how to clean out 1" holes in old planer table?

metalmagpie · Nov 21, 2020

I have the table from an old small planer. It has tee slots and also a regular grid of 1" holes. This image should give you the idea:

I have rough cleaned the table and the holes. Many of the holes were plugged with chips packed in with dirt. I got all of them clear and ran a split rod with shop cloth wound around it for a makeshift ID brush in and out with a hand drill motor. They are much better, but they are still not clean. I have some 1" ground shaft and it will fit into some of the holes part way with effort, but not all.

I have a mag drill with #2 Morse taper spindle. I had thought of getting a taper shank 1.000" reamer and putting it directly in the spindle of the mag drill. It might be a bit of a problem getting it perfectly aligned, but it seems to me that should clean out all the rust, dings and so on. On second thought, I thought I should buy a tube brush, one of the aggressive kind with steel bristles designed to be run by a machine. Only I can't seem to find just the right product to buy.

I want to be able to put pins in and use them to align parts against in this table's future life as a welding table.

Do you have any ideas as to the best way to clean these 44 holes?

metalmagpie

CalG · Nov 21, 2020

x-o-rust or whatever. Phosphoric acid would work too.

vinegar and table salt. Boiling lye solution... (hot tank at the local engine rebuilder....a thing of the past)

Phil in Montana · Nov 21, 2020

What do you plan to use the holes for?...Phil

Rob F. · Nov 21, 2020

Phil in Montana said:
What do you plan to use the holes for?...Phil

Collecting weld spatter is what I think he said.

Seriously though you can go to a plumbing supply and get round steel brushes for cleaning copper pipe fittings. they would be 7/8" and 1 1/8" for 3/4 and 1" sizes. If its to short to get to the bottom, crimp a piece of small tubing on to it as an extension.

Blazemaster · Nov 21, 2020

A reamer seems like it would work, but I probably wouldn't use a nice fresh one unless I got it really cheap.

Lakeside53 · Nov 21, 2020

The crud will destroy a reamer, so yes, some old POS for sure. No need for a mag drill - hand drill and it will self align for the described purpose.

I'd use use a flex hone brush. I have a carbide versions that would clean those holes up pronto.

gregoryd · Nov 21, 2020

+1 for the dingle ball brush - and probably a can of WD-40 to keep it clearing

metalmagpie · Nov 21, 2020

CalG said:
x-o-rust or whatever. Phosphoric acid would work too.

vinegar and table salt. Boiling lye solution... (hot tank at the local engine rebuilder....a thing of the past)

the fluid would run out the bottom of the hole, won't work

metalmagpie · Nov 21, 2020

Phil in Montana said:
What do you plan to use the holes for?...Phil

I plan to make a bunch of 1x5" pins with tapped holes on each end. These could be placed in a line and a part could be clamped against them. More pins could be placed in a perpendicular line and another part clamped against them. This would very accurately set up a square for welding, for example.

Anyway, to put pins into for alignment. The tapped holes are to pull them out in case they get really stuck.

metalmagpie

Tyrone Shoelaces · Nov 22, 2020

The welding tables I worked on had a length of bright mild steel bar roughly 1" by 1/2" laid flat and fastened down by cap head screws along the long edge and another length of bar fastened at exactly 90 degrees down the short edge.
If you wanted to set work up square prior to welding you just butted the work up to the strips.

Regards Tyrone.

crossthread · Nov 22, 2020

I have recently started using rifle and shotgun bore brushes for this sort of thing. Cut the fitting off that connects to the rod and chuck the twisted wire in a hand drill or drill press. They are cheap, available in just about any diameter up to an inch, can be either brass or SS, and are better then a dingle ball in my opinion.

Phil in Montana · Nov 22, 2020

Just use a reamer turning slow in a mag drill, they with self center, use a little cutting oil...no big deal...sure it will ruin the reamer but there cheap on ebay...been there done that more than once...Phil

kenton · Nov 22, 2020

Seems like a perfect application for a hand reamer. You might be able to get one for free if you have friends with an
old machine shop. Or this one on Ebay for 40 bucks

Interstate Hand Reamer 1" Diam Straight Shank 5-7/16" Flute 02210649 | eBay

swatkins · Nov 22, 2020

After I did this......

I ran an old hand reamer through the 1 inch holes. Also in the video you can see two white disks in two holes... Those are 1 inch plastic plugs... I was going to get a bunch of them and plug all the holes until I needed one. On this planer the chips can fall through the holes and collect on the bottom part of the table.. From there they fall out the sides all over the floor

michiganbuck · Nov 22, 2020

Blazemaster said:
A reamer seems like it would work, but I probably wouldn't use a nice fresh one unless I got it really cheap.

like 5 bucks ...That crud will make quick puke of a good reamer.

You can ut a saw slit the but end in a piece of round stock a little under 1". then cut strips of abrasive cloth the same lengths to make up to 1" or 1.005. The length of abrasive will hold very close size with each strip cut the same length. A hand drill should be faster than a mag drill. I used to make the wrap about one turn. Nothing fancy.. just a piece of round stock and a tapped hole for a screw made shank. measure the cloth to know the slug diameter.
One can do very close hold sizing like this..about +-.002.

To save abrasive you turn the abrasive the other start/end. then tear off an inch and slip in/under..so uaing most all the cloth.

Ops look like done..keep this in mind for next same job.
Buck

surplusjohn · Nov 27, 2020

on smaller holes i have used e-z outs to pull our packed chips. possibly a pressure washer would work here

metalmagpie · Nov 27, 2020

surplusjohn said:
on smaller holes i have used e-z outs to pull our packed chips. possibly a pressure washer would work here

I used a cordless drill with a bit somewhere about 3/8" to break up the impacted chips. Then they came out OK. I believe I have already cleaned all 52 holes.

I have already tried the split-mandrel-with-shop-cloth thing.

I ordered a 1" silicon carbide ball hone. I figure that with oil should cut the crud.

metalmagpie

motion guru · Nov 27, 2020

Looks like our Cleveland planer mill . . . Ours came with a clean and well cared for table that didn’t require any fuss to use. We added an 840D CNC control with linear scales and a couple of spindles and it is a work horse now.

steve45 · Nov 27, 2020

Ball-type wheel cylinder hone.

how to clean out 1" holes in old planer table?

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