Reaming problem

so where can i post a video of me doing it? drop box?

I'm not sure why all the cautions against trying this with a reamer, because that's what I'd do. Not under power in a lathe, but by hand.

The big caution is not to feed too fast. If all he is cutting is a single ridge, there will be a tendency for a reamer to pass the ridge down in one of the flutes, then stall when the cutting edge comes up against a long section of uncut ridge. At which point he will try to back the reamer up a bit, which just may chip the cutting edge. Which is why Tom mentioned the spiral reamer, which would certainly be preferable.

If I didn't have the correct fixed size reamer handy, I'd use an adjustable reamer, size "H", which will go from 15/16" to 1-1/16". Being real careful not to feed too fast, using cutting oil, and checking to see that the weld wasn't so hard it was buggering the cutting edge. Holding the pipe in a heavy pipe vise and driving the reamer with a big tap wrench. And did I mention not feeding too fast?

If I didn't have the right size reamer, I might consider making one from a piece of drill rod, cutting and grinding the end at an angle of

30 degrees or less. But he'll probably find that he can pick up a used reamer for the price of the drill rod.

Or, as Jeff suggested, use a half round file if he only needs a short section done.

All of this depends on just how hard the weld areas are, but I think it's worth trying.

John Martin

Go out and buy some seamless pipe/tubing. A lot cheaper than all this aggravation. Wrong material for the wrong job. Bugs

Yes I agree - I would have done that but when I tried fitting the pipe in the store it worked fine. It appears that the welds are not consisent enough to work all of the time, so now I am stuck with the material at hand. That's why I came here for ideas because had I done that first I probably wouldn't have this problem. So really I am looking for a bailout. With only eight joints six inches into the pipe I thought that I could find something that would work.

So at this point I ll try filing by hand as I don't have a hand reamer that size. If that proves to be too time consuming I will seek out a large enough sprial reamer and try that by hand.

Or I will try to flatten one side of the pipe with an angle grinder and see if I can line up that side with the weld joint.

Does this sound like a good plan (safe and effective enough)?

Greg

So....Where in Az exactly are you? There are a lot of HSM in Az that might be willing to help you out. And some of us are on this news group.

Mike (Tucson)

According to WILLIAM HENRY :

I suspect that the total image size would be big enough so Steve might eliminate it. There is a bandwidth limit on the site hosting the dropbox, after all.

If you have a private web space offered by your ISP, you could put it there for a while, and post the URL here.

Enjoy, DoN.

I live in Chandler and work downtown. I only get a chance to 'play' every other weekend so my progress is slow. I think I will be fine with the file - I was just lazy and trying to find a short cut; one where I would not get killed or maimed. It seems most metal workers and machinist I ran across in my job had a scar or hunk missing from learning by experience and I was trying to aviod that and yet be creative. I'll post my progress when I try out the plan as advised by the blog.

Thanks

Greg

I thought of that as a last resort because I would have to put the pieces back together again and I didn't have much success with Humpty.

Thanks

Greg

Don't use lap-welded pipe - yes, it has a welding "flash" on the ID. Go for seamless pipe - the ID is smooth.

I think you misunderstood Brian's response.... instead of trying to grind out the weld INSIDE of the larger pipe, simply grind a flat or a groove on the OUTSIDE of the smaller pipe, so there is clearance for the welded seam when the two pipes are slipped together... Ken.

Yep - that was my understanding. I am going to try a flat file on the inside first, but it that is too time cnsuming I am going to use the angle grinder to flattten one side. Some of the flash is pretty large so I might have to take quite a bit off. I wish I had looked closer at the pipe and noticed how big and variable the seems were. I would have saved myself a lot of grief if I had gotten seemless pipe. Home Depot didn't have any - so out of sight - out of mind.

Greg