b'Lessons in reaming are shared.By Christopher Tate became easy. Consider the tolerance of the My first mistake was thinking thathole,andbuytherightsizeof M y machining education wasreaming a hole was as simple asreamer for the job. Reamers rarely quite different from most. Cir- drill the hole, ream the hole, andcut undersize holes, so plan to cumstances forced me to learn a lotyoure done. Generating the right- ream a hole larger than the diam-on the fly, so broken tools, bloodysize hole with a reamer is more thaneter of the reamer. It always is a fingers and scrapped parts weresimply sticking it in the hole. Sev- good idea to buy one reamer sized common on my journey. eral variables need to be consid- to the lower limit of the tolerance Learning to ream a good hole wasered before putting the reamer inband and one reamer sized to the one of the more difficult mattersthe hole. nominal dimension. Starting with that I struggled with, and I learnedLike all machining operations,the smaller reamer is a good way to much about what not to do. For- toolqualityisimportant.Buylimit the risk of making a hole that tunately, I was exposed to skilleda cheap reamer, and you will re- cant be corrected.people, and I managed to get shortgret it. Go ahead and purchase aHaving the best-quality tool that but effective lessons. With a littlehigh-quality reamer from a rep- is sized perfectly doesnt ensure guidance from experienced tool- utable manufacturer. In general,a good hole. Oversize holes are makers, I overcame the difficulties,reamers manufactured in Germany,overwhelmingly the biggest prob-and reaming high-quality holesJapan or the United States are best. lem with quality when reaming, and 36OCTOBER 2022Reaming.indd 36 9/19/22 2:23 PM'