The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop Rocker arms?

Have an old friend of mine that questioned me about a couple of rocker arms on his 235' 6cyl. He really doesn't have a lot of money and wanted to know if he could just polish the rocker arm where it meets the valve? Myself personally, it looks to me some of these rockers might need a little heavier grind prior to the polishing. What type of tool would you use to take down that material a little bit before a polishing? I gently ran a small file over them and those rockers seem to be mighty hard. Thank you..
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I have an attachment for my Black & Decker valve grinder that is used to put a radius back onto the rocker tips, using the grinding wheel that also squares off the top of a worn valve stem, with a stream of grinding coolant running on the operation. Some people argue that it's not perfectly accurate, but any method that approximates the right contour on all the rockers is better than going after them freehand on a belt sander. Most oldtime machine shops will have the same accessory on their valve grinding equipment if they have been doing good quality work- - - -the trick is finding an old geezer like me who knows how to use it. If he doesn't have any luck elsewhere, send 'em to me!
Jerry

Well, check it out as we were over talking with some inlaws and Outlaws the subject did come up about the rockers and one of the fellas had mentioned he thought he had some of them. Well believe it or not for a 12 pak of beer he gave us a whole coffee can full of rockers and they were in pretty good shape, not to mention gave us one of the beers too. Can't beat that, Ol geezer, I appreciate your offer, they just don't make good Ol boys like you anymore, Thank you..

Black & Decker®, Kwik-Way®, Rottler®, Sioux®, and Snap-On® valve regrinding machines may have pad refacing fixtures. However, none of them have a “pantograph” function to contour the rocker pallet to a specific radius, nor is the stovebolt radius known. The curvature of the new surface is entirely the product of operator skill.
The machine’s fixture does help, in that the rocker arm is held on a shaft at 90° to the grinding wheel to prevent incorrect motion. The desired result is a 2-dimensional wave, not a dome with a curve in both axes. As long as the pressure is light and constant, and the sweep across the radius doesn’t stop, a competent result can be achieved.

Are the rocker pad surfaces case hardened, I thought in years past as I was reading some info on sbc that those were case hardened tips. If the hardened surface is removed, the resulting surface will wear quickly.

Kasenite®, &c. (from Brownell’s Gunsmith) can be used to harden only the radiused surface. Polish the pad radius when it’s done, being careful not to change the shape.

My fixture actually does put the proper radius back on the rocker tip.
Jerry

What is the "proper radius"? Is this a pantograph? Didn't know they existed with master lobes of this engine.