Floating Reamer holder

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RSG
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Location: Ontario, Canada

Floating Reamer holder

Post by RSG »

Hey guys!

I wasn't going to bother posting this but the story as to why I built it is interesting in itself and perhaps a lesson learned for me. In my never ending quest to produce parts to the highest accuracy that my abilities/equipment will allow I am always looking at tooling that will make things "just that little bit better". For the most part I will try to make tooling here in my shop, and if I can't then I'll buy it from a manufacturer. Some decisions are made based on time/ability, some on cost and others on principal. Well this particular item was a result of the latter.

I posted asking questions about this topic a long time ago and got some great help from the gang on the forum. Some said I should buy, others said I should make it. Well, I always seem to be swamped in the shop (especially now that I'm retired :roll: ) so I figured I can save time if I just buy one, although it would be fun to make one and really they don't seem to be that complex, but non the less I was behind in the shop so I started shopping.

Interestingly enough there aren't many companies that sell floating reamer heads and when you find one they want like a million dollars for it! :D Well, not quite but costs of $400 to $700 were coming in and it left me scratching my head. Why so expensive? most likely as Pete mentioned before, not enough demand. Despite the cost I was willing to buy to save the time so I proceeded to place my order with Grizzly Tools. We got right to the end of the buying process on the phone and the fella said, "this item is flagged and cant be shipped to Canada"! ???? The only reason I can figure is in the description it mentions "for gunsmithing"! So the fella said "let me talk to someone else here and get back to you". He never called back, so I called again and got someone else and the whole thing started again. A few hours later and a lot of aggravation and I finally said "this is too difficult, I'll just buy it direct from your supplier" so I hung up with them and proceeded to call the manufacturer (local in the USA).

They were very helpful and had the solution but had to check on a few things and "get back to me"! Several days later no call so I called them. I got passed off again and no answers to my questions again and now, they even said they were delayed in production and didn't know when they would be running that part again. This was getting very frustrating as by now I've invested enough time to have made two units myself, but still, I decided to wait! Several more days went by with no call and when I called back they put me on hold for 35 minutes...LOL. This must be a sign I thought....so I hung up and headed out to the shop and proceeded to make the unit myself.

It didn't' take more that 4 or 5 hours to build and it works incredible! My bearing journals after reaming are the same measurement front to back with hole test mic., something I could never achieve before. Anyway, I don't know if there's a moral to this story or not but I did learn a few things along the way. One is if I can make it, do it! because I will likely invest the same amount of time and another is I've learned something new.

Anyway , hers' the unit, it's nothing pretty but it sure works well.....and saved me that "million dollars" :D

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Bill Shields
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Re: Floating Reamer holder

Post by Bill Shields »

ok...so wazzinit?
Too many things going on to bother listing them.
Russ Hanscom
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Location: Farmington, NM

Re: Floating Reamer holder

Post by Russ Hanscom »

Could you post a drawing or link to a drawing, so we can each save a million!?

Thanks
pete
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Re: Floating Reamer holder

Post by pete »

With the results your getting then nice job Ron. I know what it is and probably how it all works, but I'd agree, a rough drawing and picture of it's internals would be of help. The industrial versions are almost for sure hardened and precision ground on the sliding surfaces. That makes them closer tolerance but still smoother in there operation and of course longer lasting. In a low production home shop, unhardened will probably operate and last just fine.So that hardening and grinding justifies "some" of the cost. And yeah it's not a high volume piece of tooling everybody is buying. There still imo well over priced for what they really are though. And a not real uncommon run around problem from my experience trying to buy a single piece of industrial tooling. I sometimes wonder how some of these company's remain in business.

You could well be right about that "gunsmithing" label on it Ron. I suspect that designation is going to create even further issues for us in the near future. There's also some items that aren't allowed to be shipped up here from the U.S. because of how it might be transported. I tried buying a 50 millionths capable Suburban Tools magnetic cylindrical square a number of years ago through MSC. Not available to Canada because they couldn't say for sure if it wouldn't end up on an aircraft while getting to me. The story was and I've yet to verify it well enough to know it's even true that high power magnets aren't allowed to be shipped by air as it might affect there instruments. And MSC apparently wouldn't offer designated ground shipping on it. It smelled a bit off and maybe it was all less than well understood regulations by MSC, but I'm no expert on any of this.
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BadDog
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Re: Floating Reamer holder

Post by BadDog »

They are pretty easy and cheap to find for turrets. Then easily modified or adapted to a tool post or tailstock
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RSG
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Re: Floating Reamer holder

Post by RSG »

pete wrote: Wed Jun 30, 2021 2:23 pm The industrial versions are almost for sure hardened and precision ground on the sliding surfaces.
I would have to agree but it seems to work well despite that, and as you mention I doubt I'll wear it out with the amount I'll use it. :D

As for drawings, normal I'd be totally fine with posting them but mine is a copy of the Hemingway unit that I reverse engineered watching a few guys on YouTube making theirs so I don't feel comfortable posting drawings as I may be infringing on the original copyright in doing so. But there's nothing stopping anyone from googling it for themselves. All the answers are there if you piece it together. One day when I'm finished this large project it's being used for I'll take it apart and post pics of the internals.
Vision is not seeing things as they are, but as they will be.
John Hasler
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Re: Floating Reamer holder

Post by John Hasler »

If your drawings were made by reverse engineering and not by copying Hemingway's drawings they do not infringe any copyrights. The copyright applies to the drawings, not the device. You created an original work in which you own the copyright. Your drawings may closely resemble theirs, but that's merely because they describe the same device.

Example: we both paint pictures of Mt Rushmore by setting up our easels and looking at the mountain as we paint. The paintings may come out looking nearly identical but both are original works with no infringement.
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Bill Shields
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Re: Floating Reamer holder

Post by Bill Shields »

'nuff said - very familiar with the design -> which is very simple and effective -> thanks
Too many things going on to bother listing them.
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