Opening Up 10M Nut and Adding 1/2" Threads?

Chips O'Toole

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Today I bit the bullet and got a cheap Northern Tool welding table. I have been getting by with Harbor Freight, but I had to get something better. I may be moving next year, so I was reluctant to get a heavy, expensive table. Northern Tool has been having a sale off and on, pricing their $370 Klutch table at $179, and today they offered it again, and they added a $10 gift card (code 268178) for ordering online. I felt like I had to buy it.

The table is extremely nice for $169. It has a top .15" thick, it has lots of holes, and it comes with stuff to clamp projects down. Unfortunately, it does not have casters, and the leveling feet have M10x1.5 threads. That means it's not easy to find strong casters that will screw into the holes. I can find casters that will hold a total of something like 450 pounds, and I'm sure they'll be fine, but I feel funny putting them on a table that holds 600.

I know there is no possibility that I will ever put more than 50 pounds on the table, but still.

The Internet is full of stem casters with 1/2-13 threads. I'm wondering if it's a good idea to drill out the nuts in the table's legs and tap them to 1/2-13. Then I could get some nice casters cheap. There is no reason why I should have a problem, is there? I would think a 10M nut would have enough meat to permit this operation without getting flimsy.

It looks like the major diameter of a 10M thread is around 20 thousandths smaller than the minor diameter of a 1/2" thread.

I guess if I have a problem, I can try to cut the old nuts out and weld real 1/2" nuts in.
 

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Sounds like you're going about it right. At least that is what I would do. If the factory nuts were welded in place, then they're probably already annealed and ready for the drill and tap treatment. I don't expect any issues for you. Now to stay away from the Northern website until the sale passes... must resist...
 
Go for it. You will have plenty of material for the 1/2-13 tap drill and tap.
 
Now to stay away from the Northern website until the sale passes... must resist...

Yes. You must stay away.

Forget that the gift card code is 268178.

I guess I can man up, order some casters with 1/2" stems, and see what happens. Or maybe I could buy the casters, slice off the stems, and weld M10 threads on.

Or I could open the existing nuts to 1/2", run 1/2" stems through them, and add new 1/2" lock nuts on top of the old nuts.
 
Or I could open the existing nuts to 1/2", run 1/2" stems through them, and add new 1/2" lock nuts on top of the old nuts.
More parts more problems. I am in the same school as Pontiac428 and Cbellanca-drill and tap. My wife can no longer advise me about Northern Tools but I will say they sell nice hoists for installation over mills and lathes.
Have a good day
Ray
 
Today I bit the bullet and got a cheap Northern Tool welding table.... it's not easy to find strong casters that will screw into the holes. I can find casters that will hold a total of something like 450 pounds, and I'm sure they'll be fine, but I feel funny putting them on a table that holds 600.
Those legs look slim, can an off-center caster go onto them and not bend them?
I'd consider another way to move the table around, and leave the four-feet-on-the-floor support as is.
You don't want it to move during a weld, after all.
 
You could build a rectangular frame out of angle iron enclosing the table feet and mount the casters to that.
I like this idea Opens up some more options for casters and will strengthen the base as well
 
I finally found some M10 casters, so I'm going to see how they work out.
 
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