Brass Thumbscrews?

[jpdv]

Anyone got a link for reasonably priced brass thumbscrews, nuts etc for tools? I'm happy working with sheet and round stock, but knurling is running down a metalworking rabbithole I'm trying to avoid, and I'm finding it very hard to find reasonably priced ones anywhere... Grateful for any and all pointers. M4/M6/M8 would be good.

[AlexS]

If you don't get any replies here, you should try on the Metalwork forums - you may find someone there who is happy to make some for you, maybe as a trade or for a reasonable price.

[Chief Tiff]

Aliexpress (https://www.aliexpress.com/wholesale?SearchText=brass%20thumb%20screw).

I’ve got some M4’s on their way; they ended up being about a dollar each shipped.

[jpdv]

Aliexpress (https://www.aliexpress.com/wholesale?SearchText=brass%20thumb%20screw).

I’ve got some M4’s on their way; they ended up being about a dollar each shipped.

Thanks Chief. That may be the way. I just have a slight resistance to anything China linked at the moment, for a variety of reasons. I'd love to go elsewhere, but US prices seem insane even without postage... :(

[BobL]

Thanks Chief. That may be the way. I just have a slight resistance to anything China linked at the moment, for a variety of reasons. I'd love to go elsewhere, but US prices seem insane even without postage... :(

I make my own but can't even buy the materials for the cost off the completed items on ebay and aliexpress.

Of course being able to make my own I can do custom work like this one for these old dividers, thread was 5/32" 32TPI.
This was made from a brass tap handle.
483756

These were 3/16"
483757

And this chipbreaker screw with the the unusual 9/32" thread
483758

[markharrison]

Thanks Chief. That may be the way. I just have a slight resistance to anything China linked at the moment, for a variety of reasons. I'd love to go elsewhere, but US prices seem insane even without postage... :(

Unless you buy it through Amazon, a minimum price for anything from the US is going to be about $51USD. $50 of that will be the USPS minimum charge! Amazon Prime shipping bypasses the USPS. But, there are very limited offerings that qualify for the free shipping unless the price is (ba-dom-tish) $50 or more. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I have bought quite a few things (mostly small stuff) from the Chinese retailers since this nightmare started. They have been 100% reliable in my experience, just not as fast as before.

[jpdv]

I know Mark. I just have this increasing frustration with anything that contributes to the Chinese economy. I look at Tibet, the Uighers, the South China Sea, intellectual property theft, etc etc etc, and find myself thinking of Stalin’s line about ‘selling them the rope with which we will hang them’... I avoid when I can. Personal stuff, no beef with anyone else who has to make a cost-benefit decision.

[jpdv]

Bob, that’s lovely work. You swine; I’m intrigued! How much does a basic knurling kit cost?

[China]

Knurls & Knurling Tools | LPR Toolmakers (https://www.lprtoolmakers.com.au/knurling-tools/)

[jpdv]

Knurls & Knurling Tools | LPR Toolmakers (https://www.lprtoolmakers.com.au/knurling-tools/)

Oh Lord, the rabbit hole is growing!!!

[BobL]

Bob, that’s lovely work. You swine; I’m intrigued! How much does a basic knurling kit cost?

Well for a start you need a metal work lathe.
Knurling tools usually fit in a lathe tool post or tool post holder and (cheap push type Chinese) start at about $25. These are fine for brass.
A better type of tool to use on steel uses a scissor type action and these (from India) start at about $75

[markharrison]

I know Mark. I just have this increasing frustration with anything that contributes to the Chinese economy. I look at Tibet, the Uighers, the South China Sea, intellectual property theft, etc etc etc, and find myself thinking of Stalin’s line about ‘selling them the rope with which we will hang them’... I avoid when I can. Personal stuff, no beef with anyone else who has to make a cost-benefit decision.

All of those are real things. None of them good.

I can compartmentalise the policies and actions of the CCP from the Chinese people; who are just like people wherever you go in the world. In much the same way as I do about the USA whose government -- let's face it -- has hardly been a paragon of virtue through history. I'm not specifically referring to events between the 20th of January 2017 to present. Though these have been ugly to watch, in many ways they pale next to the gauche interventions in other countries' affairs in earlier modern US history (Iran, Vietnam, Nicaragua, Cuba, Colombia to name just a few).

I had an interesting conversation with a colleague of mine who is a relatively recent immigrant from China. My colleague did not understand our relationship with the USA. To that person (and a lot of other Chinese people, no doubt), it did not make sense.

I explained our shared history with the USA back to and including the Second World War; and how we were preparing to cede everything north of the Queensland border in the event of invasion. Then I explained the personal actions that many Queenslanders were privately enacting in preparation of that event occurring.

My family live in what is now known as the Sunshine Coast. My Great-grandparents are buried there. We've been there a while.

My Mother, who at the time was a little girl, remembers the extended family going to Warwick in about 1942 or 43. She is understandably a little hazy on the details but this would have been a monumental logistical exercise under wartime rationing. Being a little girl, that would have flown right over my Mother's head of course.

It was only later in life that the penny dropped for my Mother that this was an evacuation exercise.

My Chinese colleague went real quiet after recounting my family's story; then quietly said: I get it now.

I get that trade is not the same thing as a personal interaction with a fellow human. But; positive interactions (of all kinds) we have with other people in the world cannot do harm.

Stalin -- ultimately -- was wrong. He was a shrewd man, but hardly a great student of history. Regimes come, and go.

