Re: Knuckles, and machining tapered sockets

[Doug Rasmussen <DougRasmussen@domain.elided>]

Tom M wrote:
>I'm not sure what the tapered reamer costs.  I *think* I could use one on
>my drill press (isn't it like a bit with a "blade" end on it?  That's how
>the chuck attaches to the 'press).<

Tom, 

  See www.gammons.com for high quality automotive taper reamers.  No, you
probably couldn't use them in a drill press....shank is too large for one
thing.  I'd expect the Gammons stuff to be fairly pricey, too.

  About any machine shop with a rotary table and a Bridgeport mill can
machine the taper for you.  Drill a pilot hole for the taper, incline the
mill head to match the taper (usually 1.5"/foot, 7.125 degrees), center the
part on the rotary table, plunge down with a straight end mill of about the
diameter of the bottom of the desired taper, rotate the table  X degrees
and repeat (360/X)-1 times.  Bingo, you've got a tapered hole without the
expense of the special reamer.   The finished hole is near the quality
you'd get using a reamer....depending on the diameter of the end mill &
degrees of rotation the hole may have a slightly fluted appearance, but not
a big problem in this case.   We do a variation of this procedure all the
time on the cnc mills to generate tapered pockets in mold cavities.

 Doug