The crosshead guides were farmed out to a local machine shop for boring since my little ol’ 11×26 lathe is not rigid enough for the job, not to mention the steady rest that came with the machine is too small. Along with the boring, the local shop was charged with turning each guide to length and truing up the ends.

Using the electronic touch probe on my DRO, I was able to indicate the center of the bore and locate, drill, and tap the top and bottom mounting flanges.

Milling, drilling and tapping various mounting holes for linkages.

Clearancing for the rods.

Unfortunately, the local machine shop that did the main crosshead guide bores for me left some noticeable chatter marks that needed to be dealt with.

I ordered some thick steel pipe with the same bore diameter of the crosshead guides and cut/milled away enough material to create a “cap” of sorts in order for me to hone the inner surface of the guide.

Once clamped in a bench vise, I had a perfectly complete bore to hone.

Using a flex-hone mounted in a hand held drill and some cutting fluid, the honing process took less than 2-3 minutes per guide.

The difference was remarkable! The majority of the surface is quite smooth but some very slight pitting still remains. My theory is that oil will hold to these areas better for improved lubrication.