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Thread: Floating reamer holder

  1. #1
    Boolit Mold
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    Floating reamer holder

    Need access to a floating reamer holder. Buy, Rent, Barrow. Thanks in advance. Richard Sapp 307-259-7314 rlsapp85@gmail.com

  2. #2
    Boolit Master
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    Quote Originally Posted by Rossi92 View Post
    Need access to a floating reamer holder. Buy, Rent, Barrow. Thanks in advance. Richard Sapp 307-259-7314 rlsapp85@gmail.com
    Have you considered building one? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dfw99JXZIOM&t=146s Nigel designs and makes one, and you can email him for a copy of his drawings through Youtube. I have.

    Bill

  3. #3
    Boolit Master
    405grain's Avatar
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    I've had good luck with the Manson floating reamer holder. It works really well, and you can get it with either a strait shank or a Morse taper shank.

  4. #4
    Boolit Master Hannibal's Avatar
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    If the man is in a hurry then building his own probably isn't an option. I've noticed them for sale on Ebay but I've never seen one so I can't attest to the design. The description claims two axis of correction. I prefer 3.

  5. #5
    Boolit Buddy
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    Why do you need a floating holder ?
    Your tailstock cant be aligned correctly or ??

  6. #6
    Boolit Master Hannibal's Avatar
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    Typically lathe beds tend to wear unevenly over the years and while everyone I know strives to keep everything perfectly aligned nothing is perfect if you carry your measurements out enough decimal points. At what point it stops mattering is a subject of debate.
    That said the idea of a floating reamer holder is to correct any alignment issues so that the bore and reamer are as concentric as possible during machining.
    Not everyone uses them so again, the need is subject to debate.

  7. #7
    Boolit Master
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    Quote Originally Posted by Hannibal View Post
    Typically lathe beds tend to wear unevenly over the years and while everyone I know strives to keep everything perfectly aligned nothing is perfect if you carry your measurements out enough decimal points. At what point it stops mattering is a subject of debate.
    That said the idea of a floating reamer holder is to correct any alignment issues so that the bore and reamer are as concentric as possible during machining.
    Not everyone uses them so again, the need is subject to debate.
    I intend to build one because I want one. Can't swear I would really need it, but I am a toolohaulic. Though I am pretty sure I can get by with just one, despite having four lathes, and counting...
    I've been in this class for precision manual machining very part time for over six years, and the one thing I'm concentrating on is improving my accuracy and repeatability.

    Bill

  8. #8
    Boolit Buddy
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    I'm one that takes the pains to align the tailstock. I like the rigidity of driving the reamer with a dead center. A floater has play in it with regards to the bore fit. There is clearance between the reamer and bushing, and clearance between the bushing and tops of lands, and the bushings are only a half inch long. But many use a floater with good success. If you look up Mike Bryant's website, he made what he calls a "pusher". Very simple to make and that has become quite the favorite with the benchrest guys. However, he still starts the reamer with a dead center to get it in about half way, then switches to the pusher. Lots of ways to do this.

  9. #9
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    W.R.Buchanan's Avatar
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    The original source/use of floating Reamer holders was on Screw Machines where there was always going to be some small misalignment between the reamer and the hole you are stuffing it into.

    They are built so that the reamer is always held parallel to the spindle but can float 360 degrees as needed to make alignment.

    Randy
    "It's not how well you do what you know how to do,,,It's how well you do what you DON'T know how to do!"
    www.buchananprecisionmachine.com

  10. #10
    Boolit Buddy
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    As I posted above, how can the reamer align itself when there are two present clearances involved, inches away, from the end of the reamer? One with the clearance of the bushing to the reamer (assuming you are using a bushing reamer and have selected the best fitting bushing to the bore). Then there is the clearance of the bushing (or whatever the diameter of the reamer is in relation to the the bore) to the bore diameter. With a barrel end looking at you, you run a reamer into the barrel, HOPING, the bushing (if you are even using a piloted reamer), or reamer end, will guide the remaining 3" of the reamer straight down the centerline of the bore. With no fixed direction, what path will the reamer take? How will it align itself?

    A floater is held in the tailstock. If the tailstock is not aligned, and the floater relies on the reamer to align itself, with the pilot end not necessarily true to bore, how well will the chamber end up with the bore centerline? Getting the chamber perfectly concentric with the barrel's bore is the most important thing to accuracy.
    Last edited by PopcornSutton; 11-14-2021 at 06:47 AM.

  11. #11
    Boolit Master Hannibal's Avatar
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    Clamp a reamer down tight in the tailstock with a collet and ream your chamber. Measure for concentricity. Flip the blank around and bore a second chamber using a floating reamer holder and check for concentricity. Then you'll know and there's no guessing or arguing. Pretty simple.

