Threading Tool Reccommendations

I just bought a Micro-100 internal threading tool. WOW! yes it's carbide but cut well at slower speeds and the finish was superb. I use carbide for most external threading,ie. barrel threads. I'm fond of the standup type. and gold or Al-ti coating.Tighten everything down and run the machine at the speed you feel comfortable with. Speed threading will come with practice. I have threaded some finer threads in direct drive. You just have to be able to kick out the half nut FAST. And make your clearance (one of them tolerance boys) as deep as the thread is then finished. Look on your fishtail. Mine have the actual depth on one and the feed in inches at 30 (29.5) degrees on the other. A real time saver. If it's English threads or for Mauser rifles it's 55 degrees. Then there is the really odd fishtail that is 90 degrees. For some goofy oilfield application. Just turn steel into little pieces and then learn to thread then together with almost no wiggle. Regular hardware nuts and bolts are a 75% thread which is almost as strong as a 99% thread but barrel threads need to be a lot closer to make it shoot well. Have fun!

Just for curiosity I bought one of these to see how they work. It took a month to get them across the Pacific. Tried the set up on 416R SS barrel, I was pleasantly surprised how well they cut. I have the Warner threading kit and the Thin Bit kit with their special carbide threading bit I spec'ed out, these lay down inserts are sharper than either of the two, almost razor sharp, and cut nicer thread.



This is the AR tenon using the 20 TPI barrel extension. Unpolished just how it was cut. The lathe used is the smallish 1024 threading straight in with the cross slide at low RPM, 150, using the prox sensor, split nuts engaged the whole time. I threaded with 250 on another barrel, the carbide bit worked just as well.

petertha said:

Hi Ray I stumbled on this thread key-wording Carmex & Shars threading. Shars looks 'conspicuously similar' in terms of shank size, insert size & nomenclature. I'm going to guess a copy just like many tools we use. And not surprisingly they come under different labels through offshore suppliers. My question is have you used both to determine any significant difference? I'm interested in partial thread inserts, but both external & internal holders. My original plan was to buy the 'real' one, but tool holders are like 2-3X the cost. that starts to add up especially if I may want a Lefty or Righty for different threading direction. Any comments to nudge me one way or another? Looks like the Shars comes with a 'standard' anvil, but others are available. Carmex has more to choose from but are application specific. Who knows, maybe they fit?

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Yes, they fit. My first indexable threading inserts and holders were Carmex brand. Later on, I started buying Shars. Inserts are inserts and unless the application is highly specialized SAE and ISO inserts are equivalent.


Ray