Call us 8am - 5:30pm Call us 8am - 5pm Call us from 8am on Monday 01924 869660
Free Next Day Delivery
on orders over £69 ex vat*
Expert Technical Team
Get advice on 01924 869 615
Same Day Dispatch
On orders placed up to 5.30pm
At Cutwel, we offer one of the UK’s most complete ranges of reamers for sale, including HSS and Carbide reamers for both hand and machine use. Our catalogue covers everything from tapered reamers, adjustable hand reamers, to specialist bridge and taper pin reamers.
Our range includes premium solutions from YG-1, Presto, and Karnasch, suitable for through holes, blind holes, and various materials. From reamer drill bits to carbide adjustable reamers, each tool is engineered for precision, durability and reliability.
Discover why engineers across every industry trust Cutwel as their go-to supplier for reaming tools in the UK.
A reamer is a precision cutting tool used to finish and accurately size pre-drilled holes. Unlike standard drill bits, a reaming tool is not designed to create a hole, but to refine it - improving its diameter accuracy and producing a smooth surface finish.
Whether you're using a hand reamer, a machine reamer, or an adjustable reamer, each is designed to ensure dimensional precision and surface quality.
Reaming is typically the final step in hole-making, used to correct imperfections left by drilling. It’s essential when parts require interference or sliding fits, such as in automotive components, aerospace assemblies, or precision jigs.
Reamer tools are essential in metalworking, automotive, aerospace, and manufacturing industries where tight tolerances and clean hole finishes are critical.
A reaming tool is used to enlarge, smooth, and finish pre-drilled holes with high precision. While a drill bit creates the hole, a reamer tool improves its diameter accuracy and surface finish, ensuring tight tolerances and consistent performance.
Read More: Reaming – An Expert Guide
There are various types of reamers or reaming tools depending on the job. Cutwel’s reamer offering covers a vast selection of tool types and designs to suit all machining requirements:
Hand reamers are ideal for manual finishing and maintenance jobs requiring high precision without powered machinery. It’s a precision tool used to manually finish and size pre-drilled holes with high accuracy.
A hand reamer is operated using a tap wrench or similar handle, allowing for slow, controlled cutting by hand.
A machine reamer is a reaming tool designed for use in drills, lathes, and milling machines to produce consistent and accurate hole finishes.
Unlike hand reamers, which are operated manually, machine reamers are built for precision, speed, and repeatability in industrial and high-volume environments.
The purpose of a machine reamer is to enlarge and accurately size pre-drilled holes, achieving tight tolerances and a smooth surface finish.
Machine reamers are general-purpose cutting tools that are available in a variety of sizes and materials, including high-speed steel (HSS), solid carbide, and HSSE (cobalt).
They are commonly used as the final step in hole-making, especially in applications that demand high accuracy - such as aerospace, automotive, and metal fabrication.
A carbide reamer is a high-performance reaming tool made from solid carbide or featuring carbide-tipped cutting edges, designed to finish and size pre-drilled holes.
A carbide reamer delivers exceptional wear resistance and tool life, especially effective in hardened materials (such as stainless steel, titanium, hardened alloys), high-speed machining environments (CNCs, lathes, and drills), and applications that demand tight tolerances and smooth finishes.
An HSS reamer (High-Speed Steel reamer) is a type of reaming tool made from a durable steel alloy known for its toughness and versatility.
It's the most commonly used reamer tool in general-purpose machining, ideal for soft to medium-hard materials, such as mild steel, aluminum, brass, and plastics. It’s a fitting option for workshops, repair jobs, and everyday engineering tasks.
A cobalt reamer is made from HSS alloyed with 5-8% cobalt, giving it: greater heat resistance, increased hardness and longer tool life.
It’s best for machining harder materials, such as stainless steel, titanium, Inconel, and heat-resistant alloys.
A chuck reamer is a type of machine reamer designed for use in drill chucks or collets on CNC machines, lathes, or drill presses.
These reaming tools typically have a shorter overall length and a reduced shank, making them ideal for stable, high-speed reaming in production environments.
A bridge reamer is a robust reamer tool designed to align, enlarge, or clean out holes in structural steel, plates, and misaligned assemblies.
Bridge reamers are commonly used in bridge construction, shipbuilding, and heavy steel fabrication.
They are both optimised for structural steel and assembly work, particularly in the fabrication industry.
An adjustable reamer is a versatile reaming tool designed with expandable blades that allow the user to fine-tune the diameter within a specific range. Unlike fixed-diameter reamer tools, adjustable reamers can be set to different sizes, making them ideal for precision hole sizing when exact dimensions vary slightly or are not known in advance.
Adjustable reamers are typically made of high-speed steel (HSS) or solid carbide and they are ideal for finishing or correcting hole diameters in soft and medium materials like aluminum, cast iron and mild steel.
A taper pin reamer is a precision reaming tool used to create or finish tapered holes for the installation of taper pins, which are commonly used to align, locate, or secure mechanical components without the need for threaded fasteners.
Unlike standard reamer tools that produce straight holes, taper pin reamers feature a gradually increasing diameter, typically with a 1:48 (imperial) or 1:50 (metric) taper ratio.
This ensures a tight, self-locking fit for taper pins in machinery, jigs, fixtures, and precise mechanical assemblies.
Flute design plays a crucial role in how a reaming tool performs. The three most common flute styles - straight, spiral, and helical - each offer unique advantages depending on the hole type, material, and machining method.
A coated reamer is a precision reaming tool that features a wear-resistant surface coating applied over its cutting edges.
These coatings are engineered to extend tool life, reduce friction, and improve performance, especially in high-speed or abrasive machining environments.
Unlike uncoated reamer tools, coated reamers offer better durability and are ideal for difficult materials, tight tolerances, and mass production where tool performance matters.
Options like TiN or TiAlN coatings improve tool life, chip flow and heat resistance.
Cutwel's technical team can recommend the ideal reaming tool for your application based on your machine type, material and application. Contact us now or explore the full range.
Looking for high-quality reaming tools with fast delivery, expert technical support, and reliable performance? Here’s why thousands of engineers and machinists across the UK choose to buy their countersinking tools from Cutwel:
Whether you're reaming holes manually or on a CNC machine, Cutwel offers one of the UK’s most extensive selections of high-performance reamers.
With options for hand, machine, adjustable, taper pin, spiral, straight and coated reamers in carbide, HSS, cobalt and more, and trusted brands like YG-1, Karnasch and Cutwel Pro, you'll find the perfect tool for every application.
Backed by expert support, fast delivery, and great prices - Cutwel is the reaming solution provider you can rely on.
Solid carbide reamers for faster machining & longer tool life vs HSS.
High performance, carbide through coolant machine reamers for a range of materials.
Machine reamers with morse taper shanks available in HSS & carbide.
Replaceable head reamers for a cost effective solution in medium to large diameter machining.
Reamers for machining to the exact taper required for receiving taper pins.
Die maker reamers to precisely enlarge and finish holes with a specific taper.
For pipe threads, NPT, NPTF. Suitable for machining ferrous and non-ferrous metals.
For pipe threads, NPT, NPTF. Suitable for machining ferrous and non-ferrous metals.
Creating an account has many benefits: check out faster, keep more than one address, track orders and more.
Or
Place your order without creating an account for extra convenience.
