# What is in a #1 - #60 chucking reamer set?



## Maplehead (Sep 9, 2021)

Hi All
I'm looking for an imperial chucking reamer set, 1/16" - .5". I'd also like the over-and-under reamers as well.
Is that what the #1 - #60 set is?


----------



## Bob Korves (Sep 9, 2021)

https://r.search.yahoo.com/_ylt=AwrWnWSD_TlhN04ADRYPxQt.;_ylu=Y29sbwNncTEEcG9zAzEEdnRpZAMEc2VjA3Ny/RV=2/RE=1631219204/RO=10/RU=https%3a%2f%2fwww.mcmaster.com%2freamers%2fsystem-of-measurement~wire-gauge%2f/RK=2/RS=kjB8uvIiwvGiz4f3J3PjAmS_1zo-


----------



## macardoso (Sep 9, 2021)

The #1-#60 are wire gages. Just like how you can buy a 115 Pc drill set that comes with fractional, letter, and number drills. The number drills match with number reamers.

Honestly the only set of reamers I have is an over/under set from Shars which works awesome. I ream only for press fit/slip fit holes on pins and you need the over/under set to do that.






						0.124-0.501" Over & Under HSS Chucking Reamer Set
					

<!-- <ul><li>Plus .001" & Minus .001" in 1/8 - 1/2 by 16th</li></ul> -->




					www.shars.com
				




Reamers are expensive and buying them in a set doesn't save you a ton, especially if you don't use most of them. I buy individual ones off ebay or shars as needed. Lots of higher end ones for moderately cheap and you can pick the tolerance to fit your application. For example I found a .6256" reamer to make a sliding fit bore for a steam valve on my steam engine I've been building. $28 I think.


----------



## pontiac428 (Sep 9, 2021)

There is no substitute for having the right reamer on hand when you need it.  I agree that the over/under fractional set will be the most useful, but wire gauge and alphabetical sets provide good options for on-the-fly fabrication, too.  Just hold out for those really good deals, because retail sets can be ridiculously expensive.


----------



## Maplehead (Sep 9, 2021)

pontiac428 said:


> There is no substitute for having the right reamer on hand when you need it.  I agree that the over/under fractional set will be the most useful, but wire gauge and alphabetical sets provide good options for on-the-fly fabrication, too.  Just hold out for those really good deals, because retail sets can be ridiculously expensive.


To me a wire gauge means just that, a wire. So do wire gauge reamers not have cutting capability?


----------



## Janderso (Sep 9, 2021)

pontiac428 said:


> There is no substitute for having the right reamer on hand when you need it.  I agree that the over/under fractional set will be the most useful, but wire gauge and alphabetical sets provide good options for on-the-fly fabrication, too.  Just hold out for those really good deals, because retail sets can be ridiculously expensive.


Well said Mr. Pontiac.

The SHARS set is pretty reasonable IMHO

Bob, I love McMaster when I can afford them, their shipping costs are high. *Their HSS spiral flute-1/16 to 1/2" 29 piece set is only $873.*

I have the basic +- (.188"-.189"-.190", .249"->250"-.251">>) set for 10-24, 1/4-5/16-3/8 only. I find I use these quite often.
I figure I can buy what I need as the jobs come up.
In my case, if I bought a set, I would only use a select few and the others would never get any use.


----------



## pontiac428 (Sep 9, 2021)

Maplehead said:


> To me a wire gauge means just that, a wire. So do wire gauge reamers not have cutting capability?


Wire gauge reamers cut like any other.  I'm just advocating that having a set on hand can provide you with a nicely finished hole in a size that may work for any given project if the sizing is right.  I was working on a project with two fitted parts last week where I wanted a reamed hole and the size of the assembly just needed to be within range of a spring diameter.  Turned out a size W was a good fit, and I had that on hand.  Other times, a size is very specific, so I have to order those reamers ahead of time.


----------



## Maplehead (Sep 9, 2021)

pontiac428 said:


> Wire gauge reamers cut like any other.  I'm just advocating that having a set on hand can provide you with a nicely finished hole in a size that may work for any given project if the sizing is right.  I was working on a project with two fitted parts last week where I wanted a reamed hole and the size of the assembly just needed to be within range of a spring diameter.  Turned out a size W was a good fit, and I had that on hand.  Other times, a size is very specific, so I have to order those reamers ahead of time.


Can you just explained to me what the designations mean? wire gauge reamer, number reamer, alphabet reamer. ??? All I get is the standard imperial sized and the metric sized reamers. I'm assuming a number (#) reamer is associated with drill bits that go by, for example, #6.


----------



## RJSakowski (Sep 9, 2021)

Here is a chart of drill sizes up to 1".  The reamer diameter would be the same as the drill diameter.


----------



## Janderso (Sep 9, 2021)

Speaking of reamer sets.
Has anyone used any of these? $15.65 with free shipping from China









						4pcs Chucking Reamer H7 Accuracy HSS 6 Straight Flutes 1/8" 3/16" 1/4" 5/16"  | eBay
					

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for 4pcs Chucking Reamer H7 Accuracy HSS 6 Straight Flutes 1/8" 3/16" 1/4" 5/16" at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!



					www.ebay.com


----------



## macardoso (Sep 9, 2021)

Janderso said:


> Speaking of reamer sets.
> Has anyone used any of these? $15.65 with free shipping from China
> 
> 
> ...


I got a metric set like that. Complete garbage hole finish, but surprisingly accurate dimensionally. Left deep scoring on the walls.  I save them when I need something drilled to metric size, but don't have an inch drill close enough.


