Bushing Steel Gilbert Clock Plates.

[Arutha]

Have any of you guys done bushings on the steel clock plates of a Gilbert clock? I know some of my broaches have a hard time getting through some of the hard brass clock plates so I know they are not going to like steel ones

[Bob Tascione]

Hi Arutha,
Yes. Although the bushing reamers are harder than the plates they will dull quickly if used on steel plates.
If there isn't a brass bushing or plug already in the plate then I drill within a few thousands of the desired bushing o.d. size and then use a standard machine reamer at a very low rpm and with a liberal amount of oil to bring it to size. If you do decide to use a regular clock bushing reamer then you can drill it as close to the finish size as possible and then use the broach with lots of oil to finish it up. The less material removed by the bushing reamer the better for the reamer.
That actually applies to all reamers whether clock or multifluted machine reamer.
Hope this helps Paul,
Bob

[Arutha]

Thanks for the advice Bob, will let you know how it goes.