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12th April 2017, 07:14 PM #16
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12th April 2017, 09:09 PM #17Senior Member
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Hi Ian
I've used tas oak dowels.. for screws
American Oak for nuts
I had about 80% success rate with screws...
Nothing wrong with the tool.. it is just the way how grain runs...
I've found the closer grained dowel had a bigger tendency of chipping the thread... one dowel basically disintegrated all thread... couple were on and off... most of them were keeping up...
With the nut i've had 100% success...
Now most likely could be that for the screws I was threading along the grain, while for nuts I was threading across the grain.. but cant tell for sure...
Dowels were 1.5" in diameters.. and 3 metres in length...
ALso for the dowels it could be perhaps that they were a bit too dry?? they were sitting in the shed for couple of months during summer.. so that could cause the chip...
You can build threading jig for router.. which would most likely create better threads on the screw part due to router cutting the thread properly rather than slicing into with the box cutter...
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13th April 2017, 09:20 AM #18
Hmm, thanks Prle77, but unfortunately, that hasn't increased my list of Aussie woods that a threadbox will handle.
Frank Weissner, who did a lot of wood threading (had an article in AWR quite a long time back), also used Tassie oak for screws for book-presses etc. I'd class it as ok to moderately good. A much better wood for screws (imo) is Crow's Ash, which would be hard to get hold of down your way, unfortunately.
You've got it figured out.
You have little choice but to cut the threads along the grain for a screw. But it does work, as adequately demonstrated by plenty of successful wooden vise & clamp screws. However, try tapping into end-grain on most woods and you will have far less success - about 1% if you're lucky!
Just about any old wood will make good nuts, though, as long as you tap across the grain. When making handscrews, I like to use a soft-ish wood for the jaws, so they have less chance of bruising your work. The jaws of this lot are Camphor-Laurel, Southern Silky oak and Rose Alder respectively - all pretty soft woods that wouldn't make very strong screws, but tap nicely and make durable jaws. The screws are various species of She-oaks, hard woods that you would be flat-out to thread with a threadbox, but easy to do with a router jig: Clamps 2.jpg Clamps 1.jpg
I don't think I've ever broken a clamp jaw or stripped the internal threads. Just to prove a point, I made this pair with Red Cedar jaws (wood doesn't come much softer round my way! ), and so far they are standing up fine: Cr Ash Cedar.jpg
I have seen advice to soak the dowel in linseed oil before threading, & I can see that could help quite a bit with the threadbox system. I discovered only recently that using some linseed oil when tapping large nuts with a metal tap helps greatly, too. However, it doesn't help with the router method of cutting threads. I tried it early on, & ended up with a mess! It makes the swarf sticky & it got into the pilot thread and jammed the works in no time flat. You really don't need any extra help with the router jig, if the bit is sharp & your jig is properly aligned, you can take just about any wood on earth & feed the blank through as fast as you are able to turn it, and watch a beautiful thread emerge.....
Cheers,
Cheers,IW
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13th April 2017, 01:46 PM #19
Timber Species
Hi Ian
A few years ago I saw a tourist gallery selling screw-type nut crackers made from Tasmanian timbers and was impressed by the crispness of the threads and nuts. Went for a walk around Salamanca this morning and could not find any. The timbers that I remember were:
- Horizontal - Anodopetalum biglandulosum
- Sheoak - Allocasuarina verticillata
- Golden Sassafras -Atherosperma moschatum without any blackheart
- Plus 3 or 4 others that I cannot remember accurately.
No experience with how well these stood up to usage.
Liked you clamps and have been thinking of making similar. Do you mind mentioning the dimensions of the threads and bodies?
Especially like the appearance of your cedar clamps, but shouldn't all red cedar be highly polished?
Fair Winds
Graeme
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13th April 2017, 05:10 PM #20Woodworking mechanic
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IanW,
could you post a close up photo of the router cutter you use for cutting wooden threads please?
Cheers
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13th April 2017, 09:03 PM #21
Hi Lappa, here you go: Threading bit.jpg
This is the best pic I have atm, it shows the bit in place in the threading jig. I'm sure I have some other pics, but can't find the darn things atm.
It's a solid carbide bit from Lee Valley, (this one). The cutting edges are quite sophisticated, with "wings" on the upper part, & it certainly cuts cleanly. Mine has cut miles of thread in some of the toughest woods you can name, and still going strong.....
Cheers,IW
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13th April 2017, 09:32 PM #22
Not at all Graeme. I'll use Imperial because the taps are Imperial, so it's easier to stay in the one zone!
Those in the pic are the size I use the most. They have 3/4" screws, which are about 14-15 inches long, exclusive of the handle, which adds another 4 inches or so. I turn them in one piece, but you can glue handles onto the threaded dowel later, if you aren't up to turning long, whippy spindles.
The threaded holes go in the same jaw. The other jaw has a 3/4" hole for the centre screw to fit through, and a shallow hole at the top for the top screw to sit in so everything stays together as you open & close the clamp. Hold each screw handle, and flip the clamp as you start to 'crank' it - it will rapidly open or close, with the jaws remaining more or less parallel.
The jaws are about 10 inches long, and roughly 2" x 2" in section. The top ('pusher' or compression screw) hole is about an inch from the top of the jaw, the centre (tension) screw is placed at about the centre of the jaw. The clamps shown have a practical working opening of about 10 inches. These dimensions are not sacred, but in my experience, this is a good practical size for 3/4' screws. If you try to make them open much more (i.e. make the screws longer), the centre screw gets too easy to bend & snap - it's far better to go up to 1 inch screws if you want more working distance.
Which brings me to a bit of advice on using wooden handscrews. DON'T try to tighten the jaws off-parallel by more than a few degrees. It puts a huge bending moment on the centre (tension) screw & snaps it. Almost every person I have ever lent a few clamps to has failed to heed that advise & brought me back a broken clamp or two. I guess I could make a little video, sometime, but the trick is to spin the clamps to slightly less than the width that you want to clamp, open the centre (tension screw a half-turn or so so that it slips over the job, then tighten the top screw. The jaws should end up roughly parallel & putting even pressure across the workpiece. The pressure you can exert with one of these 'primitive' clamps is quite impressive, & more than adequate for most woodworking purposes. Takes far more time to explain how to use one than to do it - you quickly get the hang of it & it becomes second nature.
I do have a few metal clamps, but hardly ever use them.....
Nah, I make an exception for working clamps. If I were entering them in a competition, I would French-polish them for sure...
Cheers,IW
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13th April 2017, 10:41 PM #23
Good Morning Ian
Thank you so much for such an informative post.
Fair Winds
Graeme
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14th April 2017, 09:06 AM #24
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