Measuring and storing reamers

[twopintsplease]

Hi Guys just got some used hand reamers and the size’s are not legible on all of them, is there a way of measuring them? Baring the obvious of measuring a hole reamed by them.
Any ideas for storing the reamers?
Cheers
Fred

[JerryL]

If you have a REALLY GOOD Pair of Mics ... Just mic them up but drilling a hole and then reaming it is a great idea . just depends what material you are doing as it might cut slightly different on different materials and also a lubricant could change it's cut size as well as how much stock you left for the reamer to take out .

One other thing is the type style of reamer / configuration of the blades , and what the reamer is made of .
Jerry Leskovec jleskovec@sbcglobal.net

[JCHannum]

The quickest and easiest method to measure is to use a drill gage. Similarly, a drill index can be used for storage.

Do be aware however that many reamers are not made to size, but are made to a specific, non-standard, size for a special application and over/under reamers are commonly found.

[madman]

In my shop i used a block of aluminumn drilled and stored my reamers upright. I also used big blocks of uhmw (black stuff) and bored holes for my big 8 inch bridgeport flycutter, and other r8 tooling. Neat and effective,

[madman]

In my shop i used a block of aluminumn drilled and stored my reamers upright. I also used big blocks of uhmw (black stuff) and bored holes for my big 8 inch bridgeport flycutter, and other r8 tooling. Neat and effective,

[Dunc]

Not my idea and I have not tried it - I forget where I saw it - but I recall a suggestion to wrap the business end with aluminum foil. Protects the edges
but is not hard enough to damage them.

Hope someone can give credit to the real inventor.

[Forrest Addy]

HAND reamers? Hand reamers are different from machine reamers. Hand reamers have a square driving feature on the shank and the shank itself is about as long as the flutes of the reamer and a bit less than the reamer size They usually have a tapered "lead-in" that allows better centering in the hole. Machine reamers have a shorter flute length and are eighter straight or taper shanked and their shanks are much longer than their flutes.

Since all good reamers have a slight back taper the place to measure a hand reamer is at the intersection of the flute and the lead-in. If you look closely, you can see the lead-in because it's invariably ground differently than the flutes. Measure the flutes right at the break of the lead-in using a light touch. Turn the reamer back and forth a few degrees to max the measured size over the flute.

Reamers are often jumbled together dinging their edges. Careful stoning that preserves edge geometry under 10X magnification will go a long way to resurrect a banged up reamer.

Reamers have to be stored so they cannot come in contact with hard surfaces. Their original containers, lengths of plastic tubing, drilled blocks, fluted drawer liners all work well. I have reamers I bough new 40 years ago and have used extensively that still cut smooth holes right to size and I attribute that to nothing more than careful storage.

[Paul Alciatore]

I also bought a bunch of reamers on E-Bay some time ago. Over 50 in one batch so I had an instant assortment that has had many sizes I have used since then. I have only had to buy one new one for a special purpose.

As for measuring them, yes you can and with good accuracy. To tenths if you have a mike that reads that.

The technique I used was to set the mike to the approximate size then measure across two opposite edges about a quarter inch behind the tip. I would gently rotated the reamer BACKWARDS in the mike jaws. Usually the mike would be adjusted too small at first setting and the reamer would not rotate with light pressure. If it does rotate, then close the mike a thousanth or two until it does not. That is your starting point. Remember the pressure is LIGHT and you are turning it BACKWARDS so it will not cut the mike.

Then open the mike a small bit and try to rotate again. Continue opening and rotating until it does rotate with a small amount of drag as the flutes pass the jaws. That is proper reading.

On the reamers that were marked, this method produced readings that were within a few tenths of the marked value. Be sure to measure a bit from the end as used ones may be worn there.

Here's my solution for storage. Each reamer has it's own container, but the containers are different for different size ranges.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v55/EPAIII/Pix1.jpg

The smallest ones are stored in soda straws, the type with the corrigated section so they twist. I punched a 1/8" hole in the straw, about 1/4" from the bottom to provide purchase and squirted a bit of silicon sealer in there and let it dry. This plugs the bottom end of the straw. The straws are sitting in plastic rain gutter spacers that are in turn sitting in a small cardboard bin. The bin is full so they stay in place.

The larger ones are in containers made from PVC pipe. The bottom cap is cemented on and the top is just a friction fit. The smaller, 3/8" PVC containers are sitting in some pieces of 1" copper tube which are tightly packed like the rain gutter spacers so they stay put.

The largest reamers, up to 1" in my case, are in larger PVC pipe containers that just lay in the outer bin.

This completely protects all edges and stores a lot of reamers in a small amount of shelf space (which is always in short supply in both my home and work shops).