Machine reamer vs Chucking reamer

[Matt Stevens 1Participant @mattstevens1]

Hi All,

I know both chucking reamers and machine reamers can come in straight or spiral flutes and both are not tapered flutes (like hand reamers)….i know a machine reamer has a morse taper shank and a chucking reamer a straight one like a drill…..but is there any reason why you might choose to use one over the other?

Heres my thought….my mill takes R8 collets and has a drill chuck fitted much of the time and the tailstock of my lathe is MT3 but with a drill chuck fitted much of the time. So the common aspect is the chuck which makes me think chucking reamers are the way to go. Otherwise i would need various sets of sleeves….but what i dont know is if there is any advantages of a machne reamer over a chucking reamer.

Thanks

[Matt Stevens 1Participant @mattstevens1]

[HopperParticipant @hopper]

Seems to be a great deal of overlap in the terminology with some straight-shanked machine reamers labelled as chucking reamers and vice versa.

Most of the chucking reamers you see have a shorter fluted section, which to me always seems like it might possibly wander a bit more in a deep hole but dunno from any scientific investigation about that.

For home use, not much difference drive-wise really. A reamer in a chuck should drive ok so no need for tapered shank. But the tapered type might be easier to install and remove if your vertical height on your mill is limited. Depends on your set up.

One thing, the straight shanked chucking reamers available from Aliexpress etc seem to be useable quality but stupid cheap. Probably because they are churning them out by the millions in China for use in CNC collet holders etc.

[David George 1Participant @davidgeorge1]

The use of the different style of ream depend on what you are reaming, if for instance you are reaming for dowels or pins it dosnt matter but if you were reaming a pair of bearings with a gap you would need to keep location in first part when cutting second part so longer flute lengths. If you use a taper shank ream there is less likely to be errors in location as a chuck then has to be perfect where as a morse taper will run true and the total height with a chuck versus morse taper will allow a larger job to be machined with a morse taper shank ream.

David

[Jim CParticipant @jimc]

Chucking reamers are often used with floating reamer holders. Thus allowing them to follow previously drilled holes.

[Martin KyteParticipant @martinkyte99762]

My understanding is that hand reamers have a long lead taper to align the reamer whereas machine reamers have a much shorter lead taper for the obvious reason that the machine does the gross allignment. Floating reamer holders are to ensure that any minor misalignment of the tailstock/headstock on a lathe or the head on a mill is compensated for and will produce the best finish on the hole. Machine reamers can have any shank shape consitant with concentricity and fitment to the machine of choice.

regards Martin

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