Is it possible to use a Thread Pick Up Guage for Metric and Imperial threading?

[Al Slitter]

Hello All;
I have a question regarding the use of a Threading Pick Up Gauge, I have been under the belief that one can only use this gauge of Imperial threads, however
if threading is done on a lathe that has a transmission that can be configured to produce Imperial and or Metric threads does that mean that the Threading dial will work for either?

Here is an image of my Pick Up Dial:




Al

 

[LEEQ]

You are right. When folks thread metric on a lathe with an imperial lead screw, they employ a trick like this: Take a pass and shut off the lathe, pull the tool out of the cut, reverse the lathe to the beginning, re engage the tool to your new depth, take another pass in forward and so on, repeating the process. Don't disengage the halfnut from the lead screw. That's how you get around the imperial threading dial. If you have a tumbler reverse gear set up on your lathe, you can fit a dog clutch that will allow you to shift the leadscrew feed from forward to reverse and back without ever turning off the lathe.

 

[darkzero]

It does not matter if the lathe is capable of cutting both imperial & metric, it matters on the leadscrew. If your leadscrew for threading is imperial, you can't disengage the halfnut & use the thread dial, you would usually use the method posted above. And vise versa, if your leadscrew is metric, you can't disengage the halfnut when threading imperial.

But you can partially disengage the halfnut & use the thread dial. This is the method I use now & it works great. http://www.hobby-machinist.com/show...Metric-Threads?p=199388&viewfull=1#post199388


http://conradhoffman.com/metricthreading.htm (9th section down)

 

[LEEQ]

That is a neat trick. seeing it done is also very helpful)

 

[epanzella]

I noticed he wasn't using the compound at all. His feed was with the cross slide only. That's the way I thread as well but I don't see it done that way too often.