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Tool Chucking Reamers

Tool
Darren said:
One comment. a 1.5 thou press is huge for a 0.250 pin. If you were to do that on a casting, it would likely break. A better fit would be a half though under reamer or less, or an on size reamer and retaining compound. Even 5/8 dowel pins are tight with a half thou press fit.
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One more thing Darren. For a 1/4" pin in steel I do use a 1.5 thou under reamer and I know that's too tight, but I find my reamed holes seem to be bigger than the reamer spec. It might be mostly my crappy technique, or maybe too much runout on the chuck, or maybe just what happens when you buy cheap amazon reamers. I did try going a half thou under once and I ended up needing to use retaining compound. I never tried that again. 1.5 under seems to work well for me.

It's also not like I do thousands of press fit pins. More like a few a year.
 
Susquatch said:
It might be mostly my crappy technique, or maybe too much runout on the chuck, or maybe just what happens when you buy cheap amazon reamers.
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I'd blame it on crap reamers. Unless outrageous, runout shouldn't matter. The reamer will follow the hole. Have you never chucked one up and seen the end wobble visibly, yet perfectly true up when it hits the hole? I recall reading somewhere (but can't cite the source) that reamers are made the length they to allow for that to happen, why they are so much longer than drills.
 
Was going to suggest Macinery's
When i was a kid i got my hands on one and read it cover to cover.
I loved how small and thick it was, and the thin paper :)
Its gone now too.
I enjoy Blondiehacks videos.
 
Susquatch said:
One question. Why did you buy an over/under set instead of an over/nominal or under/nominal or over/under/nominal set? It just strikes me that any one of those will just end up spending a lot of money for something that will rarely get used. I know, buying individually will prolly be even more before the war is over, but at least I get exactly what I want that way..... On the other hand, I see you already had a nominal set. Is that why?
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Previously, I'd collected a number of reamers via auction box lots. Mostly onsize Imperial reamers but a couple of over and unders mixed in. But then, @gerritv gave me an insanely good deal on the over/under set. If I hadn't stumbled into that, I would probably just have bought specific sizes when I had a need. In fact, recently I wanted to press an oilite bushing into something and bought a 0.749 reamer just for that purpose. The set only goes up to 0.501 inches.

Incidentally, I don't think I've ever seen a set offered that was just over-size reamers or just under-size reamers. If it is a set, it seems to be both the overs and unders.

I think the over/under set will actually be useful for me, though. OTOH, I'm sure there will be specific sizes I'll never use. Which is kind of like letter and number drills. There are 87 drills between those two sets and I'm sure I've only ever drilled with a handful since they were the recommended tap drill size. In fact, I've probably used more of them as a poor man's gauge pin set. I'll look for the best fit I can find using the shanks of the drills and then measure with a micrometer.

I see that places like MachineShopDiscountSupply have an over/under set available for 'just' USD $106:

Solid Chucking Reamer Sets

www.msdiscounttool.com www.msdiscounttool.com

Just throwing that out there since we like to spend other people's money! ;)

Craig
 
trlvn said:
Incidentally, I don't think I've ever seen a set offered that was just over-size reamers or just under-size reamers. If it is a set, it seems to be both the overs and unders.

I see that places like MachineShopDiscountSupply have an over/under set available for 'just' USD $106:

Solid Chucking Reamer Sets

www.msdiscounttool.com www.msdiscounttool.com

Just throwing that out there since we like to spend other people's money! ;)

Craig
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Based on the detailed description (14 piece, 0.1230” - 0.4995” by 1/16”) it sounds like an under set.
 
CWret said:
Awhile ago there was a post about ‘tools you wish you had not purchased’ or something along those lines.

A month ago i bought a 17 to 19mm adjustable reamer. It worked great. Easy to adjust.
Wish i hadn’t bought it because for 3 times the price i could have bought a set of 6. Next time i need one I’ll get the set and end up with two that are 17 to19mm.
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How, 17-19mm adjustable reamer is is like 8 CAD - so you got 6 set for just 24? And in the same size range - like 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20?

 
ChazzC said:
I have also seen other statements that thin oil/coolant will result in on-size holes and that heavier cutting oils can produce under-size holes.
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I thought it was the other way around, that coolant would produce a tighter hole than cutting oil.??
 
trlvn said:
Incidentally, I don't think I've ever seen a set offered that was just over-size reamers or just under-size reamers. If it is a set, it seems to be both the overs and unders.
Click to expand...

