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Tue Apr 13, 2010 8:44 pm

That kit is no good man. Complete trash. Just send it to me! :lol:

That thing looks very pristine...awesome find.

Push the button in and then turn the knurled nut counterclockwise. The leadscrew will go back in as you turn the knurled nut. Once you bottom out the leadscrew..turn the nut the other way and free up the gear. IN this position, the feed is ready for the cut.

INsert the bar in the case and then install the bushings...simultaneously if you can. Tap the bushings w/ a nice hard piece of clean wood and tap North..South...East...West fo the bushing. Do same for the other.

when you tap the bushings in, you turn the bar and see if it binds. You want the bar to be free to spin. So just tap, roll the bar..tap some more. You do not need it too tight in there, just enough.

Turn the bar so the setscrew is upward (you can see it) and lock it down to the little shaft in the feed. You an actually move the leadscrew end closer to the bar if you like. You do this by pushing the button and turning the knurled nut.

Once you lock it down, lube the bushings w/ oil and apply power to the HEX end. You do NOT need to push....the leadscrew will pull all the work on the bar as you apply power. Watch the cutters go over to the other side of the main....MAKING SURE YOU DO NOT BOTTOM OUT THE GEARS OR YOU WILL CRASH IT!

I like the bushings to be about 0.0005" clearance. Make new bushings and have it honed w/ that clearance for the bar. Hone the bushings on a rod machine...same as when you resize connecting rods.

Make the pass and then mic the holes w/ dialbore gauge.

To remove the bar, unlock the setscrew by the feed. Then tap that prominent area w/ hard piece of wood...STRAIGHT BACK. NOT side to side. STRAIGHT BACK. Just keep tapping small until the feed backs up and off. Then w/ the bar and small end bushing still hooked up, just wiggle the bar up or down to unhook the small bushing. Lay the bar in the case, take off the small bushing...then Withdraw the bar carefully.

Enjoy.

Thu Apr 15, 2010 3:04 pm

awesome, thanks for the comments and description of how to use the bar. i have some work to do. the reason the feed was a mystery to me was because the lead screw was seized. i managed to get it free but at some point someone has jeffed up the threads of the screw - it doesn't run through the knurled nut smoothly because it looks like someone grabbed the screw with a vice or pliers. good thing it's a standard 1/2-20 thread, so i will get a tap and die and repair the threads on the screw and the knurled nut. i was fiddling with the feed many times and trying to figure how it was supposed to work, knowing something was wrong but finally i just took the feed mechanism apart and realized it must be seized. this is probably why i was able to buy the tool for a decent price, other than the seized screw. the photo doesn't show the damage to the threads very well, but the lead screw threads are mashed a bit in a few places.

Sat Apr 17, 2010 11:13 am

i am making progress, still more questions. the lead screw is working properly now, however it still wants to get stuck if you bottom it by threading it all the way out (max amount of threads visible outside the knurled nut).

would you ever install the bar into the case half, then assemble and torque the other half around the bar? it seems easy to get the tool into and out of the case this way, as long as it won't upset getting the halves torqued together properly.

i also note that the bushing for the #4 side of the case, it never gets installed to the hilt, it floats in the case, is this correct? it seems odd that it would float rather than being installed to the end of the step, but this is the only way the cutter will work.

i still can't quite get how the bar is supposed to get attached to the lead screw. on my bar, the set screw will not grab the small rod in the feed, the screw will not thread that far down. i can easily thread the hole so the screw will go deeper into the hole but with what i have the mechanics of that joint seem off to me. is there supposed to be a tiny bushing on the end of the small rod to make it fit snugly into the hole in the bar? the hole is about .25" and the rod is about .06". it doesn't make sense to squish the small rod off-centre anyhow, surely it is supposed to be held in axis with the bar. with the parts i have the only way to clamp the screw down on the small rod will be to push the small rod off the centre axis of the bar, against the side of the hole in the bar. it seems like there should a split collet inside the bar, or something similar, to make it so the small bar is clamped in the centre of the hole...

there is also this in the box, is it a standard?

Sat Apr 17, 2010 2:06 pm

No floating bushings. PERIOD! Both bushings are snug in the case. How do you suppose are gonna cut when you have one end bouncing around???

Also, the tip on the lead screw lost its tip.. should be 1/4 inch size.

