Boring Head Reccomendations

[TheePres]

Starting a new project that requires use of adjustable boring heads in the .750-1.500" range.

This will be short production runs of say 20-30 pcs per.

Looking for advice on choice of Boring heads, I do not want to use Criterion style heads because of the skill level of our machine shop, but also do not have the budget for Komet style heads.

 

Any Ideas of other brands that are reasonably priced.?

[djstedman]

I don't have much in the way of suggestions for boring heads, I don't know of any high quality heads that are easy to work with that are cheap.

 

The best I have worked with are Romicron heads, they have a ring you turn to adjust in .04 millionths increments and they are rigid and they repeat. They cost a lot but I consider them to be reasonable since they allow for easy adjustment with the confidence that you wont blow hole size. I have also worked with lower quality boring heads and been able to attain good results with those too however we had a lot more fallout with lost parts when an adjustment went wrong.

 

I guess it depends on the value of the parts you are making and the time it takes to make them, however for the shop I am currently in losing a few parts quickly would cover the cost of the more expensive boring head.

 

All that said, If your shops skill level isn't that high then your either going to have to spend money on some better boring heads, throwing out parts for blown hole sizes, or training for your staff.. its up to you where to put the money based on the choice you make.

[specv]

We use:

 

http://www.microbore.com/

 

https://www.secotools.com/en-US/Global/Products/Holemaking/Boring/

 

http://www.komet.com/tools-navigation/tools/drilling/finish-boring.html

 

http://www.criterionmachineworks.com/

 

http://www.kennametal.com/kennametal/en/products/20478624/556249/3924463/59690532/59690534/59695268.html

 

and a few others, the easiest to adjust are the romicrons, but they come with a price. I actually love the criterions with the tenthset they are super easy to adjust.

[crazy^millman]

Big Kaiser comes to mind.

[TheePres]

Thanks for suggestions, Now i am also looking at the Iscar Reamers.

[GoetzInd]

We have Big Kaiser and they are VERY nice. Not cheap though.

 

Mike

[MIL-TFP-41]

 

The best I have worked with are Romicron heads, they have a ring you turn to adjust in .04 millionths increments and they are rigid and they repeat. They cost a lot but I consider them to be reasonable since they allow for easy adjustment with the confidence that you wont blow hole size. I have also worked with lower quality boring heads and been able to attain good results with those too however we had a lot more fallout with lost parts when an adjustment went wrong.

 

 

Romicron are the best and easiest I have seen and used by far. Its not even a contest they are so far ahead of all the other players including Kaiser, Nikken, Komet.....

[Pilot Plant Supervisor]

I like the D'Andrea line sourced from Ingersoll. The kits are reasonably priced, modular, and do a very nice job.

[Josh Kinney -Elite Engineering]

Romicron FTW!

[dstryr]

http://www.maritool.com/Indexable-Tooling-Micron-Boring-Bar-Set/c50_146/p784/PBOR50-Micron-Precision-Boring-Head-Set/product_info.html

[BBprecise]

I'm with Pilot, we have a few of the TRM 50/50 D'Andreas and about 8 of the Iscar BHFI MB50-80 ITS Bore systems which are the next size up over the D'Andreas. They are great heads when used correctly and if you buy the adapter you can use the D'Andrea bars in the Iscars so you can bore down to 6mm with the larger head. We've had to have a few training classes to show people how to correctly use them. You can lock and unlock these heads and they won't move a tenth, where I've seen the Criterions move thousandths. Granted they were the DBL-202 and 204 heads which aren't great heads.

[Redfire427]

D'Andrea is what we use.