kinda cool spark plug cleaner

[hguerrero]

NOT MINE, but thought someone on here might find this interesting for their shop...

http://dallas.craigslist.org/ftw/tls/1390042477.html

[t100]

i drive toyota's, the OEM NGK or Denso spark plugs are at $2 each at stealerships, why someone wants to recycle used plugs?

[njfl]

That's from back in the day when plugs were more expensive (relatively, at least).

I have always stayed away from cleaning spark plugs with abrasives or anything mechanical. By doing that you remove the outermost coating making them susceptible to oxidation even faster. Anyone else hae any thoughts on that? For $2.00 a piece, routine replacement seems more logical.

[fatfillup]

Used the exact same machine in the 70's in a gas station I worked in. Worked well and you could test fire the plug to make sure is was firing properly. I wasn't a mechanic and the machine probably was used more for our own stuff then for customers but I can see the test firing app being useful to confirm a bad spark plug when you had a car misfiring.

They were probably more useful when plugs were much more easily accessable, changed every 12,000 miles and when cars were more prone to fouling plug problems. Considering the extended times in between plug changes nowadays, not much use for a cleaner.

[Rolling_Thunder]

We had one just like that back in my AutoShop days in High School! You could clean it and pressure test it with 1 machine!!!

[rodm1]

Plugs are cheap but if you are replacing them every few hours they get real expensive. Now days you get 100,000 miles on them old iron you get much lease.

[HandyManny]

These days any plugs that get removed gets replaced. At least with me.

[hguerrero]

i'm guessing someone could use it more as garage paraphernalia...

[Elroy]

That's from back in the day when plugs were more expensive (relatively, at least).

I have always stayed away from cleaning spark plugs with abrasives or anything mechanical. By doing that you remove the outermost coating making them susceptible to oxidation even faster. Anyone else hae any thoughts on that? For $2.00 a piece, routine replacement seems more logical.

Elroy is under the impression you have two basic issues with a plug that has been cleaned with abrasive. The first issue is the ceramic becomes rough. There is no "glaze" on the combustion chamber end of the ceramic like there is on the voltage damn end. This rough surface is more prone to accumulating deposits

The other issue concerns the electrodes. To minimize the voltage required to ionize the gasses in the spark gap you want sharp edge electrodes. The abrasive doesn't promote a sharp edge. Then again you typically don't blast new plugs and the classic worn out plug has rounded edges anyways.

There is a third and lesser issue of removing any type of platting that may be present on the threads. This would of course be dependent on how well the rubber boot registers on the plugs.

The cost of labor renders that old thing obsolete as new plugs are clearly the way to go.

With all that crap said, Elroy wouldn't mind having it but $65 is a little steep.

[Tool Pants]

Some of you folks are too young. That is what we did in the olden days to clean plugs running on leaded gas. I also had auto shop in the 1970s and there was a machine like that we used to clean plugs at school. If you did not have machine like that you got out a file and removed the carbon. I remember "rebuilt" spark plugs being sold.

Also had to "dress" the points with a file.

[Elroy]

Also had to "dress" the points with a file.

Elroy always had better results with wet-dry.

Just remember, for a tune-up that "lasts", points wide, plugs narrow.

[Elroy]

Another good trick on a dual point distributor was to remove the leads from the coil and set the point dwell independently.

[A_Pmech]

I've used machines just like that one, and just as beaten up.

Champion still builds a spark plug cleaner / tester for aviation use, shown about 3/4 of the way down the page along with many other regularly used spark plug service tools:

http://www.chiefaircraft.com/airsec/Aircraft/Tools/SparkPlugService.html

Price: $1750

The new one's aren't as well-made as they used to be. I'm a lot faster on an old machine like that than I am on the new ones.

A Champion REM40-E spark plug is about $25. On a 6-cylinder engine that's 12 plugs in total or roughly a $300 spark plug bill. On an R-2800, the bill for new plugs is around $900 per engine.

Plugs are cleaned or replaced every 50 hours of operation. Generally, a massive electrode spark plug will last somewhere around 250-300 hours. So, they're cleaned with a vibratory pencil to remove lead deposits, blasted, pressure-tested and inspected 4-5 times during their life.

If you have a use for one, that machine will continue to run a long time. Dressing the points on the vibrator every few years is about all that's required.

[ZRX61]

i drive toyota's, the OEM NGK or Denso spark plugs are at $2 each at stealerships, why someone wants to recycle used plugs?

Because plugs for a Merlin engine are $40 each & there's 24 of em....:wtf:

[hguerrero]

Because plugs for a Merlin engine are $40 each & there's 24 of em....:wtf:

damn, really?

[isr2kba]

A Champion REM40-E spark plug is about $25. On a 6-cylinder engine that's 12 plugs in total or roughly a $300 spark plug bill. On an R-2800, the bill for new plugs is around $900 per engine.

Plugs are cleaned or replaced every 50 hours of operation. Generally, a massive electrode spark plug will last somewhere around 250-300 hours. So, they're cleaned with a vibratory pencil to remove lead deposits, blasted, pressure-tested and inspected 4-5 times during their life.

If you have a use for one, that machine will continue to run a long time. Dressing the points on the vibrator every few years is about all that's required.

I learn something new every day on this board!