This will be your test piece.

1. Insert the test piece into the chuck so that it is gripped correctly and has at least two inches of protrusion past the face of the chuck.
2. Install a dial indicator (.0000 reading if possible) so as to have the plunger contact the test piece one inch from the face of the chuck.
3. Turn the machine on and observe the indicator as the chuck is rotating. The reading at this point should not exceed .0015.

If the reading is inexcess of the .0015, you can first disassemble the chuck and clean it thoroughly. (Follow directions given in the machine manual). Examine the ramps on which the ball bearings ride, if wear is evident (grooves), the chuck will require placement. Kwik-Way provides new chucks that have less than .0005 run out and for the standard SVSIID and a Hi-Performance version with less than .0002 run out.

If you have any quesitons in regards to chuck performance, or if you need a replacement chuck, contact;

Kwik-Way Tech Services at 800-553-5953.

Kwik-Way Industries, Inc., began as the Cedar Rapids Engineering Company in 1920, providing a product sorely needed by the fledg­ling automobile and truck indus­try—a reliable, standardized way to reface engine valves. Until the Kwik-Way valve refacing machine was marketed, that process was per­formed, with difficulty, by hand. Charles C. Hahn, founder of the company, was a former blacksmith's apprentice who appreciated auto­mobiles and wanted to solve some of their engine problems, such as valves warped by heat and wear. He queried machine tool makers around the country who not only lacked a lathe "chuck" to fit his needs but flatly told Hahn that such a tool couldn't be built. 

Hahn persevered, however, and with R.H. Meister, an experienced machinist, founded Cedar Rapids Engineering Company. The partners hired a creative mechanical engineer, A.I. Dunn, and between them, the trio designed the chuck needed to reface engine valves. The device worked and the Kwik-Way valve facing machine was born.

The firm's first modest office and shop was located at 902 Seven­ teenth Street Northeast in Cedar Rapids, and measured only 20 by 20 feet. However, the new product caught on fast throughout the United States and the business grew. The company's first salesman was I.R. Goodwin, an energetic young man who made his money the hard way—covering the dusty roads of Nebraska, North and South Dakota, and northwestern Iowa by automo­bile, peddling his wares primarily to garages.

During World War II, Cedar Rapids Engineering Company put its close-tolerance machining skills to work grinding radio crystals for the Allied defense effort. As the com­pany continued to expand, an eye was cast toward foreign markets. Although some sales had been made overseas almost by accident, it wasn't until 1962 that Kwik-Way machines were marketed abroad directly by Cedar Rapids Engineer­ing Company. That year, overseas sales totaled $68,000; today, that annual figure amounts to several million dollars.

After Charles Hahn's death in the 1940s, control of the enterprise was assumed, first by his partner, R.H. Meister, and then by Hahn's two sons, F. Critz and H. Cedric. In 1968, Cedar Rapids Engineering Company was merged into the newly formed Kwik-Way Industries, Inc., headed by Thomas A. Parks and a new professional management team. The company acquired a Canadian firm in 1969, now called Kwik - Way Manufacturing of Canada, Ltd. In late 1973, Material Products Company, a steel fabricat­ing firm, and Line-O-Tronics, Inc., maker of auto front-end alignment tools and wheel balancers, were ac­quired. Today Kwik-Way manufac­tures the automotive industry's most complete line of repair machinery.

A large industrial facility was built and occupied at 500 Fifty-seventh Street, Marion, in 1976. In 1 9 8 0 , the company employs approximately 300 people through its Marion facility, 140 at Rock Is­land, Illinois, and 50 at its facility at Toronto, Canada.

A very common concern with any boring bar is that the bar sometimes will not repeat on bored size. This can be caused by one a few different things, or a combination of more than one.

You set your mike and bore a hole and find the hole is oversized, you reset the mike and the next hole is then undersized, obviously there is something that is not right.

First thing we would look for are scores or scratches in the micometer face. If the mike is damaged, the bar will not repeat.The mike should be returned to KW and the face reground and repaired.

Micrometer stem bend, will cause the same problems depending on the amount of bend and the amount of stock to be removed. A quick way to determine if the stem is bent is to insert a feeler gauge (.002) between the face of the mike and the tool bit, then tighten the bit. The feeler gauge should stay in place, and if you slowy rotate the mike in the boring head, the tension in the feeler gauge should not increse or decrease. If it does, the stem is bent and requires replacement.

Another thing to check is if the micrometer not locating into the boring head correctly. The stem of the mike has a V-groove in it which works with a spring loaded ball bearing to insure correct position of the mike into the head every time. If the groove is worn or the ball is out of adjustment, the bar will not repeat on size. The micrometer should "snap" into the head and when slight rearward pressure is applied, the mike should snap back into the boring head. If it does not the ball positon will need to be adjusted. Contact Tech Services for assistance in this case.

If you tighten the tool bit and the tool bit moves away from the feeler gauge, and the feeler becomes loose, there is a different problem. Either the tool gib, tool holder or boring head is worn. You can examine the tool holder quite easily by simply checking the angle where the gib plate contacts the tool holder for visable wear and also feel it for any step. If worn, it will require replacement. You will need to remove the gib from the boring head to examine it for wear also, if the tool holder is worn, it is likely the gib will be worn also.

The boring head can also be worn, and cause the same problem as the tool gib or holder. If the boring head is worn, then the head will need to be replaced. Rebuilding a boring head is only something that the factory can do, and all heads may not be repairable. A combination of two or more of these concerns may be found on the same machine. These findings are normally on very old or high service units.

These are but a few possible causes for potential boring errors in bore size.

As always please contact KW Tech services for further help if required.

By far, the best way to determine which model of Valve Refacer you have is to give your serial number to the Kwik-Way Representative when you call in. The Serial number is located above the 15 degree mark on the angle gauge of all but the very oldest valve refacers. For most of them there will be a letter D or S after the first letters of SVS, but some of the really old units might have a number like "KK 234". Regardless, if you give the entire set of letters and numbers to a Kwik-Way Representative, they will be able to insure that you are getting the correct parts or consumables for your particular model of Valve Refacer.

Here is a photo of a 2009 production serial number.

Here are some other things that will help you identify your SVS valve refacer.

Early SVS	SVSII D (Deluxe)	SVSII S (Standard)
Serial Numbers:202-2681	SNs: 3,003-5173; 10,000(KWP) and up.	SNs: 10,003-10,166
Air Operated Chuck	Air Operated Chuck	Lever Operated Chuck
Variable Speed Chuck	Variable Speed Chuck	One Speed Chuck
Aluminum Chuck Cover	Plastic Chuck Cover	Plastic Chuck Cover
Rubber Mat on Chuck Cover	No Rubber Mat on Chuck Cover	No Rubber Mat on Chuck Cover
Does not have a valve counter	Valve counter present	Does not have a valve counter.