Reaming Vise: Is there (still) such a thing?

I'm having a hard time locating it, but in one of my 1900-1930's era machinist resource books, there was a picture of what I think they called a "reaming vise." It was like a large horizontal 4 jaw chuck, but with a cross shaped body, with a large through hole that dropped into a heavy round cast iron pedestal base. I think the idea being that you could clamp onto round or other odd shaped parts to hold horizontally when hand reaming bushings, and do so with more jaws than a bench vise to reduce distortion, and a flat table for support/alignment.

Does such a thing still exist, and if so do they go by other names? Was it specific to a certain trade or industry? Every now and then I have assembly or repair jobs that it would be handy.

("Just MAKE one!".... there, beat you guys to it)

Pipe clamp mounted to the side of a bench? Like horizontally.

Homebrewblob said:

Pipe clamp mounted to the side of a bench? Like horizontally.

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The one in the book was on it's own pedestal, and it had 4 independently adjusting jaws.

Illustrated in this book: Shop and Foundry Practice, Bench Vise and Floor Work, Section #38
Google Books

Various sizes of 4-jaw flatback chucks are readily available now, could one or more of those be mounted to some kind of stand to achieve this effect?

bryan_machine said:

Various sizes of 4-jaw flatback chucks are readily available now, could one or more of those be mounted to some kind of stand to achieve this effect?

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Happens to be just about the ONLY thing a 3-jaw chuck is useful for.
I tossed the only one as was ever under my roof out on general principles, though.

To the point:

No extra spend required. most shops. Most 'ere already own the needfuls.

Any 2 or 4-jaw for irregulars, any 3 or 6-jaw, for round work, OR collet blocks for smaller work, not in active use doing some other task does the do by making use of your existing bench and vise as a host or "mothership".

Two-piece vises exist.

Salvaged ancient big-lathe "faceplate/chuck" combo's with the 4-Jaws that latch to ribs on the back side ot their slot exist.

The dedicated vise only existed "back in the day" when labour was cheap, machines were dear, and HAND reaming was still an 8 to 10 hour a day occupation.

Time has mostly moved on, and a rather long time ago. About 2 or 3 human generations, actually.

Just rig to grasp a(ny) uncommitted chuck without harming the mount .. and go for it.

ELSE "tool" for vise jaws that JFDI. That, too, was once dirt-common. Rows of split round holes, vees, dowel pins, rollers & levers to bend and form stuff "etc".

Faced with a similar need? I'd prolly apply my milling clamps to the big table on the ~ 4,400 lb Avoir Alzmetall drillpress. Easy to swing the table out to one side, no longer under the head atall. Easy to adjust for working height. "Making holes" is only HALF the reason I bought Heavy-Hams-Hans anyway.

CAN do the same on the 5205 lb Avoir Quartet combo mill as well by rotating the turret and over-arm to 90 degrees. It's just far more WORK and one ends up with a more awkward reach than the DP table can provide faster and better!

Shaper table can serve? There sits 1850 lbs Avoir of Iron attached to that one, even as a mere 12" Sheldon mini-me. SERIOUS shapers make Gibralter tuck-tail.

I don't actually have a "workbench" with that sort of mass in the arse.

Haven't had the need, have I?

Just impro-vise.

Found the page this weekend. It's from "Advanced Machine Work" Robert H. Smith 1910 (mine's the 1922 edition), page 416 They actually called it a "Reaming Stand."



So yes, in principal it's just a 4-jaw chuck on a pedestal. I'm mainly curious what happened to the purpose-built ones. While 99% probably ended up at the bottom of the Pacific, I'd expect there still to be one or two in the back of someone's shop.

Were I to build one, I don't think I would use a 4-jaw chuck as the body would have a lot of wasted mass at a high center of gravity, and to get the same range of parts that it can clamp, I'd need a 24" diameter chuck.... so If I were to build one, I'd start with a thick plasma cut plate over a pipe column and a heavy pipe flange base, and machine the jaws and adjusting screws.

You might look at welding positioner chucks. They are very similar you the reaming chuck.

Dave

M.B. Naegle said:

Were I to build one, I don't think I would use a 4-jaw chuck as the body would have a lot of wasted mass at a high center of gravity, and to get the same range of parts that it can clamp, I'd need a 24" diameter chuck.... so If I were to build one, I'd start with a thick plasma cut plate over a pipe column and a heavy pipe flange base, and machine the jaws and adjusting screws.

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If you make one, do yourself a big favor and incorporate an adjustable overarm that includes a spring-loaded center for maintaining alignment of the reamer as you go. Would help bunches to keep you on the straight and accurate...

Milland said:

If you make one, do yourself a big favor and incorporate an adjustable overarm that includes a spring-loaded center for maintaining alignment of the reamer as you go. Would help bunches to keep you on the straight and accurate...

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Given that the alignment chore has ever and always mattered more to success than how TF we clamped the cotton-picking PART?

Might as well join the rest of us in hand-barring the reamer around whilst an unpowered drillpress quill follows it down, very nicely stabilized indeed.

Why build what you already own or can buy for more than just the one specialized use?

Tried a reamer in a flex arm tapper, that worked well, good thing the tap adaptors fitted the reamer I had, you’d have to get a couple of morse adaptors but they were in the book, I remember reading about the tapping stand you refer to in an old Newnes engineering book but it suggested just using a drilling machine, most of us don’t have 6’ radial bickfords handy , I think the one in work did somthing silly like 28 or 48 rpm, but it would twirl a 3 inch reamer
Mark