Carbide reamers are tools found in every machinist’s tool box, they are used to finish a pre-drilled hole to an exact size. These tools are little more than a circular rod made from high strength carbide steel, along a certain portion of the rod there are a series of flutes cut which act as the cutting blades. The flutes are aligned in a circular pattern and they are of a specific diameter with high tolerance. The far end of the circular shaft is usually cut square; it is this end that fits into the handle, called a tap wrench.
To help start the reamer in the drilled hole, some reamers have a slight taper along the length and a beveled end. The bevel allows for easier insertion of the tool. Not all carbide reamers are tapered however, some have straight flutes over the entire length; these are used when it is necessary to ream a blind hole. Once the reamer is in the tap handle and tightly secured, it is inserted in the hole and slowly turned. A reamer is not a drill; the high speed carbide reamer only removes a small amount of metal which brings the drilled hole into an exact diameter which has been specified.
Reamers come in two different forms; fixed and adjustable. A fixed reamer is just that, the finished hole will be exactly what the reamer is sized to do; these fixed reamers often come in sets and are commonly available up to a full two inches in diameter.
An adjustable reamer is very different, it has tapered blades that sit in tapered slots and move up and down the shank of the reamer. The shank of this style of reamer is threaded; there are nuts or adjusting rings on either side of the blades. The diameter of the reamer is easily adjusted by loosening one ring or the other and sliding the blades up or down in the taper slots in the shank. The effective diameter of the reamer is varied depending on where the blades rest in the slots. Tapered reamers are not used when fixed diameter carbide reamers are readily available; they are normally set aside to ream odd size holes where a fixed reamer does not exist.
Carbide Connection is a leading Carbide Reamer Supplier & specializes in manufacturing Carbide Reamers, Tungsten Reamers, Carbide Tipped, Solid Carbide, High-Speed Steel and more.