  12. #12
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    W.R.Buchanan's Avatar
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    You guys are making this way too complicated and over thinking it big time. If you introduce a Reamer into a hole the reamer will align itself when it contacts the entrance to the hole. If the Reamer is canted in relation to the centerline of the bore then it will BORE the hole using one of the flutes on the reamer as the primary cutting surface (single point boring tool) but it will still be concentric to the original hole.

    The only way it will be otherwise is if the hole is NOT concentric to the spindle of the machine that is rotating it. In that case it will still try to ream the hole concentric to the hole it just won't be concentric to the spindle. This is where a Floating Reamer Holder will benefit you. The reamer will follow the hole and the holder will allow it to move to do that, but still keep it parallel to the spindle axis.

    Just because the bore of the barrel is not concentric to the OD of the barrel doesn't mean the barrel won't shoot strait. As long as the bore is strait it will.

    Randy
    "It's not how well you do what you know how to do,,,It's how well you do what you DON'T know how to do!"
    www.buchananprecisionmachine.com

  13. #13
    Boolit Master Hannibal's Avatar
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    No one said anything about concentricity of the bore/chamber to the barrel OD that I noticed, and yes I misspoke. I should have said measure the chamber diameter as well.

    On another note I've seen a lot of chambers reamed out of concentricity to the barrel bore so it's evidently quite possible to do. Most notably with non-piloted reamers in a ridgid set-up.

  14. #14
    Boolit Master Moleman-'s Avatar
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    I chamber on a well worn 70 year old lathe and use a floating chamber reamer holder. Since the bed is worn and also the tailstock, using a ridged setup would guarantee an oversized chamber every time. There are simple floating reamer holders you can make on the cheap that will correct for angle and offset errors. I still dial in the bore of the barrel blank to within .0005" and center the tailstock as best as possible. I have tried the reamer holder with a 9mm barrel .030" T.I.R. out of center as a test and the floating reamer holder was able to compensate and cut a correct chamber. To me the barrel bore was visually off center and looked like a clown car wheel as the lathe spun it around. That test and because the floating reamer holder is hands free and keeps my mits away from a spinning chuck are the main reasons I use a floating reamer holder.

    I've also noted a lot of production barrels that are out of center with rifling on one side of the freebore. I assume they were cut with a pilotless reamer in an improperly set up machine.

  15. #15
    Boolit Grand Master

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    There are many things that need to be addressed when chambering. While a 4 jaw chuck allows a truly centered bore, worn jaws may not hold it truly straight. A head stock that isnt aligned will have the same effect as a unaligned tail stock. the means of holding the reamer in the tail stock can induce issues. a worn drill chuck may cant the reamer as a bad taper will also. then there is the issue of wear on the bed and tail stock itself. This can be at the head where most machining is done. The floating reamer head compensates for some of this.

    A mandrel that is truly straight with good lapped centers can be used to set the tail stock by indicating along it.indicate both Axis. This will get you very close. Better is to press a 3" dia by 1" long brass or aluminum ring on the mandrel at each end. then take a light cut on the end leave carriage set and run down to the head stock and take the same pass on that ring, measure. any difference is what the machine is off. 1/2 if the measurement for adjustment and another light pass. This will get you dead on. The longer the Mandrell the better.

    A real eye opener is to get a good tube mandrel 12"long chuck it in your 4 jaw then indicate at the jaws to zero then the indicate the extended length with no end support, chuck jaws wear and are very seldom trued up. this also gives an idea of the head stocks alignment.

  16. #16
    Boolit Master
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    GONRA sez - Lottsa ways to build yer own "floating reamer holder".
    Just warm up yer lathe and doit!

  17. #17
    Boolit Buddy
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    CG, as usual you post good advice. First, my lathe is not worn. Second, it's level status is checked regularly. Third, when I set up a barrel in the headstock, it is indicated on both ends, In doing so, the chamber end in the lathe chuck is held with a 10 gauge wire ring. This allows the left end to be indicated without bending the barrel in the jaws of the chuck. The barrel is indicated with very light adjustments before tightening it all down.
    Before all this, the alignment of the tailstock is checked by a test indicator mounted on the lathe spindle, then rotated around a dead center. adjustments are made.
    The reamer is driven into the barrel via the dead center in the rear of the reamer which it was held during it;s own grinding.
    One can find more and more ways to find error here and there, but I feel this brings things about as close to center as possible. The proof comes with checking the chamber dimensions checked with the same .0001" indicator that was used to indicate the barrel in at first. A long stylus checking the lands/grooves ahead of the chamber, the neck cut, then the base of the chamber for runout. 3 checks to verify the concentricy of the chamber front to back. Brass life is never a problem, some dies can;t size the brass enough at the base, which proves the reamer cut to size, not oversize.

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