Thread: Wood lathe headstock spindle type

A few pics of the head, spindle, with a rule to gain an appreciation of the size will help.

A more specific location (Town, City or Locality) might help, then a member might be able to suggest a club to ask for assistance or a member might be able to offer assistance.

Nova has info on how to determine the thread, and adapter needed.
https://www.teknatool.com/thread/

I had the same issue. I measured the diameter and went to a local bolt bloke. I bought a nut to suit what he thought the thread would be and it worked! I figured that if it was wrong I would only be out a couple of bucks

Measure the diameter of the thread , then measure how many threads per inch (TPI) along the length of the spindle thread. For instance a 30 year old woodfast lathe has a 1inch x 10TPI thread. Hopefully you will be able to buy an adaptor as getting one made can be more expensive.

Some lathes have a metric thread, in which case you'll need to measure the tops of two of the threads, plus the diameter.
If you're not sure of what I mean, here's a link. https://www.boltdepot.com/fastener-i...iandpitch.aspx
Kryn

When you work out what your headstock thread is, you might want to look here. No idea if they are available in Aus, but they are the cheapest inserts/excerts I've found anywhere.

https://www.charnwood.net/products/c...hread-adaptors

Originally Posted by dr4g0nfly

When you work out what your headstock thread is, you might want to look here. No idea if they are available in Aus, but they are the cheapest inserts/excerts I've found anywhere.

https://www.charnwood.net/products/c...hread-adaptors

Dragonfly - the issue with those adaptors for use in Australia is that the default spindle size here nowadays is M30 x 3.5mm, not M33. I'm thinking about what is readily available here by way of chuck, etc.

Vermec here can make almost any adaptor size, once you know what your thread size is.

Roger that. Strange that you've settled on M30 when everyone else has gone to M33. But it would be a strange world if we were all the same.

Originally Posted by dr4g0nfly

Roger that. Strange that you've settled on M30 when everyone else has gone to M33. But it would be a strange world if we were all the same.

I'm not sure of the adoption history of M33 elsewhere. I assume that at some stage lathe manufacturers who had been making a standard (imperial) 1 1/4" threads size on their larger lathes before the adoption of metric had to decide to either to go up to M33 or down to M30. What I can say is that M30 was adopted here quite a few decades ago now, with Vicmarc and Woodfast settling on that.

The following link to Peter Child's web page on thread sizes shows what a challenge it can be to get the right adapator.

Woodturning lathe Spindle Thread Sizes

Note: the sizes given are for the lathes as supplied in the UK.

Manufacturers have been providing whichever thread sizes are most common in the destination markets. eg, Vicmarc provides their lathes with the following thread sizes:

Thread M30 x 3.5 M33 x 3.5 M33 x 3.5 M33 x 3.5 1 1/4" x 8

Country Australia Europe United Kingdom United States United States

So, don't assume that the thread size on your make of lathe will be the same as elsewhere.

Also, some of the sizes given on that Peter Child page may be out of date now as that page has not been updated for some time.

There are also some useful Hints on measuring your thread size at the bottom of the above web page.

Over time there have been a slew of spindle threads. Vicmarc spindle adapters: https://vicmarc.com/index.php?option...category_id=21

I think Vicmarc has the largest selection of chuck inserts to fit almost every spindle:

https://vicmarc.com/index.php?option...category_id=16

Industry standard : https://www.allpurposeguru.com/wp-co...nt-it-when.jpg

Just be aware that vicmark chucks and nova chucks have different threads in the chuck body
DWP

you have a facepate , take it to your local nuts and bolt shop and ask them if they have a bolt to match