A wooden thread thread

[Kidbee]

Drove a distance to pick up this small slab of Crows Ash. Before I left to get it, the seller, who owns a small milling business, told me the grain was straight etc. However, that is not the case and it has some surface checking, but I parted with $100 of the hard earned, and brought it home.

Not sure how it will perform with the thread cutting. It is also interesting that the Beall tools were shipped on the 27th and are scheduled to arrive 6/12/18. At the same time, I ordered some goods from Carroll’s Woodcraft Supplies on Sunday the 25th and they are due to arrive on 4/12/2018. So much for the efficiency of Australia Post.

[IanW]

Hmmm, a very nice slab of CA, Kidbee, but in my opinion, not the best candidate for threading material - you'll struggle to find an inch of straight grain on that one! It depends on exactly what you have in mind, of course; if strength isn't an issue, it may well be suitable for your needs, so you make your own decision, ogf course, but I would be thinking of making something from it that would retain & show-off as much as possible of that lovely crotch figure...
Cheers,

[Kidbee]

Hmmm, a very nice slab of CA, Kidbee, but in my opinion, not the best candidate for threading material - you'll struggle to find an inch of straight grain on that one! It depends on exactly what you have in mind, of course; if strength isn't an issue, it may well be suitable for your needs, so you make your own decision, ogf course, but I would be thinking of making something from it that would retain & show-off as much as possible of that lovely crotch figure...
Cheers,

Thanks IanW, I value your opinion very much.

[Kidbee]

Hmmm, a very nice slab of CA, Kidbee, but in my opinion, not the best candidate for threading material - you'll struggle to find an inch of straight grain on that one! It depends on exactly what you have in mind, of course; if strength isn't an issue, it may well be suitable for your needs, so you make your own decision, ogf course, but I would be thinking of making something from it that would retain & show-off as much as possible of that lovely crotch figure...
Cheers,

As, you can see, I want to keep this great thread, you started, going.

[planemaker]

Kidbee; the following shows the 1 1/2" Beall Thread Kit I purchased back in 2010.

Today was the 1st time its been out of the box and set up for use with a router.

Its wasn't overly difficult if you follow the supplied instructions.

**Take special note within the instructions to remove the knurled index sleeve before you attempt to turn on the router. The index sleeve is only used during the initial set up to a align the location of the router bit. A closer view of the knurled index sleeve is shown within the last photo (right) of the threaded tap.

When I do get around to turning some matching dia. stock on the lathe, I will be using old growth Kwila (Merbau).

regards Stewie;

[Kidbee]

Kidbee; the following shows the 1 1/2" Beall Thread Kit I purchased back in 2010.

Today was the 1st time its been out of the box and set up for use with a router.

Its wasn't overly difficult if you follow the supplied instructions.

**Take special note within the instructions to remove the knurled index sleeve before you attempt to turn on the router. The index sleeve is only used during the initial set up to a align the location of the router bit. A closer view of the knurled index sleeve is shown within the last photo (right) of the threaded tap.

When I do get around to turning some matching dia. stock on the lathe, I will be using old growth Kwila (Merbau).

regards Stewie;

Thanks for the advice and photos. I will look forward to viewing your output.

[burraboy]

Here's a couple of taps I looked out this morning, 1/2" and 5/8" by the look of them. They're sizes I don't think I'll use and there's no corresponding dies for them. Would anyone find them of use?
2014-10-22 14.38.03.jpg

[Kidbee]

As scheduled, my Beall Threading Kit arrived today. I thought, incorrectly, that the major parts would be made in the USA and was a bit disappointed to see ‘Made in China’ printed on the plastic cases that hold the taps.

In his book, he talks about certain router trimmers and their suitability. Mine is a Maktec and may not be his choice with the plastic base.

[IanW]

.... certain router trimmers and their suitability. Mine is a Maktec and may not be his choice with the plastic base....

Should be ok, as long as the clamps move far enough together to clamp on the narrow base. There isn't much torque from the cutter, because it's chomping through very little wood, but if the pastic base does flex, you might get a tiny ripple in the thread. However, I doubt it will be enough to cause any concern. In any case, you are about to find out - welcome to the fun & highly addictive world of wooden threads....

