Reamer with radial relief

Claim 2

A finish reamer adapted to finish ream a hard material, said reamer comprising: a member having a back tapered body section, said body section having a plurality of flutes, said flutes defining a plurality of cutting blades, each cutting blade having an axially extending radial relief formed therein for dissipating heat during reamer operation, said relief extending along a portion only of said cutting blade and each of said cutting blades including a pilot and surface finish portion rearwardly of each of said radial reliefs.

Claim 3

A finish reamer as defined by claim 1 wherein each of said cutting blades includes a cutting edge and a land, said radial relief extending transversely across the entire width of said land.

Claim 4

A finish reamer as defined by claim 2 wherein said radial relief includes smoothly curved forward and rearward ends and a generally flat central portion.

Claim 5

A finish reamer as defined by claim 3 wherein said land of each of said cutting blades includes a margin and a heel, said heel positioned at an angle of relief relative to said margin.

Claim 6

A finish reamer as defined by claim 3 wherein said cutting blades each have a rake angle of approximately 2 degrees.

Claim 7

A finish reamer as defined by claim 5 wherein each of said lands includes a narrow margin having an edge in common with said cutting edge and a heel, said heel being orientated at a relief angle to said margin.

Claim 8

A finish reamer is defined by claim 6 wherein the width of said margin is within the range of 27.5 percent to 40 percent of the overall width of said land.

Claim 9

A finish reamer adapted to finish ream a hard material, said reamer comprising: a member having a body section, said body section having a plurality of flutes, said flutes defining a plurality of cutting blades, each cutting blade having an axially extending radial relief formed therein for dissipating heat during reamer operation, said relief extending along a portion only of said cutting blade, each of said cutting blades including a cutting edge and a land, said radial relief extending transversely across the entire width of said land, said radial relief including smoothly curved forward and rearward ends, said cutting blades each having a rake angle of approximately 2 degrees, each of said lands including a narrow margin having an edge in common with said cutting edge and a heel, said heel being orientated at a relief angle to said margin, the width of said margin being within the range of 27.5 percent to 40 percent of the overall width of said land, and said reamer including a pilot section, said pilot section including a cylindrical portion and a fluted tapered portion.

Claim 10

A finish reamer adapted to finish ream a hard material, said reamer comprising: a member having a body section, said body section having a plurality of flutes, said flutes defining a plurality of cutting blades, each cutting blade having an axially extending radial relief formed therein for dissipating heat during reamer operation, said relief extending along a portion only of said cutting blade, each of said cutting blades including a cutting edge and a land, said radial relief extending transversely across the entire width of said land, said radial relief including smoothly curved forward and rearward ends, said cutting blades each having a rake angle of approximately 2 degrees, each of said lands including a narrow margin having an edge in common with said cutting edge and a heel, said heel being orientated at a relief angle to said margin, the width of said margin being within the range of 27.5 percent to 40 percent of the overall width of said land, and said reamer including a pilot section, said pilot section including a cylindrical portion and a fluted tapered portion.

Claim 11

A finish reamer as defined by claim 8 wherein said finish reamer member body section is back tapered to prevent binding during use and said radial reliefs terminate along said cutting blades rearwardly of the point of maximum diameter of said body section.

Claim 12

A finish reamer as defined by claim 9 wherein the ratio of the length of said radial relief along said cutting blade to the longitudinal dimension of said body portion is approximately 0.267.

Claim 13

A finish reamer as defined by claim 10 wherein said fluted tapered portion of said pilot section is separated from said body section by a chamfer.

Claim 14

A finish reamer as defined by claim 11 wherein said chamfer has a chamfer angle of approximately 30 degrees and a chamfer relief angle of approximately 12 degrees.

Claim 15

A finish reamer as defined by claim 12 wherein said flutes of said tapered portion of said pilot section define cutting blades, each blade of said pilot section having a full circular land.

