Reamer recommendations

[Tim9]

I picked up a crap load of spiral expanding reamers on EBay. All the way from about 0.250 to 1.5”
They do show up and if there’s just a touch...and I mean touch of surface rust. They are then very cheap. Bright shiny reamers in the box with all the sizes listed in the EBay listing....plan on paying much more.
Very rusty reamers are probably useless. Anyway even individual size reamers show up fairly often . The small sizes tend to be listed under jewelry tools. And they are usually in great shape.

For a hobby guy....it gets expensive buying new reamers for a one shot job.

 

[ARC-170]

Here's what's currently available on Ebay:

This is a lot of 30 for about $38 shipped.
Is it worth it to buy something like this and get them sharpened as I need them? Of course, sharpening them makes them smaller. Do they account for this when they sharpen them? For example, does a 0.5000" reamer become a 0.4990" reamer and get marked accordingly?

 

[ARC-170]

This is typical of new ones available on Ebay:

These are about $95 shipped.

I think quality imports are fine for my infrequent uses. But, I prefer US made, especially cutting tools, so maybe I'll keep a look out for used ones or buy them one piece at a time.

 

[mikey]

Is it worth it to buy something like this and get them sharpened as I need them? Of course, sharpening them makes them smaller. Do they account for this when they sharpen them? For example, does a 0.5000" reamer become a 0.4990" reamer and get marked accordingly?

Typically, reamers are sharpened only on their ends unless the reamer needs resizing. They typically do not grind the flutes unless you need the reamer re-sized. A good shop will remove the original bevel and grind it flat, then grind all new faces on each flute to restore it. This has to be done at a specific angle and each flute is indexed when ground so you need a tool and cutter grinder of some type to do it.

Buying used reamers is like buying used end mills - they might have some useful life left in them but chances are good that they may not. By the time you figure in the cost to buy them on ebay, ship them to you, send them out to be resharpened and then pay to ship it back to you, it may be cheaper just to buy a new reamer in the size you need.

I use reamers when the hole needs to be sorta accurate and have a good finish. An example might be for a shoulder bolt or sleeve, or a locating pin hole or even a hole in a boring bar holder. However, if I need an accurately sized hole then I am more likely to bore it. I do it this way because reaming an accurate hole is not that easy. You have to choose the right reamer for the material being worked on and you need to use the right pre-reamer drill so the reamer will cut as intended. It can get really complicated when trying to make an accurate hole. On top of that, if the hole is deep then the straightness of that hole depends on how straight and accurate your pre-reamer drill is. Accordingly, when I need a deep hole that must be accurate in size and must also have straight walls, I bore it.

Bottom line: hone your boring skills if you need accurate, straight holes. Reamers, to me, are quick and dirty tools to get you close.

 

[ARC-170]

Maybe it would help if I told you all what I'm using this on and what I'm currently making. I'm planning on using it on a mill. I'm making one of those little vise clamp stops that attach to the mill vise. I'm making it for a class I'm taking. I'm friends with the teacher at the adult school and he gave me all the projects for the Beginning Machining class to make at home on my machines. The plans call for mounting the piece with the hole on the mill and then drilling and reaming the holes.
I'm not sure I want to make the holes on a lathe using a boring bar because getting the holes dialed in will be very tricky and they need to be aligned to each other. I can't find a boring attachment for my mill that is small enough to make a 3/16" diameter hole. The smallest I've found is 1/4".

I might be able to borrow a reamer set from him, but I hesitate to ask because he obviously needs it for the classes he's teaching.

 

[darkzero]

I guess I got lucky, but the last reamer set I got was an A-Z made in USA off eBay for $70 labeled as used. They were clearly unused. I felt safe bidding because it is easy to spot chipped edges on a reamer, even in bad photos. So don't completely discount the used market.

I had a similar experience. I bought a 29 pc fractional reamer set from an individual on ebay listed as used for $70 shipped. I really thought I was buying an import set but they looked very nice in the pics, like new, & was in a Huot case. Turned out the entire set was Alvord-Polk USA & only one of them, the 1/4", had any signs of use, just the shank was boogered a bit which I replaced. That set costs $700 new! ($790 list from APT, MSC's price is now $1K).

The Huot case was a reamer specific case & was missing the snap in name plate. I emailed Huot & asked if I could purchase just the name plate. They replied saying yes, was a couple of bucks but shipping would cost much more than that. Then they replied again & asked for my address, sent one to me for free.

 

[mikey]

Maybe it would help if I told you all what I'm using this on and what I'm currently making. I'm planning on using it on a mill. I'm making one of those little vise clamp stops that attach to the mill vise. I'm making it for a class I'm taking. I'm friends with the teacher at the adult school and he gave me all the projects for the Beginning Machining class to make at home on my machines. The plans call for mounting the piece with the hole on the mill and then drilling and reaming the holes.
I'm not sure I want to make the holes on a lathe using a boring bar because getting the holes dialed in will be very tricky and they need to be aligned to each other. I can't find a boring attachment for my mill that is small enough to make a 3/16" diameter hole. The smallest I've found is 1/4".