I replaced mine w/ 1/4 inch steel turned down in the middle so it will break and save the bits from crashing in case you forget a dowel. Yes..don't forget the dowels..EVER!

Best to ream the leadscrew and machine a new 1/4 inch tongue. Grind a small flat on the tongue so the setscrew can grab it and has area to mangle. Otherwise, you will not be able to remove the bar if it is wedged in there w/ the tongue.

Thu May 27, 2010 7:34 pm

HI Scott.

Got your phone message. If you like you can send the case and lineboring bar and I can size it for you. Also, you need to install a 1/4inch shaft to mount into the boring bar and get rid of that flimsy wire.

I can cut the case for you. YOu can PM me.

Fri May 28, 2010 7:36 am

I love this post ! :)
Please dont stop discussing the in's and out's of Line boreing .
Often Ive been told that line boreing is only as good as the Guy doing it .
More Please ?
Sean

Sun Jun 06, 2010 11:57 am

finally found some time to make the tru-line tool work. i made a new shaft for the feed from 1/4" steel. i machined the feed screw to take the larger shaft. then finally i could see how the feed works, which is very cool. it feeds super slow and precise and the feed rate is perfect. this is why the tru-line boring bar works so well, that and the fact that the bar is a large diameter, so it's very stiff. nsracing sent me some notes by email on how to set up the bar for the cut and they worked well. i have not measured the bores yet but that is the next step, to set up the bar perfectly for first oversize case and once this is done i will leave the bar alone. i am satisfied now that i'll be able to make this tool do a good job.

the cuttings. sprirals maybe not as long as you would ideally like:

the cut looks good to me considering i have never used this tool to bore a case before. i stopped the cutting twice during the process, just to take a look and make sure it was cutting as it should. the case i am boring here is a junker so i am using it to make my mistakes, if any. you can see a few lines in the cut where i stopped and started again:

Sun Jun 06, 2010 7:21 pm

Hi Scott,

Glad you got that thing working. The chips are very decent...nice and curly..not clobbered. Bits are very good.

Didn't I tell you to put that 1/4" inch shaft in there? :D

The TruLine is king! Nothing like it.

Good show.

Mon Jun 07, 2010 11:02 am

I wish I had one. No one around me has one.

I could go to the awful reconditioners near here, but they have align bore days in their engine remanufacturing business and take every case they have out to +2mm so they don't need to think etc etc. It's criminal as well as being as accurate as telling the time by tree growth. There is a rebore place too, but they are what I can only describes as "rough as a badgers arse"

I'm pleading with my machinist to do them on the lathe, it's the only option I have left (boo Hoo). I think I can convince him to do 5 cases at a time though :D

Tue Jun 08, 2010 4:48 am

Marv, YOu can set it up on the lathe also. It is a bit of set up but once you set the bar it is just matter of chucking the bar to the lathe and let the case ride.

I used to do it like that on custom mains..oddball mixed Type IV and Type I or Wasser + TYpe IV.

I love the TruLine. It uses time-honored way of lineboring way back during the days of giant cruise ships. The process was good then, it is good now.

Tue Jun 08, 2010 1:13 pm

Hey -

Since we're on the subject...sort of...

I have a Regis/PortaTool VW700 boring bar that I have been fighting with for the last two weeks trying to get an accurate result from. It was given to me. So, if it's junk...so be it.

Anyway, no matter what I set the bits to on the provided mic, I get a completely different bore. I've been practicing on a junked out case so as not to ruin any of my good ones, thankfully. I've tried several different things in attempts to remedy this issue with no success. I never get a consistent amount over or under what I set the bits to. The bore is also out of round....the worst being about .0012".

Has anyone used this thing and had similar problems? Any suggestions??

I think I may have an old TruLine around here somewhere, too. If I remember correctly, there was no real way that I could see to set the bits and the instructions are pretty vague.

If needed, I can come up with part numbers and whatnot.

Thanks!

Tue Jun 08, 2010 1:34 pm

Ok, in case it may help....

The PortaTool is a VW700 with a receipt dated 1978. The hydraulic feed unit is marked LB-75 and is without the feed screw pictured in the instructions. So, I'm thinking that piece is out of an older set and was tossed in when the original was in need of repair or lost. Sad.