Cheers,

[Kidbee]

Today, it was raining up here and I took the opportunity to try out my new Beall threader. First I had to turn some Kwila down to 1 inch dowel. Have not been at my lathe for awhile and took me a bit of practice on the skew to get to the right diameter. I had bought a 1” open ended spanner from Supercheap that helped me in determining the correct diameter. However, their instructions state that dowels more than .015” (0.381mm) oversize will be too large to fit the inserts, so it had to be quite precise.

Then I tried the thread cutting which is a trail and error process. First it was too deep and then too shallow, so a bit of fiddling is required. I then ran out of usable dowel, so tomorrow I need to turn another dowel and this time it should be all systems go. Will post some photos of the finished product.

[woodPixel]

You have to turn an accurate LONG thing on the lathe to an accuracy of less than 0.381mm ????

Crikey!

[IanW]

You have to turn an accurate LONG thing on the lathe to an accuracy of less than 0.381mm ????

Crikey!

Noooo! I think the point they are trying to make, WP, is that even a little bit oversize is not good. I found out the hard way. There has to be some clearance. It doesn't need a lot, but if the blank won't fit easily in a hole of the nominal diameter you're making, don't try & force it through the threader. It will bind & quite likely jam (damhik, as they say!).

You also need to allow for a bit of seasonal movement in the screw. If you are the obsessive type, you can spend many happy hours looking up the coefficient of movement to moisture content of the wood you are using, check out the annual RH range for your area, measure the actual MC of the wood on the day, then calculate how much clearance to allow.

If you prefer a simpler way, this is what works well for me.
1. Choose woods that you know are reasonably stable under your conditions.
2. Drill the right-sized hole in a scrap of wood.
3. Turn the screw blanks & test them with your test-block until they are a nice fit. If you are making screws at the time of year when you know the wood will be at its lowest MC, make it a loose (but not sloppy) fit. If it's the end of the wet season, when the wood will be at its highest MC, it can be a more snug fit. The range would be less than 0.5mm for a 1" blank, but I've never tried to measure it, so don't take that as gospel.

Turning a long screw blank accurately will certainly test your ability to plane with a skew, but it doesn't have to be perfect. The closer the better, of course, but if perchance you end up with the odd waver, you won't notice it after threading, and it won't make a skerrick of difference to function, unless your turning is really, really bad......

Cheers,

[Kidbee]

You have to turn an accurate LONG thing on the lathe to an accuracy of less than 0.381mm ????

Crikey!

That’s true Woodpixel; attached is a screen shot of those instructions. Fortunately, I mastered the skew a long time ago, but just a bit rusty on its use. It is certainly the ‘go to’ tool for dowels. I am using a 25mm P&N Skew that has a large hollow grind on it.

[Bushmiller]

I indulged in a small opportune purchase a while ago and in the last week the goods arrived via my good friend in the States, who collects such things for me.

The problem with the taps for metal working are that the teeth are usually too fine, even in the coarser versions, to successfully support a tooth shape in timber. This is in most common sizes. However by the time you get to the larger sizes the teeth are beginning to look more like a viable proposition. These are three taps I picked up. The two smaller tools are 1 5/8" and the larger is 2".

P1040717 (Medium).JPG

To get an appreciation of size I have placed a couple of recogniseable objects for comparison: The back saw is an 8" Simonds (the smallest working Simonds saw I have).

P1040718 (Medium).JPGP1040719 (Medium).JPG

I think the shortest tap is a bottom tap and may be a little difficult to start, but as it appears to be very similar to it's mate I have a first cut version there too.The smaller taps are 6 1/2 ppi and the big'un is 5.5ppi. Probably still a touch finer than ideal and from speaking with IanW in the past on such matters they will not be so forgiving in the choice of timber. Just out of interest I weighed the larger tap at a little over 1.8Kgs.

It is a project for the future as I am completely snowed under for the foreseeable future. How can that happen under the hot Aussie sun?

Regards
Paul

[ian]

It [askew chisel] is certainly the ‘go to’ tool for dowels. I am using a 25mm P&N Skew that has a large hollow grind on it.

as very much a beginner turner, I understood that a sharp gouge was the go to tool, with the skew only used for the last 1/2 mm or so