I might be able to borrow a reamer set from him, but I hesitate to ask because he obviously needs it for the classes he's teaching.

Okay, so what you're saying is that the hole to be reamed does not have to produce a tightly controlled fit; it just has to allow a 3/16 rod to be press fitted into the fixed piece and a fairly precise sliding fit on the dynamic piece, right? If this is so then I would just get a 3/16" undersized reamer (typically 0.002" undersized) for the press fit and also a 3/16" on size reamer. Most reamers will cut slightly oversized so an on-size 3/16" reamer will likely give you a tight sliding fit. If it does not give you the fit you need then a 3/16" oversized reamer will do it. Much depends on the size of the pin; most precision ground stock will be a tiny bit smaller than nominal.

 

[Tim9]

My experience from about four reamer buys on EBay has been very positive. There’s hardly a market for them. One EBay seller recognized my name and remembered I purchased from him before. He just threw in about twice as many reamers. A lot of these sellers buy auction lots from closed factories. They end up with so much crap....pallets of small precision tools which have very limited markets on the used tool market.

Also...I take my time with eBay buys. I seldom buy stuff I need right now. So I never bid auctions. Always cheap price buy it now. And only stuff with GOOD pictures. Blurred pictures are a pass. Some eBay sellers think there stuff is gold. They see a sale of SnapOn almost new wrenches going for top dollar and think their Western Auto wrench is just as valuable. They are greedy clueless fools.
Anyway.....I doubt I have 200.00 invested in reamers. Yet I have almost ever size I need. I have some very small hole reamers from a jeweler. they are like new. I probably have most sizes of dedicated sized reamers up to 1/2”. Most are like new. And the adjustable reamers are handy in my opinion. Of course.....I’m not doing any gunsmithing.

if I was doing gunsmith work, and needed a tiny specific hole in a revolver for say a pin, or a reamer for a chamber ...I would buy dedicated new reamer before I ruined a gun .
But....I’m just doing hobby stuff. And the lots I purchased on EBay have served me well.
Hell....I didn’t even know much about reamers when I first started in the hobby. My only lathe at the time was my 6” Atlas.
Anyway.....there was a shop closing in my area. It was a diesel specialty machine shop. I’m guessing most of his clients were marine based. Tug boats and such.
So I go there. A realtor was trying to clear the property so they could sell it. Lathes were already sold. Just one BIG....REALLY BIG...Indus drill press sort of machine. It was a Patterson valve guide machine which I got for 200.00

Okay....to drive my point home. There must have been 500 reamers strewn all over the floor. Everyone was stepping on them. They were everywhere and they ended up getting hauled away by the scrapper whose job was to clean out the building of everything which buyers passed over. If only I knew. I kick myself whenever I think about it.

 

[ARC-170]

Okay, so what you're saying is that the hole to be reamed does not have to produce a tightly controlled fit; it just has to allow a 3/16 rod to be press fitted into the fixed piece and a fairly precise sliding fit on the dynamic piece, right? If this is so then I would just get a 3/16" undersized reamer (typically 0.002" undersized) for the press fit and also a 3/16" on size reamer. Most reamers will cut slightly oversized so an on-size 3/16" reamer will likely give you a tight sliding fit. If it does not give you the fit you need then a 3/16" oversized reamer will do it. Much depends on the size of the pin; most precision ground stock will be a tiny bit smaller than nominal.

You are correct. I got in touch with the other teacher and he said I could borrow the reamers they have. I'll have to get the pins from him as well; he gave me most of the material, but I forgot the pins. I thought I might use the ones available at HD/Lowes instead, but that will depend on what he has. I'll have to see how the store ones are finished.
I'll continue looking at Ebay and CL to see if anything comes up. Most people think they have solid gold, though.

 

[ARC-170]

My experience from about four reamer buys on EBay has been very positive. There’s hardly a market for them. One EBay seller recognized my name and remembered I purchased from him before. He just threw in about twice as many reamers. A lot of these sellers buy auction lots from closed factories. They end up with so much crap....pallets of small precision tools which have very limited markets on the used tool market.

Also...I take my time with eBay buys. I seldom buy stuff I need right now. So I never bid auctions. Always cheap price buy it now. And only stuff with GOOD pictures. Blurred pictures are a pass. Some eBay sellers think there stuff is gold. They see a sale of SnapOn almost new wrenches going for top dollar and think their Western Auto wrench is just as valuable. They are greedy clueless fools.
Anyway.....I doubt I have 200.00 invested in reamers. Yet I have almost ever size I need. I have some very small hole reamers from a jeweler. they are like new. I probably have most sizes of dedicated sized reamers up to 1/2”. Most are like new. And the adjustable reamers are handy in my opinion. Of course.....I’m not doing any gunsmithing.

But....I’m just doing hobby stuff. And the lots I purchased on EBay have served me well.

What do you think of my post above about the ones currently available? Those pictures look ok. I see some rust spots and some of the reamers look used. They didn't list any specific sizes. There are a few other lots available, but they are bid only. I'll have to see what they actually sold for to get an idea of prices.