I did this with a Campy BB on one of my road bikes that had pitted on one side. I chucked the spindle into a lathe and carefully spun it against a spinning Dremel bit, trying to keep the original profile, as much as possible. I didn't have a good way to polish it, so I just used very fine sandpaper. The results were pretty good, as far as smoothness was concerned, and it has worked for quite a few years now, but the lockring is no longer flush with the edge of the cup. the cup goes into the BB shell a little farther than before to make up for the lost width between bearing surfaces. I could try a thinner lockring, and I am certainly not going to face the BB shell to make the BB narrower, though that might be an option for a beater. Something to watch out for.
Another point of consideration is that the heat treating of the bearing surface might be slightly different from that just below the surface. We probably have someone on the list who has more technical knowledge on this than I, but I recall discussing this at the shop many years ago and wondering if a reconditioned bearing surface might not wear faster than the original surface. If the part were surface, or "case" hardened, this might be true.
Steve Barner, Bolton, Vermont
> Date: Tue, 22 Jul 2003 17:26:04 -0600
\r?\n> From: "Chuck Johnston" <crj@frii.com>
\r?\n> To: <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
\r?\n> Subject: [CR]reconditioning old headsets?
\r?\n>
\r?\n> Jus got to messing around with some old Campy headsets I had laying
\r?\n> around.
\r?\n> The old pitted kind, I ended up grinding the races with a Dremel tool
\r?\n> turning the race in the lathe. I was amazed at the difference. Good
\r?\n> enough to use on my restoration of my Motobecane Grand Record.
\r?\n> I ended up using a 1/8" dia. grinding point and cutting out the divots
\r?\n> from the bad adjusted headset then polished the steel races with some
\r?\n> Cratex abrasive points in the Dremel tool. Not quite up to Campy finish
\r?\n> but very acceptable and about 50 + bucks cheaper.
\r?\n>
\r?\n> Has anyone else done this and how did they do it?
\r?\n>
\r?\n> Next I think I will tackle some old Bottom Brackets. .............
\r?\n>
\r?\n> Chuck Johnston
\r?\n> Ft Collins Co.