REAMER CUTS DOWN ON COSTS.

Two cutting tool engineers in Sheffield have developed a machine reamer which is claimed to offer several advantages compared with a conventional multi-cutting edge one. Main difference of this new cutting tool is that it combines a single and adjustable carbide blade with two carbide burnishing pads. Known as the Shefcut D type, the reamer is designed and manufactured by Shefcut Tool & Engineering Ltd in Sheffield. While the D type reamer has an adjustable carbide blade, it is not designed to cut a range of hole sizes. Each reamer is designed to produce only a certain size of hole - currently ranging from 5/16 to 3 in diameter - and the adjustable blade is used to allow precise setting of this size and to permit the blade to be reground many times yet still be capable of producing a correctly sized hole. This feature also ensures that the hole tolerance can be maintained even over a long production run.