I just bought a pipe reamer on ebay that badly needs sharpening. Here is a picture of the item:
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The reamer was described as "in great shape" but is so dull as to be useless.
The blades (3 in all) appear to be press-fit into a core casting or forging - suggesting that they can be removed and ground. There appears to be ample material left on each blade for grinding.
Well, I did a bit of prying on them with a few hand tools but the blades wouldn't budge from the casting/forging. I didn't apply much pressure in the process since I don't know if the blades can actually be removed without destroying the whole piece.
I could try to grind the blades "in place", but coming up with a grinding fixture to hold the unit seems quite difficult.
Is there enough clearance to let you sharpen the blades by hand by holding it against a belt sander?
If it's only going to be used to debur the ID of cut off iron pipe at hand turned speeds, then it won't matter much if the blades are not ground to identical heights, there's only three of them so they'll self center just fine.
The pipe reamer I've had for about 50 years (and occasionally still use) is one piece with maybe 10 cutting edges and a shaft which fits in the hand brace I've had for just as long.
Hi Jeff, I had one of those that fit my brace. Also about 40 years old. I lent it to a friend (contractor) and he claims he 'lost' it. Sure he did. Haven't been able to find one since. Any ideas??
What tools do you have? Cutter grinder? Mill? Mill/drill? With an indexing head you should be able to set up the reamer by dismantling it from the holder, then sharpen each blade with a wheel. The reamer probably has a shank of sorts that you could use to hold it while sharpening. You can do it with any of the above, but a cutter grinder would be the easiest. If you have none of the above, you'd be better served to get it in the hands of someone that does, and understands cutter grinding. Working it over by hand will likely be a waste of time if it's as bad as you suggest. You'd have to remove one hell of a lot of the blade to get past the rounded edge and still maintain proper relief. Pretty tall order, especially without further rounding off the cutting edge.
I have a dead-center-style indexing head but it seems to be too small to handle the assembled reamer head. It is more suited for grinding #2 or #3 morse taper-sized pieces.
It does but I don't have a chuck for my cutter/grinder yet.The cutter/grinder was a recent addition to my shop. It came with almost NO tooling or fixtures.
I completely agree. Using a stone as another poster suggested would take DAYS and my hands aren't steady enough to guarantee the result would be any better than I have now.
That's the best choice. The others were included as options.
As long as it will accommodate the diameter without hitting the table, it should work. You just need to get creative----including reducing the reamer to just the head and blades, doing as I suggested below:
Chuck isn't a great choice----this would be best done in a collet assembly so it runs close to dead concentric with the shank-----but you might be able to do it between centers, using a cup center for the point----only problem would be you would be limited by the center at the point. Not the best choice, but good if you intend to use it for larger pipe instead of 1/8' or
1/4" stuff.
Consider making a spud that will accommodate the shank, and takes the place of the center in the indexing device. A bit of work, but we're having fun, eh?
You also may have to regrind the flutes, for chip clearance. Cutters work at considerable reduced ability when they get resharpened-----and in the case of circular cutters, can also lose positive rake----which is true of end mills. The smaller they are, the less they respond to sharpening, for that reason.
Your comments about your cutter grinder not being equipped with accessories. I've run a cutter grinder for a living, although only briefly. I hate the work, but appreciate what a cutter grinder can do for a machinist. I can't think of a more useless tool than a cutter grinder without a reasonable compliment of accessories. Frankly, it's not much better than a pedestal grinder. I, too, have a small cutter grinder, and I'm in the same position. There are days when I wonder why I bought it-----although it does a great job of holding down the floor and collecting dust. :-)
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