Other than slowing down, are there some tricks to reducing reamer chatter?
I got some truly beautiful rifle patterns in Al with a 1/4" spiral reamer. I had no problems with it the last time I used it.
The reamers I have seem a bit long for use with a sherline lathe at about
6" or so.Would it be better to cut the shanks down in length or support them with a steady rest to keep them from vibrating?
Reduce your rpm, leave sufficient pre-ream material, and also make sure that the reamer is on dead center.
Chamfering the hole prior to reaming will go a long ways towards getting the reamer off to a straight start and eliminating the tendency for it to wobble upon entry...
For alloy 6061, and a 1/4in four flute reamer, ME consultant comes up with 2292 rpm and 43 IPM which is probably a lot faster than you can possibly crank the tailstock in by hand.
My experience has been is that a spiral flute reamer really does not cut much different than a straight flute except for chip evacuation and perhaps better bridging cross-drilled-holes in certain scenarios.
Cut too short in softer materials they become a boring tool instead.
Cutting them down in length may help, but most times a faster speed or a higher feed rate will also make it work w/out chatter.
The amount or material you are removing will matter too, maybe try a bigger or smaller hole, depending on how much material you are removing now.
You did not say if you are using cutting fluid or not, that would help, too.
MikeB
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