There will be a change to the Chinese political governance mechanisms at some point in the future; and that will occur organically, and be precipitated by the Chinese people themselves. It might be better, it could also be worse; but there is bound to be a Gorbachev or Yeltsin in the CCP somewhere. I'm certain there is a Putin in there too, however.

Whether anyone alive today will live to see it happening is an entirely other matter. But, nobody really foresaw the events in Eastern Europe of 1989 occurring either.

[GraemeCook]

Anyone got a link for reasonably priced brass thumbscrews, nuts etc for tools? I'm happy working with sheet and round stock, but knurling is running down a metalworking rabbithole I'm trying to avoid, and I'm finding it very hard to find reasonably priced ones anywhere... Grateful for any and all pointers. M4/M6/M8 would be good.


I did a lot of searching about five or six years ago and then tracked down five or six suppliers in UK. Unfortunately I have lost the sources!

Would not even search in USA because they will only have Chinese stuff and you may as well go to source. Plus rip off postage.

I remember someone on this Forum making some very nice thumb screws by braising a brass bolt inside a brass garden hose fitting. Wish I could find that post.

Personally, I love thumbscrews, preferably oversize, and absolutely hate wing nuts.

[Chief Tiff]

I remember someone on this Forum making some very nice thumb screws by braising a brass bolt inside a brass garden hose fitting. Wish I could find that post.

I think that was probably Derek Cohen; HERE (https://www.inthewoodshop.com/ShopMadeTools/Making%20Lever%20Caps%20and%20Lever%20Cap%20Screws%20in%20the%20Backyard.html) is a link to the appropriate section of his website. IanW has also mentioned this trick in his plane building manual but I don’t recall if he ever posted it in one of his build threads as he has a metal lathe and generally makes his own.

[GraemeCook]

I think that was probably Derek Cohen; HERE (https://www.inthewoodshop.com/ShopMadeTools/Making%20Lever%20Caps%20and%20Lever%20Cap%20Screws%20in%20the%20Backyard.html) is a link to the appropriate section of his website. ....

Thanks, Chief, that's it. I thought it was Derek but wasn't sure.

[jpdv]

That's a great link - thanks guys!

[IanW]

Sorry -been busy elsewhere & missed this thread 'til now.

As has already been said, the best solution is a metal lathe and a knurling tool, preferably with several extra wheels so you can vary the knurl pattern. However, with a small lathe costing north of $1,000, the unit cost of a few dozen thumbscrews would make the USPS prices seem sweet! The good news is that even buying brass stock in the short lengths I do (which doubles the price compared with whole lengths), the cost of the raw material isn't a major concern.

But before I had my lathe I worked out various ways to make reasonable-looking thumbscrews. If you have a wood lathe that can run at slow speed, you can turn brass with hand tools. You need to be a reasonably practised turner to turn metal, and use correctlly-shaped cutters, but it's quite do-able. Taps & button dies in common thread sizes are relatively cheap & handy things to have in any shed.

With some imagination, you can make thumbscrews from basic bits by various "minimalist" methods: 484421

From L to R: (1) A large T/S made from brass pipe fitting (modification of Derek's methd) & M10 brass bolt.
(2&3) Two made using M8 & M6 SS bolts in bits cut from brass bar stock, chucked in my woodlathe & grooved manually.
(4) A solid brass knob drilled out & tappped for a piece of brass bolt.

The bolts can be either soldered into the heads or fixed with Loctite (easy, quick & holds them adequately).

There are probably several other ways to go about making thumbscrews if you apply a little imagination, and the results don't have to look shabby if you take a bit of care. I've grown tired of diamond knurls anyway, & have been experimenting with alternative patterns, so if anyone else has ideas, I'd be pleased to see them....

Cheers,

[rob streeper]

Brass Knurled Thumb Nuts (https://www.albanycountyfasteners.com/Brass-Knurled-Thumb-Nut-p/122000.htm)

[BobL]

Brass Knurled Thumb Nuts (https://www.albanycountyfasteners.com/Brass-Knurled-Thumb-Nut-p/122000.htm)

Hummm . . . . US$80 to ship one nut to Australia :oo:. If you use your own shipping service there is a US$25 "handling fee" - can't see many people from the forum buying from them.

[jpdv]

Hummm . . . . US$80 to ship one nut to Australia :oo:. If you use your own shipping service there is a US$25 "handling fee" - can't see many people from the forum buying from them.

Exactly my original point... Ian and Derek's innovative work-arounds have me enthused - I'll report back to everyone in due course... :)

[rob streeper]

Hummm . . . . US$80 to ship one nut to Australia :oo:. If you use your own shipping service there is a US$25 "handling fee" - can't see many people from the forum buying from them.

Looks like an opportunity.

[GraemeCook]

Hummm . . . . US$80 to ship one nut to Australia :oo:. If you use your own shipping service there is a US$25 "handling fee" - can't see many people from the forum buying from them.


Not unusual. The US reaction to 9/11 created an extremely cumbersome bureaucracy to stop terrorists buying their equipment from America. Lots of paperwork.

“The Capitalists will sell us the rope with which we will hang them.” (Vladimir Lenin). US will try not to sell anything to terrorists. So US businesses simply added the costs of complying with anti-terrorist legislation to the costs of processing and export order. Its freight plus paperwork.

Cannot have terrorists accessing american brass thumb screws!