----------



## graham-xrf (Sep 9, 2021)

So - what I am getting from this is that a reamer set comprises three for a given size. One is 0.001" oversize, and one is 0.001" undersized.
These then can come as "chucking reamers" and otherwise. I guess it means "short, and without a drilled centre in the end.
Then one can have spiral flutes, for those days when there is (say) a keyway down the hole.
Are there a variety of numbers of flutes. Is six a norm?

So suppose one needs an interference press fit. I had thought that might be 0.0005" undersized - or do we mean that much on a radius?
Maybe the only choice is to work on the size of what gets pressed into the hole instead?

Now add in, what are the common "over and under" amounts when the set is metric? Is it 0.0254mm?

You can tell that there is a whole lot I don't know about reamers. I only have the few that came in the drawers of the bench that came with the lathe. I plan to buy any I need one by one as the need arises. The question is, should one go for the over+under set, one nominal size at a time?


----------



## macardoso (Sep 9, 2021)

I think it is really dependent on the work you do. Reamers cost 10-20x the price of a drill, so you don't buy them unless you need them or have money to blow IMO. For general purpose use, I think a 0.001" press and 0.001" clearance cover most shop press fits and slip fits. I'm thinking of dowel pins and stuff like that. That is why I got myself an import over/under set for $100. Maybe if you like to have super pretty holes on nominal diameters then a fractional set would be worth it. If you have specific tolerances you need to hit (say -0.0003") then you'll need to source a reamer specifically to do that.

Remember, reamers make round holes with accurate diameters and good circularity, but not necessarily straight holes. To get a straight and accurate hole, it often pays to Drill -> Bore -> Ream. 

Adjustable reamers also exist. They require a through hole since they have a fair length at the end of the tool that cannot cut, AND they take some trial and error to set the right diameter, but once they're dialed in, you can use them to accurately ream a whole bunch of through holes at an accurate and arbitrary diameter.


----------



## mmcmdl (Sep 9, 2021)

I have a fractional set of L@S and over / under reamers .


----------



## MrWhoopee (Sep 9, 2021)

Janderso said:


> Speaking of reamer sets.
> Has anyone used any of these? $15.65 with free shipping from China
> 
> 
> ...


Thanks Jeff, I just ordered a set.


----------



## Janderso (Sep 9, 2021)

MrWhoopee said:


> Thanks Jeff, I just ordered a set.


Let us know what you think. I may follow suit.


----------



## Janderso (Sep 9, 2021)

mmcmdl said:


> I have a fractional set of L@S and over / under reamers .


Of course you do


----------



## mmcmdl (Sep 9, 2021)

Janderso said:


> Of course you do


And YOU need them !  It's getting to be that time of year again .


----------



## Bob Korves (Sep 9, 2021)

Janderso said:


> Bob, I love McMaster when I can afford them, their shipping costs are high. *Their HSS spiral flute-1/16 to 1/2" 29 piece set is only $873.*



Jeff, the original poster did not know what wire size bits are.  Just helping him with his question.  Price is a separate issue.  I totally agree with you, McMaster has about the highest prices out there...  -Bob


----------



## Maplehead (Sep 10, 2021)

If you intend to make a hole that you will eventually ream with a 3/8" reamer then would you first drill the hole out with a 3/8" drill or a drill slightly less in diameter?


----------



## WobblyHand (Sep 10, 2021)

Drill undersize.  Try 1/16" under first ( 3/16" ) then 1/32 under (11/32").  Finally ream to 3/8".  Works well.

The idea is to drill the largest hole you can that is 1/16" undersize.  Then 1/32" undersize.  Reason for this is to prevent as much as possible drill wander from tiny drills.  If you drill 3/8 in the beginning, it already maybe oversized, and there will be nothing to ream!


----------



## MrWhoopee (Sep 10, 2021)

Maplehead said:


> If you intend to make a hole that you will eventually ream with a 3/8" reamer then would you first drill the hole out with a 3/8" drill or a drill slightly less in diameter?


Drill 1/64" undersize. Just be sure that the drilled hole is on location. Best practice is drill, bore then ream. Not always feasible or necessary.


----------



## macardoso (Sep 13, 2021)

I've always used the 97% of diameter rule for a reamer pre-drill. 

Reamer Diameter * 0.97, then round to nearest drill you have (fractional, letter, number, or metric). 

You can actually vary the final ream diameter by over or undersizing the pre-drill. I believe a smaller start hole yields a bigger reamed hole and vice versa. The diameter only varies within a couple of tenths, but it can help if you are shooting for a particular fit.


----------



## MrWhoopee (Oct 2, 2021)

Janderso said:


> Speaking of reamer sets.
> Has anyone used any of these? $15.65 with free shipping from China
> 
> 
> ...


I had time to check these reamers out today. Appearance-wise they are nicely finished 6-flute reamers. The size is etched on the shank in fractional inches except the 1/4" which says 6.35mm. I measured the diameter across all 3 pairs of flutes looking for variation (there was none), then drilled and reamed a hole with each in some free machining steel. The pilot holes were drilled 1/64" undersize then reamed at about 100 rpm with black oil.
I had no way to check the holes except by trying various pins around the shop. Here's what I found. The first number is the measurement of the reamer. The second number is the size of the largest pin that would fit. If that number has a plus, it indicates that the pin was still a little loose.

1/8"    .1253   .1245+
3/16"  .1880   .1894
1/4"    .2507  .2502+
5/16   .3131  .3129

I had dowel pins to check all but the 1/8, so I had nothing within .0002 to check that one.
All of them cut freely and produced a good finish. With a little use, they will probably settle in a few tenths smaller.


I can't complain.


----------

