im lookin to purchace a floating reamer holder could u guys stir me in the right direction ,this is going to be a gift for special friend
thanks for any advise in advance
If you have a lathe that will do chambering you can make a floating pusher as good as any you can buy in a few minutes. I made this one which is a shamless copy of one that another regular here made:
I machined a #3MT on a piece of CRS to fit in the tail stock. Put it in the headstock and machined the face of it dead true, then bored a hole in it to allow the reamer shank to stick into it with out bottoming and have at least .030" radial clearance. The face of the tail stock insert pushes on the collar, the collar pushes the reamer. the reamer itself doesn't contact the piece in the tailstock anyplace.
The collar, which is what gets "pushed", was machined by boring the hole in it to "just" fit the reamer shank. Then the face was machined dead true in the same set up and it was parted off. The result is that one side of the collar is perfectly orthogonal to the centerline of the hole the reamer is held in. I put in a set screw to clamp on the flat spot on the reamer shank. I gave it a small rounded end handle that is short enough to swing clear of the carriage so that I can let it go and rotate when I get to the depth for the current pass, back off the tail stock, stop the spindle, and remove the reamer for cleaning, re-coating with cutting oil, then make the next pass. I set the carriage and clamp it so that it serves as the stop for the tail stock.
My theory is that by letting the handle go allowing the reamer to rotate at the end of the cut reduces the chance of galling that might occurr if a chip got under a flute when withdrawing it. Might not matter, but that's how I do it.
Like Jerry I like having the feel. I had just the faintest hit of chatter once, let go immediately, used the patch trick and had it cleaned up very quickly. I don't know that I'd have picked it up that quickly if I wasn't holding the reamer.
When I hold it my thumb is right over the setscrew on the collar so I counteract the torque with my fingers and thumb making a force couple on the holder. This allows resisting the torque with out putting any noticable side pressure on the reamer. If I were to rest my fingers on the compound then there would be a side force. I've seen videos where folks rest the handle of the BaldEagle pusher on the compound but I've not done it that way.
The force couple is what you do if you are using a rachet handle on a long extension. You will find your self using your thumb or other hand to counter act the side force so the thing stays on the nut. The nice thing about a force couple is it allows a torque with out a resulting side force.
So far I've done 4 chambers with this pusher and they are essentially exactly reamer size as close as I can measure.
I'm only chambering my own rifles so time isn't a consideration. I can take a whole afternoon just cutting the chamber if I want to and it doesn't matter. If I was doing it for food I'd have a pressure flush system and chamber off the carriage exactly like Chad does.
Fitch