Wood threads

[SHIPPERS]

Just an update on how im faring.
Have purchased a 48mm nut and bolt.
Will soon acquire one alittle larger in the next day or two.
Have all but completed a turning box. Drill driven, with either a router for shaping or hand plane. Saw it on youtube once and now cant find it again. Twas a japanese guy turning spindles with hhis hand plane as the shaper and powered by a drill, clamped in place.
Might get a chance to make some sawdust on the weekend if i can sneak out.

[tea lady]

Just an update on how im faring.
Have purchased a 48mm nut and bolt.
Will soon acquire one alittle larger in the next day or two.
Have all but completed a turning box. Drill driven, with either a router for shaping or hand plane. Saw it on youtube once and now cant find it again. Twas a japanese guy turning spindles with hhis hand plane as the shaper and powered by a drill, clamped in place.
Might get a chance to make some sawdust on the weekend if i can sneak out.

Cool! Make a bunch of photoes too. Sounds really interesting.

[SHIPPERS]

Ok I didnt have as much time in the shed as I would have liked.
Though I was able to keep things progressing alittle.
Have threaded some vic ash in readiness for the router jig to thread yet to be turned blanks.
Asyou can see its a rather large bolt. Now all i have to do is turn a blank

[IanW]

Looks like it made a nice, clean thread Shippers. I notice you don't seem to have much taper on the bolt 'tap' - must have been fun trying to start it??
Cheers,

[SHIPPERS]

It wasnt so tough starting as it was to keep going.
The Vic Ash put up alittle resistance.
I first did a test on some WA Karri which was only 20mm thick and i reckon it took me twice as long.
You are right though the thread is nice and clean without any chipping

[SHIPPERS]

Ian
Have you tried succesfully to make a bolt from laminated stock
I ask because I think it may be difficult to locate some of the timbers i want in the size required

[IanW]

Ian
Have you tried succesfully to make a bolt from laminated stock
I ask because I think it may be difficult to locate some of the timbers i want in the size required

Hi Shippers, no, I haven't ever done that. There is no particular reason that I can see why it shouldn't work successfully. I would use a non-creeping glue like epoxy, & be very careful to get my joins dead on. You're right, it's hard to get really good chunks of sound, dry, suitable wood in the sizes you need for 2" bench screws, which is why I hoard anything I come across very greedily!

A word of advice (though you will probably have figured this out yourself) - when you make your threading jig, practice on some scrap for a bit until you have the thread starting nicely, and the bit in just the right spot at the right depth to cut the land. If you get a wonky thread that goes thick & thin, the bit needs to be moved a touch forward or back. Once you get it threading nicely, cut a few turns of good thread on a short piece & keep that to help you set up the depth & position of the bit next time. I also knifed a line around the router base on my big jig, which helps to reposition it with minimum mucking about.

Cheers,
IW

[SHIPPERS]

Thanks Ian,
Im sure your advice will be spot on again.
There will be quite a few practice runs with crapiata pine just to get it right, then a couple with some scrap vic ash.
I have quite abit of the WA Karri that I can laminate.

[IanW]

.......
I have quite abit of the WA Karri that I can laminate.

Haven't tried Karri, so can't comment, but if you can get a good thread on it (i.e. it doesn't chip) it should be good. I've only threaded a few smaller bits of it, but I reckon Brush box should be a good wood for big screws - I understand that's available at recycle yards down your way, though not sure what sizes you can get.

Cheers,

[SHIPPERS]

Ian,
I had a bit of a play today.
Turned a blank on a spindle jig of sorts. ( pics to follow )
Then had a go at making a thread. ( pics to follow )
Havent quite got the router position right just yet.
Also need to check that my blank was uniform.
Had trouble feeding it more than 100mm
I am certainly bouyed by the outcome though.
Gives confidence to proceed further.

[IanW]

....Had trouble feeding it more than 100mm..........

Hi Shippers - yes, sounds like the cutter position is a bit off - either too far forward or too far back by a smidgin - you can work it out with a very careful caliper measurement, but I can usually figure it out by eye. It's alao possible you have the cutter too deep or too shallow, though that should be obvious.
The blank doesn't have to be uniform so much as a loose fit. You can have a pretty scrappy blank to start with, bit if the cutting process is set up well, it will turn out looking surprisingly good.

Keep at it - it will suddenly fall into place & you'll be up & running. The only problem is that when you get it cutting perfrectly, you'll be reluctant to dismantle the router - you may have to go buy another.....
Cheers,

Edit: Actually, having re-read your post, I'm thinking the problem may be the blank is too tight & binding - if it's a cutter out of position problem, it usually binds after a few turns - if you're going 100mm it must be pretty close, depending on how many threads are in your jig. Did you drill a test hole & a piece of scrap & test for a loose fit all along the blank? It's better that running calipers long, because they often don't pick up unevenness.

[SHIPPERS]

Ok here is the first attempt.
Pic 1 shows the turning jig i made that can either be cranked by hand or attatch a drill as a power driver.
Pic 2 is another shot of the turning jig
Pic 3 is the half way mark, a 45mm blank
Pic 4 is starting to make a thread on the threading jig
Pic 5 is a thread approx 100mm long

[SHIPPERS]

Had a bit more of a go today.
Made a new threading jig.
Thought I would make it longer and wider to allow for better clamping and to give the router more of a base to sit on.
I got the positiong of the router pretty much spot on.
Some of the threads chiped away. I put it down to the timber and not the jig because the threads look to be quite uniform and the chipping occurs more often on one side.
And if you are wondering, I have fixed the router to the jig with srews instead of clamping, now when i need to position the router again all i have to do is align the srew holes

[rhancock]

Great thread - no pun intended... honest.

I've been following this one because I want to put a wooden vice on the end of my bench, but I've come across two major problems. First I don't have a lathe, or money or time to set one up, so I need to work out a way to do blanks, second I don't want to spend hundreds on thread boxes or router kits.

So first question, Shippers, the turning jig you made, is that like a lathe, but smaller? So you use that to turn the blank?

Second, the carbide router tips, what are they called and where do you get them.

I forgot to mention the third problem - How to set up the handle end of the blank to stay in the front plate of the vice - I'm sure I saw a brief explanation somewhere, but now I can't find it - I thought it might have been a discussion between IanW and Woodwould..?

Finally, I found the instruction videos on Beall really useful in explaining how to adjust the router to get the bit deep enough and in the right place. It really helped seeing him setting it up to understand what you and IanW are talking about.

[SHIPPERS]

Rhancock sorry its taken awhile to get back to you.
The jig i made was a copy of one i saw on utube. If you do a search for wooden bolts on google you will find a link to a utube site that shows a japanese guy doing some fantastic stuff. Anyway, to hold the blank i used threaded rod, pretty much any size will do. I threaded one end of the blank and on the other end i used the same threaded rod only this one is tappered to a point to allow the blank to free spin.
You just have to figure out your own way of stabilising the rod pins to stop them moving laterally. I used a series of neoprene nuts for this purpose. You might be able to make it out in the pics i have previously postered. The only consideration on the depth and width of the jig is based on the pre turned blank size. Of all this i found the real tricky part was acurately locating the rod holes on the jig so they were even from the top of the jig where the router sits. if they are not then the rod you end up with will have a taper on it.
Regards
Shippers