Little Giant And Butterfield Work-rite Adjustable Dies

silence dogood said:
It was just last week that I bought a complete #5 Little Giant tap and die set in its original wood case. It looks to be hardly used at all. It has the adjustable dies, and I had never before seen the likes of these. I assume that these dies were adjusted at the factory. But if not, what procedure would one use to adjust each die since there are two cutters, opposite of each other? Mark
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They are adjustable, one way is to set them with a known good thread/gauge, cut a test piece and measure then adjust from there. Split round threading dies are also adjustable over a small range.
Please note that using a commercially available fastener as a gauge will only get you close as the root and crest profiles between a cutting die and a rolled thread may be somewhat different yet within the standards. Measure the Pitch Diameter over wires or with a Ring Gauge, this is the most important dimension then adjust as needed.
 
Most of us H-M don't have plug gages or ring gages, so it only leaves us with a couple ways of adjusting dies to meet our needs.
The easiest is cut a thread on the part we are making and either do a measurement over wires or with a thread mic, if we have one, which I do, or just use a nut or mating part as a gage. Yeah, it' not perfect, but it works. We are not making aircraft parts here, at least most of us are not.
 
How I use mine:
If it is a damaged thread, I adjust the dies to fit onto a good portion of the thread and use some cutting oil then recut. If it is a new thread on a piece of stock I tighten the dies up in increments and take multiple passes until I get the fit I need. I find that most of the softer bolts etc tend to burr up if I try to cut the threads to full depth in one pass.
 
I was in one shop that had a few thread test rings and Go/No-Go thread gages. We had adjustable die head for the turret lathes. They are nice if you can find them in auction somewhere. I usually used a pitch gage as a quick gage.

There are three classes of threads, most of time we use a class two thread. Class one is a nice snug fit, a little resistance when screwing on a nut and Class three is sloppy or very loose when screwing on a nut.
 
4gsr said:
Most of us H-M don't have plug gages or ring gages, so it only leaves us with a couple ways of adjusting dies to meet our needs.
The easiest is cut a thread on the part we are making and either do a measurement over wires or with a thread mic, if we have one, which I do, or just use a nut or mating part as a gage. Yeah, it' not perfect, but it works. We are not making aircraft parts here, at least most of us are not.
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Granted, a thread micrometer is not required however, nor a ring gauge, anyone may measure a thread PD over wires with an inexpensive wire set and a micrometer and a good deal of patience and swearing.
 
Thanks for the info, fellows, it helps a lot. I had to look up what is a ring gauge. There is a site "how to use thread gage- the gage store" that was real informative. This tap and die set is just too nice and I want to use it properly and make sure that it will be passed on(most likely my son, since he does machine work). Mark
 
Chiptosser said:
To answer your question, Yes, the Butterfield dies will fit in the greenfield holders.
You will have to have the appropriate holder for the die.
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Thanks for the reply. I have since purchased the appropriate holders and handles and have pieced together a complete set up to 1" in both coarse and fine thread all from the NOS dies that were included on lathe purchase.

Thanks again.
 
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