2016 POTD Thread Archive

[intjonmiller]

Today, after all the shopping and other family stuff, I was to have the evening in the shop. I got a bit cleaned up and then went to work modifying the internal threading tool I made the other day because it doesn't quite fit inside the part.

As I was tightening a bolt on a change gear it suddenly snapped. Crap. That figures.

Side note: Tapatalk is having issues lately. If you can't see the photos just reply to this message to quote it and you'll see the images within the quoted text. If you submit it then they will once again not be visible. Anyway...



Ugly. I hadn't noticed that damage when I assembled it in April. Almost looks like someone had previously welded it or something. Only explanation I can think of for the porosity anyway.

Good news is, I have a lathe!

And it just has to keep the change gears from coming off. Not a high stress part. Far easier to repair this than to make a new one.



I put a 3/8"-16 coupler on the other end and then chucked that up in the 4-jaw, using the part itself to simplify indicating. I cleaned up the face



Center drilled it





Drilled with a 13/64 because I seem to have misplaced my pack of #7s, then tapped with 1/4"-20.



Using a HSS tap it came out nice and sharp.



This is about the point where I found my pack of #7 drill bits. In the chip tray of the lathe...

With that side finished I removed it from the coupler and replaced it with a piece of 3/8"-16 allthread with a jam nut.



I turned it down to 0.250"



then grabbed the 1/4" die, excited to be done with this and back to the project I set out to work on.



Even with the little chamfer on the end of the workpiece it still had a little trouble starting, but eventually it cut. I backed the die off to admire my work and thought, "Huh. That doesn't look like 20 tpi. That looks like a fine thread. Like 28 tpi. Oh, crap."

Sure enough, in my haste I grabbed the 1/4"-28 die. Awesome.

So I turned out the lights and went inside. It was getting late and I've found that nothing good comes when working late after I've already made a stupid mistake. Good thing it will be easy enough to redo it.

But it seems like that thread is really shallow, isn't it?

 

[intjonmiller]

Oh wow, it looks really bad in the photo. Less so in person, but still shallow. I've never cut threads on allthread before. Seems like it shouldn't have any trouble...

 

[dave_r_1]

Try: sudo respond to my email

I have no idea why these companies have internet 'contact' pages that either have a fill-in form [one had a contact form that would just go to a error page requesting that I contact the site administrator...]. Lots of companies have these fill-in contact forms or email addresses, but don't respond to them. Stupid.

 

[hman]

It's likely their problem is using an amateur to set up and/or modify their web page ... maybe somebody who gave it a "lick and a promise," then got beyond his (her) comfort level and either quit or got fired. Luckily, in most cases they'll have a phone number you can try calling ... when they're open.

 

[Whyemier]

Hmmmmm? Some of the photos show & some don't. What's the difference?
Intjonmiller yours don't show for me, what media/type are they? Most others show but some are sporadic in that one photo will show and the other won't. Hmmmm? Could it be me!?

 

[Firestopper]

You might check out PhaseCraft on eBay. Pretty hard to beat the price on one of his "magic boxes" and he can custom build to your motor specifications including balancing capacitors.15 HP manual start (pushbutton) ROTARY PHASE CONVERTER CONTROL PANEL

 

[Firestopper]

I run nine different machines from a 7.5 HP idler motor utilizing one of his boxes. It cost me $200 and was simple to wire. My first home build system (2001) ran me $800 parts and a ton of time /research.

rotate your monitor 90º to the right.........stupid computers....stupid me.

 

[Charles Spencer]

Yesterday I buffed up the daubers I made. Then I used Brasso on them. They look quite shiny now.


I took apart what I think was a fire wood rack to salvage the wrought iron it was made from. The machine screws and nuts it was held together with looked quite rusty but I actually got most of them off with no problems. As an experiment I put them in the tumbler with the oil-and-swarf mixture I had used on the daubers. After about 90 minutes I took them out. They had cleaned up very nicely with hardly any effort on my part. Curiously several of the nuts had unscrewed and come off while they were tumbling.

I think I'll probably use this method again for small parts or hardware.

 

[RJSakowski]

.................................................Even with the little chamfer on the end of the workpiece it still had a little trouble starting, but eventually it cut.

QUOTE]
When cutting thread with a die, leave some extra length on the part and turn it down to the tap drill diameter. This does two things: 1. it gives some purchase for the die before it has to start cutting the thread, thereby eliminating slipping, and 2. it helps to keep the die running concentric to the part being threaded. When I have finished threading, I cut the excess off and chamfer the end.

 

[intjonmiller]

Hmmmmm? Some of the photos show & some don't. What's the difference?
Intjonmiller yours don't show for me, what media/type are they? Most others show but some are sporadic in that one photo will show and the other won't. Hmmmm? Could it be me!?

All jpg, taken on and posted directly from an iPod touch using the Tapatalk app. I updated to the latest version of the app about the same time this site was migrated to a new server. I don't know if either of those is the cause or some other factor I'm not aware of. I reported it to the Tapatalk people earlier this week. Haven't heard back yet.

What were we just saying about companies not responding to inquiries through their "contact us" link?