Removing Slight Amounts (0.005") from Round Bar Diameters Quickly?

[silverhawk]

Thanks for the advice. Much appreciated! Not sure if I'm willing to set up the follower, because now I'm contemplating just swapping out the bars for drill rod. I should have stopped to think about drill rod being a more precise material.

 

[OTmachine]

Or open up the cross bar bores by honing to accept your new bars.

 

[markba633csi]

There's really no reason to use stainless here, as mentioned you're gaining mainly corrosion resistance.
TGP rod would likely be smoother and slide better

 

[SLK001]

I agree with a lot of posters here: Namely, ream out the holes to the size of the bar, not the other way around. You will be much happier with the results, and removing 0.002" from a hole is not that big of a deal. Your original holes probably aren't that precise anyway, so adding precision here will greatly improve results when using your aligner.

 

[David2011]

Two or three months ago I bought a set of -.001/+.001 reamers in 1/16" intervals. They have made several jobs either possible or much easier. Seems like they would be a perfect solution for fitting drill rod to the Port-Align.

 

[benmychree]

Gauging unmarked reamers? ---- What would be wrong with simply measuring them?

 

[David2011]

A three-foot-long piece of precision O1 drill rod in exactly .500 dimensions costs $14 plus shipping. I would do that.

McMaster-Carr

McMaster-Carr is the complete source for your plant with over 595,000 products. 98% of products ordered ship from stock and deliver same or next day.

www.mcmaster.com

Thanks! After a quick check it looks like McMaster has very competitive pricing on ground O1 and W1 tool steel rod.

 

[markba633csi]

Agree with John- why not just measure them?

 

[MrWhoopee]

The ultimate solution would be Thomson shafting, you will wear out several sets of bushings before anything happens to the shaft.
https://www.mcmaster.com/products/shafts/linear-motion-shafts-5/?s=hardened+shafts

Drill rod is probably the next best choice, providing precision size but, in the unhardened state, wear resistance is likely no better than mild steel.
It will still likely last as long as your need.

 

[silverhawk]

For those, I did try to measure them. What I don't know is how accurate that is. I suppose I could simply do one drill and ream to find out how accurate.

Unfortunately, I over engineer everything.