Morse Taper Reamer's

[GEP]

Has any one tried the china made Morse Taper Reamer's. Will they do the job or is it a waist of money

[Fasttrack]

Depends on the job... I helped a friend fix up an old Logan 9" lathe he found laid over on its side behind an auto parts shop. At one point, something must have slipped in the tailstock and left a nasty burr that prevented anything else from seating properly. He picked up a cheap import reamer and lightly reamed the bore by hand. Did the job just fine.

[nc5a]

I've tried to recondition/repair two tailstock tapers, a mt3 and mt4 with supposedly decent quality import reamers. In both cases the reamers wouldn't cut so in my experience it was a waste of time and money. I think the mt4 reamer was $136 and the mt3 reamer was $89. But I must say that both lathes I was trying to repair had hardened quills and were better quality than a South Bend.

I setup my tool post grinder to do the job myself but found I couldn't hold the tolerances I wanted so I ended up having the repairs done at a grinding shop in Oregon.

Good Luck,

Ron

[GEP]

Thanks so far its a 50 50 preposition i just want the reamer for clean up. I never bought china HSS cutting tools

[Richard P Wilson]

Like the man said, if the barrel is hardened, then a reamer (any reamer, Chinese or otherwise) is a waste of time. Is it hardened?
If not, and all you are doing is cleaning the scuffs out of it, then Chinese should be fine.

[J Tiers]

I have several MT reamers an MT0, MT1 and MT2. Two are chinese, or at least import low cost. One is US made. All work well, and the matching MT centers and other tooling fits the tapers.

China is a big place, and probably more than one factory makes the reamers. All I know is that what I have works fine.

[Jaakko Fagerlund]

Would be better to tell where you are planning to buy them, as quality depends on the manufacturer and not the country.

[PStechPaul]

McMaster has MT0 through MT5 hand reamers for $50 to $300, and mostly used for clean-up and deburring.

http://www.mcmaster.com/#morse-taper...amers/=133x8im

For such purposes, I would think perhaps it would be possible to grind some relief slots on a worn-out or broken Morse taper tooling bit so that the shank can be used as a reamer.

Another possibility might be to glue some strips of abrasive cloth along a Morse taper shank, and use that for cleanup and deburring, especially if the socket is hardened. Final cleanup might be done using lapping compound, although it can be problematic for tapers as opposed to cylindrical bores:

http://easyweb.easynet.co.uk/~chrish...ount/t-lap.htm

http://bbs.homeshopmachinist.net/arc...hp/t-6782.html

http://www.practicalmachinist.com/vb...tapers-189746/

[Jaakko Fagerlund]

For such purposes, I would think perhaps it would be possible to grind some relief slots on a worn-out or broken Morse taper tooling bit so that the shank can be used as a reamer.

Except most stuff is not hard enough to cut anything.

[Cannonmn]

I'm renewing this thread because my MT 4 tailstock is well-used if not abused and is slightly scratched, dented, ringed, but just slightly. It doesn't seem to hold as well as it should so I'd like to dress it. The quill is certainly hardened on this 1960 Leblond product, and I like the idea of using abrasive cloths or grinding compound. Any further thoughts on that?

[Mcgyver]

I like the idea of using abrasive cloths or grinding compound. Any further thoughts on that?

definitely not a fan of that, grinding compound and what? If you accurately made a lap of the correct taper and charged it, then yes....but it be very slow cutting and not work well on major protrusions. How hard is it? If hardened tool steel it shouldn't have got bunged up that easily....so it may well be a chrome moly which will tough and harder than mild, will will still clean up with a reamer. If it really is hardened tool steel, and you want a good job it, you're getting it ground.....possibly ground then hard chromed then ground so it ends up the right dimension.

[J Tiers]

Do not do that.

Look in, or put marker on a male piece and try it in there. See if there are not actual identifiable spots that are high. Reach in with a SMALL stone on a stick, and take them down. Just the bumps, don;t work elsewhere. The stone will not care if it is hardened.

That should help a lot, unless the thing is just wallowed out from spinning tools in it.

[johansen]

put the tailstock quill in the spindle and wrap sand paper around a MT taper.

the sand paper needs to be spiraled around the right way, and you need to use lubrication. 600 grit was about right for my sb 9 quill. i did not need to remove much metal.

320 grit worked but it was very sticky.

[fishfrnzy]

My experience was 50/50. Bought import from Enco to clean up SB TS. It was bad reamer as I found out. Use a 2.000" piece of aluminum. Make a gauge and mic both sides or fully inspect reamer dimensions before using. Doesn't help to have a larger messed up TS bore.

[boslab]

Somthing I saw once, it was a brass I think, or possibly phos bronze plug, MT, it had a slot in it and a 1/4" slip stone was in the slot, loose, there were a couple of springs to push the stone, I would assume the plug be stuck in the hole and rotated, it was home made but looked well done, similar idea to a sunnen hone, I often thought about making one to clean my tailstock which is a bit gnarly, just an idea
We often had MT spindles out for regrinding in work, bloody nuisance, some ended in the bin, it was easier to replace the spindle than grind it, or if it had been already taken to the limit previously, I often thought that the machines should have a wear limit figure on them like brake disks!, there wasn't a 3 1/2 MT ! Though one of the grinders did just that for me, took the hole out halfway between sizes and inserted a sleeve he ground, it was pressed in and a grub screw to hold it then the internal reground to size, clever guy, old hands take a wealth of experience out of a shop when they leave, the odd one your glad to see go, I suppose I might have fallen in that category, at least with the accountants and purchasing departments.
Mark