As the complexity of manufactured products intensifies, so does the need to create consistent, highly tolerant holes. Reamers are the perfect solution for enlarging or finishing an existing hole to a specific size and tolerance.
Type
Chucking Reamers
- Intended for use in drill presses, lathes and screw machines
- Most commonly used style for reaming holes to a tight tolerance
- Come in straight flute, RHS/RHC, LHS/LHC and expansion styles in standard and jobber lengths
Hand Reamers
- Have a square at the end of the shank, similar to a hand tap. This allows the user to turn the reamer with an adjustable wrench or a standard tap wrench
- Constructed with a tapered cutting head to help the user push the tool into the workpiece
Shell Reamers
- Similar to the cutting portion of a chucking reamer
- Supplied without a shank
- A straight shank or taper shank arbor is used in conjunction with the shell reamer, and is used as a complete cutting tool
Pipe Reamers
- Used to prepare a hole for tapping with a taper pipe tap
- Constructed with a square end on the shank. This allows the user to turn the reamer with an adjustable wrench or a standard tap wrench
Expansion Reamers
- Built with an adjusting screw to alter the size of the cutting head. This allows an expansion reamer to be reground many times
Bridge Reamers
- Designed to enlarge and align holes for rivets
- Primarily used in steel construction using I-beams
- Shanks come in a variety of styles for portable electric drills, drill presses and square-drive impact wrench sockets
Repairman′s Reamers
- Built for the removal of burrs in pipe and conduit, and for enlarging holes in sheet metal
Material
High Speed Steel (HSS, M1, M2, M7, M50)
- Combines good tool life and productivity with minimal cost
- Works well in free cutting and carbon steels, as well as soft, non-ferrous materials such as aluminum, brass, bronze and copper
Cobalt (M35, M42)
- Better wear resistance, higher hardness and toughness than HSS
- Very little chipping or micro chipping under severe cutting conditions, allowing the tool to run 10% faster than HSS
- With the right point angle and helix, cobalt is the most cost-effective for machining cast iron, heat-treated steels and titanium alloys
Solid Carbide
- For high-performance applications. Carbide can run faster and withstand higher temperatures, while providing good wear resistance
- Carbide is brittle and tends to chip when conditions are not ideal; heavy feed rates are more suitable for HSS and cobalt tools
- Used in abrasive and tough-to-machine materials: cast iron, non-ferrous alloys, glass, plastics and composites
Carbide-Tipped
- Offers many of the advantages of solid carbide tooling at a reduced cost, especially in larger diameter tools
Flute Styles
Straight Flute
- The most common reamer
- 45° Chamfer angle to ease the reamer into the existing hole
- With straight flutes, chips are forced forward into the hole, and should be used inthrough-hole applications only
Right Hand Spiral/Right Hand Cut (RHS/RHC)
- Pull chips out of an existing hole
- Ideal for blind-hole applications
- Design adds extra shear to the finished hole
Left Hand Spiral/Right Hand Cut (LHS/RHC)
- Push chips forward and are ideal for through-hole applications
- Design provides the finest hole finish
Taper Pin
- Have a taper of 1/4″ to the foot
- Designed to ream holes into which standard taper pins will fit
Straight Flute and Left Hand Spiral Taper Pin
- Meant primarily for hand reaming
- Best results are usually obtained if the hole to be reamed is drilled a fewthousandths smaller than the small diameter of the finish-reamed hole
Helical Taper Pin
- Designed especially for the shop producing taper-pin holes by machine reaming
- Due to the High-Spiral construction, chips do not pack in the flutes
Special Sizes
Over/Under Reamers
- Come in sizes 1/1000th inches above or below standard key sizes.For example, an oversize reamer measuring 0.2510″ or undersize of0.2490″ are offered as alternatives to a 1/4″ or 0.2500″ reamer
- These sizes will allow the user to create a tighter or looser hole thanthe standard fractional size
Special Decimal Sizes
- Cover all sizes outside of the standard fractional, letter, wire and metric sizes
- Manufactured in increments of 0.0010″
Dowel Pin Sizes
- Help the user prepare a perfect hole for dowel pin insertion
Machine Reaming |
To 3/32" | .003"- .006" |
3/32" to 1/4" | .008"- .010" |
1/4" to 1/2" | .012"- .015" |
1/2" to 1" | .017"- .020" |
1" to 2" | .020"- .025" |
>2" | .030"- .035" |
Hand Reaming |
All Sizes | .002"- .004" |