Claim 16

A finish reamer for finishing a bore, said reamer comprising: a body section having a back tapered portion and having formed therein a plurality of spiral flutes, said flutes defining a plurality of cutting blades each having a rake face, a cutting edge, and a land, said land including a radial relief extending along the land a distance greater than the width of said land and terminating within the back tapered portion of the body section, said relief opening transversely through the rake face of said blade, each of said cutting blades including a pilot and surface finish portion rearwardly of each of said radial reliefs.

Claim 17

A finish reamer for finishing a bore, said reamer comprising: a body section having a back tapered portion and having formed therein a plurality of spiral flutes, said flutes defining a plurality of cutting blades each having a rake face, a cutting edge, and a land, said land including a radial relief extending along the land a distance greater than the width of said land and terminating within the back tapered portion of the body section, said relief opening transversely through the rake face of said blade, each of said cutting blades including a pilot and surface finish portion rearwardly of each of said radial reliefs.

Claim 18

A finish reamer for finishing a bore, said reamer comprising: a back tapered body section having formed therein a plurality of spiral flutes, said flutes defining a plurality of cutting blades each having a rake face, a cutting edge, and a land, said land including a radial relief extending along the land a distance greater than the width of said land, said relief opening transversely through the rake face of said blade and said radial relief including smoothly rounded leading and trailing edges and a generally flat central section, said flat section being below the land a predetermined depth, each of said cutting blades including a pilot and surface finish portion rearwardly of each of said radial reliefs.

Claim 19

A finish reamer for finishing a bore, said reamer comprising: a back tapered body section having formed therein a plurality of spiral flutes, said flutes defining a plurality of cutting blades each having a rake face, a cutting edge, and a land, said land including a radial relief extending along the land a distance greater than the width of said land, said relief opening transversely through the rake face of said blade and said radial relief including smoothly rounded leading and trailing edges and a generally flat central section, said flat section being below the land a predetermined depth, each of said cutting blades including a pilot and surface finish portion rearwardly of each of said radial reliefs.

Claim 20

A finish reamer as defined by claim 15 wherein said body section has a maximum diameter forward of said radial relief.

Claim 21

A finish reamer as defined by claim 16 wherein said reamer further includes a pilot section separated from said body section by a chamfer and a shank section joined to said body section.

Claim 22

A finish reamer as defined by claim 17 wherein said pilot section includes flutes defining cutting blades which are a continuation of the flutes of said body section.

Claim 23

A finish reamer as defined by claim 18 wherein the cutting blades of said body section each include a land having a margin and a heel, said heel having a surface angled at a relief angle with respect to said margin.

Claim 24

A finish reamer as defined by claim 19 wherein the cutting blades of said pilot section each include a full circular non-reliefed land.

Claim 25

A finish reamer as defined by claim 20 wherein said body section includes at least six flutes, said rake face of each blade of said body section having a rake angle of approximately 2 degrees, said relief angle being approximately 10 degrees and each of said chamfers has a chamfer relief angle of approximately 12 degrees.

Claim 26

A finish reamer as defined by claim 21 wherein said radial relief of each of said blades has a length along said blade which is approximately 26.7 percent of the overall longitudinal length of said body section, and said blades extend the full longitudinal length of said body section.

Claim 27

A finish reamer as defined by claim 22 wherein said cutting blade includes a portion between said chamfer and said radial relief having a length dimension of approximately 75 percent of the length dimension of said radial relief.

Claim 28

A finish reamer as defined by claim 23 wherein the ratio of the depth of said radial relief to the length of said radial relief is approximately 0.014.

Claim 31

The method as defined by claim 25 wherein said finish reamer further includes a pilot section forward of said back tapered fluted body section, said sections being separated by a chamfer and said insert is fabricated from phosphor bronze.

Claim 32

The method as defined by claim 25 wherein said radial relief defined by each of said blades have a length along the cutting blade greater than the width of said land.

Claim 33

The method as defined by claim 27 wherein the length of said radial relief is approximately 26.7 percent of the overall length of said body section.