What the heck are these things?

[nitsuj]

A few years ago I got a killer deal on an old Atlas 12x40 lathe. Among the boxes of pieces and parts and tooling, I found these 2 funny looking gizmos. At first glance, I dismissed them as random gears left over from some project. Upon closer inspection, I realized their not gears, but I think some sort of cutters. The back of each one is marked "Albertson & Co Souix City IA" one is marked as a 2 the other as a 2 1/4. And both have a "45" stamped on them, which makes sense because both seem to be chamfered at a 45 degree angle. I'll attach 2 pictures.

At first I thought maybe horizontial mill cutters. I've never run a horizontial mill, but I recall most of those cutters I've seen being keyed, and these aren't. About all I can think of is that they're meant to go on an arbor and countersink 2" and 2 1/4" holes, respectively.

They are hardened btw, based on my "try to scuff it with a file" test.

For perspective, the blurry orange dot in the pictures is a US penny.

[Lew Hartswick]

Look like they MAY be for cutting some sort of seat like a car engine
valve (intake - exhaust) ?????
...lew...

[JoeLee]

They look like valve seat reamers. There should be a guide stem that goes through the hole in the reamer and down into the valve stem hole to keep the seat reamer in position. It also looks like there is a mfg logo there.... Soiux maybe???

JL.....................

[sasquatch]

Does the 2 and 2 1/4 refer to the inches in diameter?

Possibly cutters for steam pipe flanges??

[JoeLee]

At first thought perhaps some large faucet seat reamers but I think the logo says Sioux and I know they used to make valve seat cutters and such.

JL......................

[nitsuj]

They look like valve seat reamers. There should be a guide stem that goes through the hole in the reamer and down into the valve stem hole to keep the seat reamer in position. It also looks like there is a mfg logo there.... Soiux maybe???

JL.....................

The mfg logo is for Albertson & Co. Souix City is where they were made. A quick google only lead to a tool company that now sells snap-on.

Sasquatch, yes, it would appear the 2 and the 2 1/4 refers to diameter.

I thought about valve seats, but they'd be big valves, and usually, valves are goofy sizes, not quarter inch increments. No?

[JoeLee]

Here is a picture of a set of them.

JL...............

http://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedi...rs-cutters-set

[JoeLee]

They could be for big diesel valves. Each cutter will accommodate a range of valve sizes. Newer style seat cutters use 3 seperate adjustable carbide inserts on a conical holder.

JL...............

[sasquatch]

The "45" probably refers to 45 degrees, which could be engine valves,, possibly valves maybe in a stationary flywheel engines, more so than auto engines.?

[nitsuj]

Hmm, they do look similar to the cutters Joelee posted pictures of. We may have solved this. So, they're pretty much useless to me then. ;-) I was hoping someone was going to say "oh yeah, I know what those are. They're darn handy to have."

No such luck!

[Forrest Addy]

Yup. ICE (internal combustion engine) valve seat cutters. Ream the seat to clean up, then lap the valve to it. No intersection seating or other fripperies. Cone against cone. Used to be a an aftermarket kit for Model A and T Ford owners back in the day. I've seen them in pretty large sizes for natural gas and marine gasoline engines. I can't recall exactly but I'd guess the larger cutters were 6" or so. Pretty big engines.

I think they also used a variety of early aircraft engines where the seats were aluminum bronze in aluminum heads. Old technology. Those old cutters would just rub on a stellite seat.

[JoeLee]

Here is a set of them on ebay........

Item #290671464923

JL.......................

[Don Young]

They are definitely hand operated valve seat cutters or 'reamers'. They used to be quite common in shops doing engine repair. There are mandrels with different size pilots that go with them. They came in a variety of angles and diameters for cutting and narrowing the seats.

[flylo]

They are handy & I have a valve & seat grinder, actually 2 sets but not this size. What would you want for them?

[JoeLee]

I think prior to these I believe the seat cutters were actual grinding stones??

JL...............