Cast iron lap charging questions

No advice, Eric, but my feeling is you're on the right track. The voids left in cast iron by the free graphite will act as very good storage areas for the diamond, and the rolling process you described should pack them well, including embedding diamond in other areas. I'd be interested in hearing how well it works.

Harold

So I tried the bearing thing after making the first post and even thoiugh the bearing is narrow it is hard to make it track. It must be held at an angle so that it is almost as if it was the front wheel on a motorcycle going around a turn with a decreasing radius. Since the OD is 5 and the ID is 3 it seems to me that if the surface was rolled into a cone the angle would be 45 degrees. So, I'm gonna turn up a conical roller with a 45 degree angle and case harden it. I don't know if six should be made so there will be one for each grit. Or, if it doesn't really matter and the grit won't embed because the lapping plates are so much softer. ERS

My opinion? Won't matter. I think the hardened race won't willingly accept the diamond, but the iron will. On the other hand, if the end result must meet specs of sorts, that's one more way to guarantee better results, on the outside chance that some of the coarser diamond is being charged to the bearing and then transferred later. Interesting that the bearing wouldn't skid enough for the thing to work. The diamond must be penetrating the surface of the bearing to some degree for that much traction to be apparent.

Did you try any lapping to see if you're accomplishing the mission?

Harold