Thread: Tapered Reamers

G'Day,

Can someone recommend who or where to go to have a tapered reamer made for a pipe chanter.

Cheers

What taper do you need? Off the shelf and eBay taper pin reamers have 1:48 and 1:50 tapers.

Originally Posted by DonkeyBoy

G'Day,

Can someone recommend who or where to go to have a tapered reamer made for a pipe chanter.

Cheers

First of all welcome to our forum.

If you meant to write "pipe chamfer" there are a any number of different deburring tools only some which of which are tapered reamer. Chamfer indicates that the pipe edge may need dressing to avoid cuts or is the reamer function needed for another reason? What is the purpose of the reamed finish?

Answers vary on what you can tell us about what you need to achieve in your pipe. Once we know we can advise you much better.

Is the reamer to remove a burr or to cut a tapered seat as in a Morse taper.? In all cases, I really doubt if you need to have one made. Thesr's a bunch of them.

Google is your friend : try the following < Pipe chamfer reamer au >

Cheers Grahame

I think he might mean Pipe Chanter as in bagpipes.

My guess is that the inside of the Chanter is a smooth curve going from smallish up to bigger (yeah - highly technical). Probably something like a D bit would do the job. Commercially someone like Suttons would make one for you but will cost squillions (a one off about 10" long with a strange curve...)

Michael

Yes, I think he means a pipe chanter as in bagpipes. I'm far from an expert but have spoken to many about such tools.

DonkeyBoy, as Michael G has said, a "D" profile reamer is preferred by some, any reputable machine shop should be able to make one if you don't have access to a lathe/mill. Flat reamers can cause chatter, such chatter marks can be seen in some Naill chanters, but they've obviously had success with their chanters regardless of this.

Gammons Home - Gammons Hoaglund Co. are known to make quality reamers for some pipemakers. I've seen they make LHS and "D" profile reamers for chanters amongst their extensive range. The taper (or in some chanters multiple tapers) can vary between makes. You'd most probably have to give such companies your specs, I'm not sure they'd give out other makers IP. (As an aside you may have discovered chanters are time consuming and tricky to measure.)

Seth Hamon Home Page used to offer flat style tapered reamers for amateur bagpipe makers to make a GHB chanter from his plans. From memory I think he also offered other forms of reamers for other types of bagpipes as you might not necessarily be making GHB chanters. Might be worth shooting him a message.

Getting someone to make tools in Australia can be expensive, from my personal experience. I was going to purchase a basic straight fluted reamer for instance (just an odd imperial size) from Sutton that they no longer carried in stock. Even that was going to be over $300. The cost of one offs are understandable in our times however.

If you are to get right in to it, many pipemakers make their own. Rather than buying a expensive spiral reamer first up, I'd highly recommend spending a bit more on a lathe and learning to make "D" profile reamers yourself or perhaps access to a lathe at a hobby course or such. That way you can tweak your design as need be, as well as the satisfaction of making your own tools.

Sorry that's probably too much information but hope it helps.

Thanks Guys for the replies,

The reamer is for a Uilleann(Irish bagpipes) pipe chanter. Makers use step boring with D bits and gun drills and finish with a tapered reamer (flat)

about 5 mm small end 13.5 mm large end x 360 mm long

Bohm tools on Germany make them. Looking for someone here to make one for me.

Cheers and thanks

Thank you for your post. I will look into giving it a go.

Cheers

Out of interest, is the inside of the Chanter straight or a curve?

Michael

Hi Michael,
The taper is straight
Cheers

The Bohm tools website is absolutely facinating, a million and one special tools. How much are they asking for a reamer such as the one you want? POA usually means sky high.

The chanter is made from delrin or similar or wood? If so, that reduces the challenges for DIYing the reamer, but still not easy considering how long and skinny it needs to be. Its a job for someone who has all the cylindrical and surface grinding gear.

The chanter is African Blackwood. A quote from Bohm is about $1000, I think I rather put that money towards a cylindrical grinder that I have my eye on.

Any ideas of where to obtain the tool steel rod in Aus??

Hmm, $1000 for something very fragile.

Bohler are specialty steel suppliers and have branches in the capital cities. Other suppliers exist, but which one to use depends on where you live.

I think I'd be tempted to go for a case hardened reamer, it would be less fragile than a through hardened version. Which ever way you do it, the reamer will most probably distort during heat treat and will need another session on the grinder before you put it to use.

You would probably be better off looking for someone who makes pipes locally. The bore you are looking to make is not just a straight taper, but has various perturbations along its length. You might even find someone who will sell you pre-formed chanters for you to finish.

Originally Posted by bob ward

Which ever way you do it, the reamer will most probably distort during heat treat and will need another session on the grinder before you put it to use.

This is true, and some renowned makers I've spoken to that make their own do not actually harden their reamers to avoid distortion during quenching believe it or not. Because of reaming at a slow speed and not metal i.e. hard timber the tool steel will still be hard enough to hold and edge (but of course you'll have to resharpen it more). If you make your D profile reamer with over half the thickness still left, there is room for resharpening before you'd have to make another.

Originally Posted by Michael G

Out of interest, is the inside of the Chanter straight or a curve?

Can be both, the highland chanters I have experience with have a straight taper or tapers but the uilleann chanters (I haven't personally measured these but know others that have) can have a non-linear taper.

Originally Posted by DonkeyBoy

The chanter is African Blackwood. A quote from Bohm is about $1000, I think I rather put that money towards a cylindrical grinder that I have my eye on.

Any ideas of where to obtain the tool steel rod in Aus??

Roughly the same as Gammons, of course that's the 'fancy' LHS version I've heard of makers paying that price. You can make the other versions (D profile/flat) on a grinder but the novelty might wear off fairly quickly! A lathe and mill would be more ideal.

If you don't mind importing you can try Amazon Amazon.com: O1 Tool Steel Round Rod, Solid, Precision Ground, Standard Tolerance, Inch, ASTM A681: Industrial & Scientific