Quote:
Originally Posted by Signman
Micronite is the name of a company which began in New Jersey then was purchased and made part of the Crane Cams Company which went bankrupt. Those who purchased the cam and ignition products did not buy the metal finishing business.
Micronite had machines constructed (did not purchase machinery) and developed their own processes.
Some or all of Micronite metal finishing machines were purchased by Tommy Lee Performance mentioned above.
The process is called isotropic metal finishing it is not a coating. The advantage over some other processes is that the finish in non directional. The part is tumbled with abrasives of different size, shape and grit, dry or wet. The part and abrasives are loaded in a drum which is loaded in rack with others. The rack rotates while simultaneously the drums rotate in the opposite direction. Speed frequency and time along with the abrasive and fluid are very important as you may imagine the motion creates a homogeneous mixing process.
The object is to remove high spots (peaks) on the metal surface while leaving the low spots (valleys). Little material is actually removed we're talking tens of thousandths, other process are very aggressive. Depending on how many steps in the process the part can end looking like it was chrome plated. When you see the crank shafts at PRI that look chrome plated they were put though an isotropic finishing process.
The high abrasive peaks removed leaving the low lubricant holding valleys. Where metal contacts metal friction and heat is reduced, much of the opportunities for cracks to develop are removed.
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Ok... SO if I'm understanding this correctly, this basically the same as the REM or ISF surface finishing which removes the high spots and make everything look all nice and shiny?