Need help making a couple screws

Wood screws have a tapered thread. Sheet metal screws have a straight thread. Those actually look like machine screws. A possible solution would be to use socket head cap screws with the heads modified to your needs.

If using a machine screw in wood, I would drill a pilot hole , the root diameter of the screw, first.
 
OTmachine said:
Fillister Head Screw
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Brownells calls it a Filister Head, but Filister Heads are rounded/domed:

screw-head-types.jpg
It's closer to a Cheese Head, which is flat, but the side is tapered.

As coarse as the threads are, I think the best option is to start with round stock (1144 maybe):
  • Face & Turn OD to final head diameter
  • Turn steep taper on end
  • Turn threaded portion to final diameter
  • Single-Point threads
  • Part Off
  • Hold in ER Collet block & Slot head
  • Rinse & Repeat
 
RJSakowski said:
Wood screws have a tapered thread. Sheet metal screws have a straight thread. Those actually look like machine screws. A possible solution would be to use socket head cap screws with the heads modified to your needs.

If using a machine screw in wood, I would drill a pilot hole , the root diameter of the screw, first.
Click to expand...
RJSakowski said:
Wood screws have a tapered thread. Sheet metal screws have a straight thread. Those actually look like machine screws. A possible solution would be to use socket head cap screws with the heads modified to your needs.

If using a machine screw in wood, I would drill a pilot hole , the root diameter of the screw, first.
Click to expand...
That would be a good option, and save cutting the thread. We don't know any dimensions, but looks like 1/4-20 or 5/16-18 might work?
 
Do you have access to use a comparator? You could see pitch of threads and any angles Needed.
 
Another option that no one mentioned. Install brass inserts that have a wood thread on the outside and a machine thread in the inside. This will end up even stronger than just a wood screw. Like these.
www.mcmaster.com

McMaster-Carr

McMaster-Carr is the complete source for your plant with over 595,000 products. 98% of products ordered ship from stock and deliver same or next day.
www.mcmaster.com www.mcmaster.com

Another trick that I have used to get strong machine threads in wood. Is to drill (drill for 100% thread) and tap the hole. Then use the thin Cyanoacrylate glue to coat the threads, Let it soak in and give it time to fully cure. Now run the tap thru again to clean up the threads and you will end up with machine threads in wood that are stronger than wood screw threads. I have even used this method for structural connections in balsa wood and never had a failure.
 
I looked through my stash and don't see anything that looks like it would work for what you need. However, I will second the insert approach, I've used them many times with great success.
 
Looking at the picture, the head pattern and the shoulder look relatively small for the screw size. What are the odds that you could pick up an appropriate wood screw with a larger head, and simply reduce that head to the dimensions you need?

Mcmaster Carr is a great place to go for these. They have an excellent selection of "proper" wood screws, and when you find one you like they have very good dimensioned drawings of them, so you can determine very quickly if this would work for you or not. Bonus, if you do reduce the head, it's guaranteed to be reasonably concentric with the threads. This is NOT a given thing in the wood screw world. (Or really any threaded fastener these days...)

If you do decide to make a wood screw... I'm pretty good at charts and numbers and angles and generally sciencing things... But wood screws are tough to make. There's a HUGE amount of metal removed, by a form tool, from a very small diameter workpiece. The giant "flat" at the root of the thread is a bugger. The tool is easiest to grind (at least for me) if you find a suitable size and type of "off the shelf" screw, and use that as your tool making guide.
 
Investigator said:
It should be easy, but here I am. The issue is I need to make some wood screws to secure metal into a gunstock. The screw heads need to be a specific diameter and slotted. That's the easy part. The hard part, the part I need advice on is the threads. What thread should these be? what is a wood screw thread?
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Have you checked with Brownells? It seems to me that I saw bases like that in their catalog at some point in the past.
 
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