Reamer holders

[Someoldguy]

I've been thinking quite a bit about 'floating' bolt heads lately, and along the way, another thought has occurred to me concerning reamer holders.

It appears to me that there are currently 2 prevalent reamer holder designs on the market.

One design allows for mis-alignment in the X - Y axis. Or Pitch and Roll, if you are more familiar with aeronautics. The PTG design would be a good example of this.

And another design allows for mis-alignment in the Z axis. Or Yaw, for you aeronautics types. A Bald Eagle, with the 'ball' feature would exemplify this design.

But I have seen -0- marketed designs that address both, or I suppose all 3 possible alignment issues.

Perhaps this is why there are so many fevered discussions as to which design(s) work best, because it is more truly a matter of which axis the alignment problem your particular set-up is inducing?


I think I have conceived a design which addresses all 3 axis. And I have constructed a prototype and used it. But I must confess, I do not currently possess the correct equipment and tooling to produce what I consider to be a precision piece.

But I DO know it works. Does it work better? I can't say. It's a new idea to me.

I would be interested to hear the opinions and views of the members here, if you are interested in sharing your thoughts. Feel free to call me crazy or poke holes in my theory if you wish. I have learned MUCH more from mistakes than from being correct.

 

[jdh47]

Would have no opinion without seeing it.

Joe

 

[GenePoole]

Which axis are you considering to be the Z on a lathe? X and Y are usually the crossslide and carriage directions. Usually the Z is irrelevant on a lathe unless you need to adjust the height of your tailstock to align it to spindle centerline. That said, both the PTG and the Bald Eagle "fully" float in that the reamer will follow the bore at the pilot end and the shank end can move radially as needed to account for the bore "wandering" as you go.

 

[TRA]

Which axis are you considering to be the Z on a lathe? X and Y are usually the crossslide and carriage directions. Usually the Z is irrelevant on a lathe unless you need to adjust the height of your tailstock to align it to spindle centerline. That said, both the PTG and the Bald Eagle "fully" float in that the reamer will follow the bore at the pilot end and the shank end can move radially as needed to account for the bore "wandering" as you go.

Z axis on a lathe is the length parallel to spindle. The X axis is the radius or diameter from around the z. There is no Y on a basic 2 axis lathe. Z is length....X is diameter

 

[Cloudrepair]

I've been thinking quite a bit about 'floating' bolt heads lately, and along the way, another thought has occurred to me concerning reamer holders.

It appears to me that there are currently 2 prevalent reamer holder designs on the market.

One design allows for mis-alignment in the X - Y axis. Or Pitch and Roll, if you are more familiar with aeronautics. The PTG design would be a good example of this.

And another design allows for mis-alignment in the Z axis. Or Yaw, for you aeronautics types. A Bald Eagle, with the 'ball' feature would exemplify this design.

But I have seen -0- marketed designs that address both, or I suppose all 3 possible alignment issues.

Perhaps this is why there are so many fevered discussions as to which design(s) work best, because it is more truly a matter of which axis the alignment problem your particular set-up is inducing?


I think I have conceived a design which addresses all 3 axis. And I have constructed a prototype and used it. But I must confess, I do not currently possess the correct equipment and tooling to produce what I consider to be a precision piece.

But I DO know it works. Does it work better? I can't say. It's a new idea to me.

I would be interested to hear the opinions and views of the members here, if you are interested in sharing your thoughts. Feel free to call me crazy or poke holes in my theory if you wish. I have learned MUCH more from mistakes than from being correct.

I'm interested can or would you upload some pics?

 

[Someoldguy]

I'm interested can or would you upload some pics?

I think I explained the concept well enough in the OP. I further believe the biggest question is - does the design I conceived actually address all the possible alignment issues I identified.

Yes, I believe it does.

 

[Someoldguy]

Which axis are you considering to be the Z on a lathe? X and Y are usually the crossslide and carriage directions. Usually the Z is irrelevant on a lathe unless you need to adjust the height of your tailstock to align it to spindle centerline. That said, both the PTG and the Bald Eagle "fully" float in that the reamer will follow the bore at the pilot end and the shank end can move radially as needed to account for the bore "wandering" as you go.

PM sent.

 

[Someoldguy]

Z axis on a lathe is the length parallel to spindle. The X axis is the radius or diameter from around the z. There is no Y on a basic 2 axis lathe. Z is length....X is diameter

Not my intention to start a 'wizzin' match over proper lathe terminology. If I spoke incorrectly, it was not intentional.

In my illustration, X axis would represent the horizontal plane, as the cross slide travels. Y would be the vertical plane, as in the height of the spindle centerline and the tail stock centerline. And Z would be the longitudinal plane, as the carriage travels. Picture a piece of round stock in a collet of the lathe spindle. And another piece of round stock in a collet of the tailstock. In a perfect world, these 2 pieces of stock should be perfectly aligned and parallel. While it should not happen, picture those 2 pieces of stock being mis-aligned vertically. Or horizontally. Or un-parallel.

And THAT is what I thought the entire concept behind the use of a floating reamer holder was. Obviously, the lathe should be set up as close to perfectly aligned in these 3 axis as possible. However, my experience has been that perfection is . . . . elusive. SO. The floating reamer holder is a means to attempt to correct for unintended alignment errors.

Again, if my terminology is incorrect, please forgive me. I was relating these 3 axis to 3 - dimensional objects, as a barrel is inarguably a 3 - dimensional object.

 

[Cloudrepair]

I think I explained the concept well enough in the OP. I further believe the biggest question is - does the design I conceived actually address all the possible alignment issues I identified.

Yes, I believe it does.

I don't see how you've explained your design or how it accomplishes the float in the three axis in question.
I have made two tools that do this together can you tell me anything about mine without more from me?

 

[Cloudrepair]

I've seen and made a few different designs, even if they look good from an experienced machinist view didn't mean they will work good in a specific setup. I recently made a modification to one of mine because it sounded and looked great but didn't work for me just knowing it will float in three axis x,y,z doesn't help I would need to know how it is going to do it to give any insight or opinion.

 

[Steelnecktie]

If you float in longitudinal axis of carriage travel, how are you going to get a specific chamber depth? I'm just guessing, without seeing a pic we are all blind. I don't see what the hang up is with a pic, even if you market it, there will be a hundred pics of it dissected within a week of releasing it.

 

[Cloudrepair]

If you float in longitudinal axis of carriage travel, how are you going to get a specific chamber depth? I'm just guessing, without seeing a pic we are all blind. I don't see what the hang up is with a pic, even if you market it, there will be a hundred pics of it dissected within a week of releasing it.

You make a good point.
If x,y float that will allow z to stay aligned with the spindle axis.

 

[Someoldguy]

I don't see how you've explained your design or how it accomplishes the float in the three axis in question.
I have made two tools that do this together can you tell me anything about mine without more from me?

PM sent.

 

[Someoldguy]

If you float in longitudinal axis of carriage travel, how are you going to get a specific chamber depth? I'm just guessing, without seeing a pic we are all blind. I don't see what the hang up is with a pic, even if you market it, there will be a hundred pics of it dissected within a week of releasing it.

PM sent.