Thread: Threading Wooden Faceplates

Originally Posted by DaveTTC

got it

You can post your vacuum pump over if you like. Let it run at your place for a couple of days first so you can save up some bulk hours to use in its absence

Dave the turning cowboy
turning wood into art

That's actually possible - I just need to make up a great big vacuum tank and evacuate it.

On that subject, too, I sorted out the thread on the inlet connection. It's 1/4" SAE flare, as I thought. I'll probably remove it altogether , though, and change to a BSPT fitting for compatability with the gauge and ball valves. (Two ball valves - one for vacuum adjustment and one for release. That way I don't have to re-adjust all the time.)

I have had 30mm taps now for about three years and was always going to make some wooden face plates. This thread got me going. I needed some 150mm diameter, and bigger, and I don't have a chuck big enough, so I used a screw chuck. The boring of the hole and threading went beautifully, but when I went to withdraw the tap, the job wanted to unscrew off the screw chuck. I couldn't hold the job by hand so I drove a screw into the edge of the new wooden "face plate" and rested the screw on the tool rest. Job done.
Jim

Originally Posted by powderpost

I have had 30mm taps now for about three years and was always going to make some wooden face plates. This thread got me going. I needed some 150mm diameter, and bigger, and I don't have a chuck big enough, so I used a screw chuck. The boring of the hole and threading went beautifully, but when I went to withdraw the tap, the job wanted to unscrew off the screw chuck. I couldn't hold the job by hand so I drove a screw into the edge of the new wooden "face plate" and rested the screw on the tool rest. Job done.
Jim

Hello Jim. I saw a tip along these lines the other day while researching vacuum chucks. It was suggested that it's a good idea to put a hole in the side of the chucks, not into the centre to cause leaks, of course, but so that a thin bar or screwdriver can be inserted in a similar fashion in case the chuck becomes locked onto the lathe spindle.
If the hole is back in line with the thread, leaks wouldn't be a problem anyway.

I think that tip was in the vid by the 'Bruised Brothers'. (Love the name.)

A quick update, and a tip for anyone doing this.

I found some time this arvo to have a go at threading a block for a faceplate, from a piece of old Tas Oak.
It came up pretty good, and the thread's actually cleaner than the one on my metal faceplate:

Spindle-threaded block.JPG

Thanks for all who contributed with tips. The live-centre method worked like a dream, and as suggested I gave the new threads a good soaking in thin CA and re-tapped, so it should last a while.
As the pic shows, I also put a slight chamfer on the end of the thread, to make it easier to begin screwing it onto the spindle.

My little scroll chuck doesn't have much margin for error when boring the hole, and none for threading right through with my intermediate tap, so I first attached a glue block with hot-melt glue, so I wouldn't run the Forstner bit into the bottom of the scroll chuck. No problems, and that worked well - I got a nice clean hole.
The plan was to then thread most of the way and finish the last few threads in the vice. That worked well too.

My little lathe has no spindle lock to hold things while threading, but since my scroll chuck is the 'Tommy Bar' type, I used one of the Tommy Bars resting on the toolrest to lock the spindle.
Now for the tip - don't do that!

Scroll Chuck Tommy Bars.JPG

As you can see, I broke the @#$&% tip off the Tommy Bar.

Luckily, a 9/64" Allen key fits perfectly, or the whole thing would still be in the scroll chuck. I'll have to contact Pop's shed and see if I can get a new Tommy Bar, otherwise I'll find a suitably sized screwdriver and cut the end off to make it flat.
Lesson learned.

The spindle-threaded block that I made today is intended for a jig for boring and tapping future blocks, so I don't have to worry in the future.
The jig, an 8" diameter plywood disc with clamps and today's threaded block on the back, will hold a 2" to 4" square block firmly for both operations, and I'll drill a hole in the side for a screwdriver or similar, to rest on the toolrest. The disc will also have a shallow hole already drilled in the centre for the end of the tap, so I can use it to tap all the way through the block.

I have to wait for some M6 bolts to arrive, then I'll make up the jig and post a couple of pics back here in this thread.

Nice job Steve

For lack of a spindle lock try this for tapping a thread

1) Spin your banjo round so your tool rest is on the other side of the lathe near the headstock.

2) set your tool rest around centre

3) Get your spanner for the spindle and with engaged on the spindle let the handle rest on the tool rest.

You will now be able to advance your tap without the work spinning. To back it out you may beed to put the spanner under the tool rest. I dont know if you need to work it in and out the same as you do with steel or if you can work all the way to the end of your hole.

Hope you dont loose another Tommy bar


Dave the turning cowboy

turning wood into art

Originally Posted by DaveTTC

Nice job Steve

For lack of a spindle lock try this for tapping a thread

1) Spin your banjo round so your tool rest is on the other side of the lathe near the headstock.

2) set your tool rest around centre

3) Get your spanner for the spindle and with engaged on the spindle let the handle rest on the tool rest.

You will now be able to advance your tap without the work spinning. To back it out you may beed to put the spanner under the tool rest. I dont know if you need to work it in and out the same as you do with steel or if you can work all the way to the end of your hole.
Hope you dont loose another Tommy bar
Dave the turning cowboy
turning wood into art

If only...
I don't have a spanner for the spindle, and there's no flat sides on it to take (a normal) one.
There are two very shallow holes, one in each side of the collar, for some type of spanner, like on a pushbike headstock, but I don't have one and they're not listed as a spare for this lathe. (A little 10" x 18" Pop's Shed generic lathe.)
You raise a good point, though. When I email Brian Bennett at Pop's Shed in the morning about a new Tommy Bar I'll ask if a spanner is available.

You can see the collar and one of the holes I described here:

Headstock Spindle Collar.jpg

hope you can come by another spanner


Dave the turning cowboy

turning wood into art

Originally Posted by DaveTTC

hope you can come by another spanner
Dave the turning cowboy
turning wood into art

Yeah, there wasn't one supplied with the lathe, (I bought it new), but maybe there should have been.

One would think there should have been one


Dave the turning cowboy

turning wood into art

Originally Posted by DaveTTC

One would think there should have been one
Dave the turning cowboy
turning wood into art

Maybe they usually include one and forgot to put it in?
Being new to it all, I just assumed that what I got is all there is.

I just sent him an email. I'll see what happens when he reads it tomorrow.

Here's hoping.....

Those shallow holes are designed for a "C" spanner.
Jim

Originally Posted by powderpost

Those shallow holes are designed for a "C" spanner.
Jim

Thanks for that Jim. I wasn't sure what they were called.
I hope I can get my hands on one.
Besides today's little problem, a few times now I've got the scroll chuck jammed and had fun trying to get it off while holding the handwheel with one hand. A 'C' spanner would make life much easier.

Steve,

I have one of those lathes as well and that is one of the two things wrong with it. I had the same problem and I used an old screwdriver to make a better one, just cut the end of it.

One day when I've time to spare I will grind two flats on it as well with a 1 mm angle grinder blade and make a spanner to fit it.

The other thing wrong with it was that the bed was not long enough to move the tail stock out of the way so I made a wooden extension for it to park the tail stock.

Peter.