How to Ream a Hole
Choose your reamer., Place the material you need to bore in a vise or steady it with clamps., Drill the hole., Apply lubricant to the material., Ream the hole.
Step-by-Step Guide
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Step 1: Choose your reamer.
Hand reamers work best in soft materials such as wood or plastic.
Begin by choosing the size reamer to which you need your hole bored out.
A hand reamer will have a square shank and depending on the size of the reamer, you’ll fit the shank into either a tap wrench or crescent wrench to turn it.A hand reamer allows for great accuracy after considerable practice. -
Step 2: Place the material you need to bore in a vise or steady it with clamps.
Since a reamer is a precision tool, you don’t want your material moving around as you ream the hole. , Because a reamer is an enlarging tool and not a cutting tool, you must drill out the hole with a standard drill bit before reaming it.You want to use a drill bit approximately
0.016” smaller than your reamer to ensure that you don’t oversize the hole.
For instance, if you know that you need to ream your hole to 1/2”, then you’d want to drill the hole first with a 31/64” drill bit.Drilling a hole too small and leaving too much material left for the reamer to clear can lead to the reamer deflecting off the material, which is called chatter.
Chatter leads to poor finishes and can also damage your reamer. , Based on the material into which you’re boring, you may need to apply cutting fluid to lubricate the reamer.
Though less common with hand reaming, it’s not unheard of. , Now that the hole is prepped, you can use your tap wrench or crescent wrench to ream the hole.
You will likely have either a straight flute reamer or a left-hand spiral flute reamer, which refers to the direction of the blades that actually enlarge the hole.
In the case of a spiral reamer, you will need to turn counterclockwise. -
Step 3: Drill the hole.
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Step 4: Apply lubricant to the material.
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Step 5: Ream the hole.
Detailed Guide
Hand reamers work best in soft materials such as wood or plastic.
Begin by choosing the size reamer to which you need your hole bored out.
A hand reamer will have a square shank and depending on the size of the reamer, you’ll fit the shank into either a tap wrench or crescent wrench to turn it.A hand reamer allows for great accuracy after considerable practice.
Since a reamer is a precision tool, you don’t want your material moving around as you ream the hole. , Because a reamer is an enlarging tool and not a cutting tool, you must drill out the hole with a standard drill bit before reaming it.You want to use a drill bit approximately
0.016” smaller than your reamer to ensure that you don’t oversize the hole.
For instance, if you know that you need to ream your hole to 1/2”, then you’d want to drill the hole first with a 31/64” drill bit.Drilling a hole too small and leaving too much material left for the reamer to clear can lead to the reamer deflecting off the material, which is called chatter.
Chatter leads to poor finishes and can also damage your reamer. , Based on the material into which you’re boring, you may need to apply cutting fluid to lubricate the reamer.
Though less common with hand reaming, it’s not unheard of. , Now that the hole is prepped, you can use your tap wrench or crescent wrench to ream the hole.
You will likely have either a straight flute reamer or a left-hand spiral flute reamer, which refers to the direction of the blades that actually enlarge the hole.
In the case of a spiral reamer, you will need to turn counterclockwise.
About the Author
Raymond Phillips
A passionate writer with expertise in organization topics. Loves sharing practical knowledge.
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