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

M

Maplehead

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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?
 
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 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.
 
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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.
 
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.
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To me a wire gauge means just that, a wire. So do wire gauge reamers not have cutting capability?
 
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.
Click to expand...
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.
 
Maplehead said:
To me a wire gauge means just that, a wire. So do wire gauge reamers not have cutting capability?
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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.
 
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.
Click to expand...
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.
 
Here is a chart of drill sizes up to 1". The reamer diameter would be the same as the drill diameter.
Drill Sizes.JPG
 
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