MT reamer set recommendations

Not surprisingly the new to me 1944 Cleerman heavy duty drill press needs a bit of attention. I inserted the brand new MT4 to J4 arbor with an old chuck attached and about a 1/4" bit to drill a pilot hole. I fired up my new, 74 year old baby and watched the chuck and drill bit wobble around. I got an indicator out and measured about 12 thou of run-out on the arbor. Removed the chuck arbor and inserted a brand new MT4 to MT1 reducer sleeve and measured the same. Stuck my finger up inside the taper and sure enough, somewhere in its' 74 year life the taper got a bit scuffed up. I felt some burrs that will need to be cleaned up. I'll do a blue check later to confirm but i'm pretty sure i'll need to touch up the taper with a finish reamer. Oddly enough, i have a similar problem on a NMTB 5 to MT4 adapter i have for the mill (about the same run-out and can feel a burr).

Anyway, it looks like China brand reamer sets (roughing and finishing) can be had from ebay for reasonable prices. Ukranian or Russian brands for only slightly more. MSC prices are about 3X for and that's just for the finish reamer. I only want to do this fix once so i want to be sure i have quality tooling but if the China or Ukrain brand tools are serviceable, i'm not opposed to getting them.

Anybody got any experience with any of these?

Mark

I have had good luck so far with the Soviet made surplus. Some of the China stuff is good, but unless you like to gamble and have time and money to have to order again I would recommend the Ukraine versions.

My name is Brian and I'm a toolaholic.

While I don’t know about the quality of the reamers mentioned above there are a couple of things you might want to check out before ordering a reamer of any kind.

About 35 or more years ago my father ordered a carbon steel # 3 Morse taper hand reamer to repair a customer’s drill press spindle only to discover that the reamer bottomed out on the end of the taper where the slot was made for the drill tang so we had to grind back the reamer that would have been fine if the spindle had been a through hole as on a lathe spindle .
Once the reamer end was ground back we discovered that the spindle end had been case or induction hardened .
While not as hard as the reamer its self , the reamer would hardly bite into the taper and was dull after just a few turns in the hole.

Before ordering it might be worth your while to check the hardness of the spindle and compare the measurements of the spindle with those of the reamers available to be sure it is large enough at the tip to allow you to ream out the hole without bottoming on the knockout slot if there is one.
Perhaps a little careful hand work stoning off the offending ridges with a round or half round oil stone or some emery cloth wrapped around a Morse taper shank with no tang on it might be worth a try first.

If the spindle is quite hard and and the cost isn’t too high it might be worth looking into having it cleaned up on an internal grinder.
I seem to recall reading somewhere on this forum a while ago that someone had their milling machine spindle taper reground by a company that I think may have been Wells Index for a reasonable cost.
Maybe someone else will know about this.
Regards ,
Jim
P.S.
Rebuild and Maintenance — Wells-Index Milling Machines

Thanks for the replies. Spindle doesn't appear to be hardened so cleaning up with a reamer seems feasible.

And now for the rest of the story...

I stuck an indicator on the OD of the spindle and got about 7 thou of runout. I then pushed on the spindle with it extended from the quill about 8 inches and was able to move it back and forth about 6 thou. I wasn't horsing on it too hard just pushing with one arm. In contrast, my 22 inch buffalo forge camel back has less than a thou of runout so the Cleerman's runout seemas a bit excessive.

I'm thinking i need to see about new spindle bearings yes?? If so, i'm thinking i should wait until i address the spindle runout problem before i attempt to true up the taper. From what i've been able to discern from the archives, spindle runout of one thou or less is acceptable for a drilling machine.

Please advise.
MArk

When we first got our old Royersford Excelsior, the spindle bearing (ran directly in the cast-iron quill IIRC) was loose. I took quill out, removed rack, chucked it in 4-jaw chuck of 10" South bend lathe, supported the end in steady-rest, and bored both ends oversize for new off-the-shelf bronze bushings. Problem solved.

A reamer is not the tool to remove burrs. The bur pushes the reamer away, and it cuts a bit on the opposite side of the recess, where you do not want it to.

Mostly you stone burrs down individually with a stone on a stick. There should be plenty of good taper surface left, which you do not need to cut with a reamer.

Seems like you have two issues. Burrs on the taper, and sloppy brarings that the quill moves in. Maybe also a bend in the spindle, since normally the OD is quite true.

Stone down the burrs, then check the ID of the spindle taper with a DTI as you turn the spindle. Do a couple places, that will help determine if there is a bend.

I have had good luck reconditioning tapers in older lathes with reamers. In my experience it isn't practical to stone damage from a badly galled taper. I like to bore and then ream to final size, if possible. I have however just used a reamer, on several occasions, to clean up damaged tapers.

My name is Brian and I'm a toolaholic.