Building the Little Dragon, Page 5

  The piston must be finished to fit the liner, so this is a good time to complete it by honing the bore to a fine finish with a light taper, narrower above the exhaust.

Honing 1.	Honing 2.	Honing 3.
Honing 4.

1. The hone (lap, whatever) is made to the description given on the Cylinder Honing How To page. You'll need some way to hold the liner that does not distort it. A wooden gripper like the one shown does a good job. I use glossy paper so that the honing oil will not soak through to protect the lathe bed (newspaper is too porous). See the reference quoted in this paragraph for how to go about achieving the finish required. The article by Ken Croft in Model Engine Builder is another good source of information--even though Ken and I differ on which way to offer up the cylinder to the hone.
    
2. This shot shows the gripper in use. The lathe is revolving at about 200 rpm.
    
3. Enlarge this photo to full size and note the pattern visible through the transfer slit. It shows that all machining marks have been removed.
    
4. This view shows some feint machining marks still visible at the very top of the liner. As this area will not bear on the piston, I elected to call the job finished. Don't go overboard. To much honing is likely to bell-mouth the ends.