The other bar doesn't have a part number that I can see on it or any of the paperwork. I did, however, see on another thread that Cold Form Products made a pile of crap bar with a weird little "micro-stop"...thing on it, as well. I'm pretty sure that is the one I have. It just happens to be stuffed into the same box as a TruLine cam tunnel bar. So, I thought they were the same manufacturer.

The "micro-stop" is supposed to be a precision way to set the bits. It has no numbers on it, just lines. I tried it and either it makes no sense or I'm a total idiot. The latter is certainly a strong possibility that I'll not be quick to rule out.

Wed Jun 09, 2010 5:49 am

Do yourself a favor and throw that shit in the trash. It is not going to give you an accurate cut as it is hydraulic feed. It does not have a leadscrew to pull the bar through.

Hydraulics are used in machining for forming, drilling or tracing on lathes and mills. Leadscrew technology is still best.

Wed Jun 09, 2010 8:00 am

having access to a spanky truline is all well and good, but are there any alternatives (other than the bugpatch bar) that cut the mustard?

All the align bore bar's i've seen are ostensibly for excavator bucket bushing or they are humungous stand alone machines for the local engineering firm.

Nothing that you can say is truly portable other than the portatool it seems. those that have trulines aren't letting them go

Wed Jun 09, 2010 8:10 am

I have sold all my spare TruLInes. I am down to couple of dozen bars.

I have probably instigated the love affair w/ the TruLine. It is an awesome tool.

Just keep your eyes peeled for one...unless I grab it first. :lol:

Wed Jun 09, 2010 12:57 pm

nsracing wrote: ... I am down to couple of dozen bars ...

for goodness' sakes man, what would you ever need 24 boring bars for?

Wed Jun 09, 2010 5:22 pm

You never know Scott. I might run out. :lol:

I might make some bars later and use DeVlieg bits or Microbore. They have independent adjusters you can read right of the dials around the bits. I have collected enough to make a dozen bars.

I also plan to make better feeding mechanism using the same principle as the original ones.

We have Hank the Crank to thank for coming up w/ this idea of tool. I think he is still alive in the USA somewhere.

Thu Jun 10, 2010 8:29 am

Ok..I've read several of your posts that talk up TruLines. I get it.

I was just curious to see if anyone here has ever successfully used a 1st gen. Porta-Tool.

Thanks.

Fri Jun 11, 2010 7:56 am

Spiel_Mit_Mir wrote: Ok..I've read several of your posts that talk up TruLines. I get it.

yeah, nsracing is a zealot, that's for sure. anyone who owns 24 boring bars must have some kind of 'condition'. :-) the thread is about tru-line bars so i guess it's OK.

i finished the case i was working on, this was what was driving the whole project and why i bought the tru-line bar in the first place. it's a good condition AS21 case from an injected engine, the engine it's being used for has aftermarket injection so it's perfect.

the tru-line does a good job:

about adjusting the tru-line bar - i will try to post some photos of the tru-line micro-stop when i get a chance. since i didn't have any real instructions to go from, i had some email help from others to set the cutters, plus a bit of trial cutting. there is a cutter setting device made by bugpatch that is made for setting these cutters, but i didn't have time to get that before needing the case to be done, so i used the micro-stop plus some measuring and cutting. i set the cutters shy of the bold mark on the micro-stop, which is supposed to be the 1st oversize. i cut a junk case and measured. i found out that the small hatches on the micro-stop are .001" so after measuring the cut case i adjusted each cutter accordingly and cut my good case. i measured the bores again and made one more adjustment and one more cut of the same junk case. then i cut the good case and my measurements were almost perfect. i found that the truline could actually make a repeat cut of about .03mm (.0011) still cut true to the previous cut, which was impressive to me. in the final analysis the micro-stop ended up being between 1/2 and 3/4 of a thousanth past the bold datum mark, so that probably represents the wear of the cutter over the years. i ended up with 3 out of the 4 journals absolutely spot on. one journal is .02mm oversize. if this was the centre main i might be worried but it's #3 so i think it will fine to have one journal 7/10000 too big.

so now the bar is set up for the first cut and i've learned a lot.

Fri Jun 11, 2010 8:28 am

Attn nsracing;

Any chance of making/selling the cutting bits? I think I have one that is chipped.

Also, any chance of making a Tru-Line style standard size cam bore bar with the 3 cutters as they made in the past? So far I only had the luxury of seeing one set. I have yet to see one posted for sale in various forums and other places.