Originally Posted by
CliffordK
I've been hand polishing my cones with a mini-drill press and sand paper.
I'm amazed that works, Clifford. Bearing surfaces are typically polished to 32 - or 16 - microinch finish (this is the root mean square variation in the surface - way too much info to discus here - suffice to say :"Really, really smooth").
If you were being flip and yanking our bike chain, fine. But what grit sandpaper can you use on a bearing that leaves it smooth enough for use? And how do you avoid destroying the bearing figure (i.e. "shape") in this operation?