I think this has changed recently. Metric seems to have made the classifications designations more popular that imperial doesn't seem to have yet. Or perhaps I should say that I haven't seen them.
 
All I know is that when setting up my shop I bought a set 'cause I should have some, but have used only one of them
 
mbond said:
All I know is that when setting up my shop I bought a set 'cause I should have some, but have used only one of them
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Isn't that one of murphy's laws?

That's about as good a reason as any to get a GOOD adjustable set and just keep buying individual reamers as the need arises.

I'll keep looking for a decent set at a good price, but based on everything everyone has said, it doesn't seem to me that full sets are the best way to go.
 
In my office there is a poster entitled Murphy's computer law. I think it was made before I was born, but there are some truisms listed. One of the 'laws' is that it is morally wrong to let naive users keep their money.

I think the same is true in this case. If there is a good reason to suspect that you are going to need _many_ different reamers of _similar_ sizes, then a set is a good thing to buy. But how often does that happen? For a hobbyist, a reamer is probably a one off. and for a production situation, you probably need the same size over and over
 
I do not like those adjustable blade reamers. I use them quite often to open up chokes in shotgun barrels. They grab, and chatter, and will give a rough finish which then needs to be followed up by honing. A couple of caveats in my case here:
-I have to use them manually with a tap wrench
-the depth engagement is shallow, usually between 1/4"-1"

Perhaps on a rigid setup on a milling machine or drill press they might work well enough or for deeper holes, but I've never used them that way.

To combat the issues I've had with them, I had to attach then to steel shafts and use a bushing just before the reamer blades, and a bushing in the chamber. In this method they work barely acceptable. I still have to leave about 0.003"-0.005" extra material to hone afterwards though to remove all the chatter marks and get to proper size.

Might I suggest you buy just one and test it before you spend money on a whole set.

Also, good ones will run you well over $100 each (Clarkson-Osborne). Will they work any better than cheap crap? I would hope so!
 
thestelster said:
I do not like those adjustable blade reamers. I use them quite often to open up chokes in shotgun barrels. They grab, and chatter, and will give a rough finish which then needs to be followed up by honing
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Although I have a decent selection of adjustable reamers and most of good quality, my experiences and feelings about them is the same as
@thestelster above. However having a selection of adjustable reamers sure covers a big range of sizes.
 
I've got a fairly complete collection of adjustable reamers assembled over time, mostly Guhring so no quality issues. I've not had the issues some of you guys have had and think they they're life savers - when you need them they are just thing. You know, you reamed that hole but the round stock still doesn't quite fit.

I wonder if we are using them differently? The key to their use is, imo, only ever use them by hand and you only want to take the smallest of cut, less than thou. They are for slight tweaks to a hole. Take multiple passes if you need more, and they have to be sharp! Sharp really matters on small cuts, else the blade bounces over the surface and can't establish the cut's shear plane. The adjustable blades can't take much of load, but stay within their sweet spot and they are a great tool that leaves a great finish
 
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Mcgyver said:
and you only want to take the smallest of cut, less than thou.
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In my situation, I can't do that. For instance, if I have to open up a choke from a Full to an Improved Cylinder, I have to remove 0.030" from the ID. I don't have all day, so I take out 0.002" per pass. That's 13 passes (which allows 0.004" left for honing). Adust the reamer, ream with oil, clean off shavings, pull back out, clean shavings from reamer and bore, measure, adjust reamer, repeat. That's about 5minutes per pass. So almost an hour to ream. Then 10-15 minutes of honing. Then clean and oil. Call it 1hr 20min. Is there any wonder why I'm poor:(
 
I've never done an job like that, sounds tedious, just saying what i've found works and works really well with them. could you set it up and using a boring head, either with barrel vertically off the side of the table or with the mill head over 90 degrees? Or a D bit as someone mentioned? Arguably taking out .030" is not really a job for an adjustable reamer, but maybe there is no better way and you got to do what you got to do.
 
Mcgyver said:
I've never done an job like that, sounds tedious, just saying what i've found works and works really well with them. could you set it up and using a boring head, either with barrel vertically off the side of the table or with the mill head over 90 degrees? Or a D bit as someone mentioned? Arguably taking out .030" is not really a job for an adjustable reamer, but maybe there is no better way and you got to do what you got to do.
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I've always wanted to utilize a stout floor standing drill press with a 2-axis movement table with vise secured to the column to hold the barrels vertically. The DP table down low to hold the breach end of the barrels on a center. And a boring head mounted in the drill chuck. Indicate true, then bore. Of course never got around to it.
 
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