One thing John forgot to mention, you're going to have to use a spiral/helical reamer to size a shaft with a keyway. A standard reamer will not work on a cut with a keyway. The spiral keeps it from catching the ledge.
You are correct, I forgot that because even with the spiral the results are not usually perfect, so I avoid reaming across keyways. If the spiral is a fast enough rate of turn it would work well, but I have never had such a reamer when it was wanted.
Reverse spiral helps pull the chip string up out of the hole too. Reaming blind holes is nice with them, still need to prove clearance for chips just in case they get pushed ahead just not as much.
There are some things that never stops to amaze me : a) How nice, humble, friendly and knowledgeable is John. b) The amount of tooling this man has. c) Despite his workshop looking like a train wreck with all sorts of tools, swarf, parts, stock, machines, all mixed in every corner...somehow he manages to find everything he's looking for.
After many decades, I stick with the left hand spiral flutes. Machining the Ford transfer case cams, the straight flutes, left the bore look like it had rifling. The left hand kept the size and finish, tight. The only straight flutes I own, are the adjustable, that I use for kingpins.
I have not done much reaming and what I have done I have had very varied success (and failure) On a prawn trawler, under construction, I had to ream 6 holes in rudder cheek plates, in situe. Holes were approx 7/8" and approx 1/16" undersized and not very well lined up. As an apprentice my unorthodox approach was to weld a temporary base for magnetic base drill and also welded a Morse tapor sleeve to an adjustable hand ream. The first hole was oversize. The remaining 5 holes turned out spot on size with mirror like finish, in 1 pass. My limited use of machine reams has resulted in poor sizing and poor finish. I have since been told to take very short passes (3/8") withdraw ream, wipe swarfe from flutes with rocol packed cotton and repeat. Think I have only done 1 hole since learning this method and it was successful. Col - fitter & turner
One of the tough things in the world of machining is having enough tooling. There's never enough. It's even worse if you like to hoard tools. It's not just the expense of obtaining them, as Howee points out it's organizing and storing them. There is also a balance to consider between having the best tool for a job because you do i often enough to warrant having the tool. There are many ways to skin cats in machine work.
You may not see this. But you remind me so much of my grandfather. The man who got me into the trade, the knowledge, this seer enthusiasm of just explaining things. What this or that does. The history of that or this.
John, simply said I enjoy your comfortable down to earth way to share the hard way of experience and sharing the knowledge. Even topics I think I know a fair bit about I always get some little jewels. Thank you. I think I would enjoy your company. Might well think I am an awful jerk but you are for sure cool.
Neat, I picked up an old lathe a few years ago, came with a bunch of tooling, some of it being easily identifiable (some insert tooling, lots of hss blanks, boring bars) and it has a few adjustable reamers like those blue point ones. I was reasonably sure thats what they were, this just confirmed it. Ill have the whole toolbox figured out eventually (or even if I don't, im just a hobbyist/diy-er/hopeless tinkerer, so it isnt the end of the world)
Way back when I was in Trade skool, (sno Isle skills center wut up) My dad bought a combo mill/lathe "thing" no one had an end mill... I wasn't home... but they did have a reamer... they totally will cut on the side lol, and that is the last time that machine was used (1995? ish)
Worked for a guy years ago that would buy surplus liquidation or just deals never had a shortage of tools or equipment in the shop was great given all we did was custom work and repairs when I left we had 7 lathes 3 guys in the shop
I have the same hone and I tried to replace the sandpaper by prying the sheet metal apart and gluing abrasive cloth in and crimping the sheet metal back over. It was not fun and I don't consider it a successful operation. This was almost fifty years ago and I still have it for some reason. I might be a hoarder when it comes to tools.
You are not using it in reverse, it is the way it is made. The spiral loads against the cut, but it must turn in the direction of the cutting edge. The spiral is left hand, the cut is right hand.
How do you keep rust off of your tooling? Or do you never get that humidity that I do in the Northeast?? I go crazy with WD-40, oils, beads that absorb moisture, a dehumidifier, and I am stiull fighting moisture. I despise seeing it on tools that have etched markings, they can't be read once corrosion hits them and you clean them up.
I keep the shop warm & dry. In the outside storage buildings items do not fair as well, paint helps. You can submerge in a can of oil, coat with thick grease, no perfect solution, when the shop is not warm & dry.
My dad has a set of those snap-no reamer and just like you send kingpin front end work they are Indispensable. I used them also for putting new bushing in a wrecker body
I got an old set with shanks that aren’t quite Morse taper, closer to brown sharpe taper but not quite. They been in the Cabinate since I started here nobody knows where they came from. Some have been made into straight shank reamers. Maybe British? I have no idea.
I can't imagine being a newbie in this MachineShop. It's like a hoarders' basement. Everything is laying around the working benches, floors and any other surfaces that you can see. How is anyone able to find the necessary drill or tap without searching for ~30mins around the shop. Don't get me wrong, the tips this guy gives are top and I listen carefully to what he's saying but the shop itself....
Drills & taps are organized to the extreme, for all sizes up to 3", I wish I had everything organized, but it just won't happen. I was just thinking about this yesterday, how I had observed small job shops that existed for over 30 years & they all collect excess tooling. The main thing that hit me is that in the last 10 years my shop tools have grown, so that it looks just like the others I had thought bad of in years past, however the commonly used tools are well organized. I do at times spend an hour looking for a tool that was used years ago, the other option is simply not having the tool, I store some in outside dry storage, but rust still finds the unheated storage. Not keeping the extra tools is an option & if the tools were quickly available I might change my ways, my desire is for more heated storage space. While not common, last year I profited $7,000.00 in 1 day because I had kept a tap that is not common (I bought it at a garage sale in a box with others for $125.00/box.
I'm a beginner hobbyist and I picked up a box of loose unlabeled reamers in an auction. What's a good way for to measure them and determine their size, given that I'm not going to be needing precision any time soon, and won't be doing any paid machining. I have micrometers and calipers and some indicators, but nothing like an optical comparator. There were also some counterbores, so similar advice on how/where to measure those would be appreciated.
I was waiting until the video posted to answer, excellent question. If the reamers have an even number of edges: ru-vid.comMC22067PXac The longer video this short came from: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-XLoTkQkNfpQ.html
