- Joined
- Aug 22, 2012
- Messages
- 4,131
I learnt how to do and not to do something today.
Dont cut the keyway in a shaft before attempting to thread it with a die.
I cut a 5mm wide keyway in a 12 mm dia shaft, then attempted to cut the thread by holding the die in the lathe chuck (no holder large enough) and holding the little stub shaft in a drill chuck in the tail stock. (all by hand not powered)
I failed to realise that the width of the cutting teeth in the die were small enough to fall into the 5mm key thus jamming the die and sitting it off centre.
I solved the problem rather brutishly by holding the shaft in the vise, gripping the die with a large set of swan neck pliers and whilst tapping the die opposite the keyway so it would stay out of the keyway and applying the rotation force required to cut the thread.
It actually worked to get enough threads for a nut.
Sometimes a little fig jam is sufficient.
Dont cut the keyway in a shaft before attempting to thread it with a die.
I cut a 5mm wide keyway in a 12 mm dia shaft, then attempted to cut the thread by holding the die in the lathe chuck (no holder large enough) and holding the little stub shaft in a drill chuck in the tail stock. (all by hand not powered)
I failed to realise that the width of the cutting teeth in the die were small enough to fall into the 5mm key thus jamming the die and sitting it off centre.
I solved the problem rather brutishly by holding the shaft in the vise, gripping the die with a large set of swan neck pliers and whilst tapping the die opposite the keyway so it would stay out of the keyway and applying the rotation force required to cut the thread.
It actually worked to get enough threads for a nut.
Sometimes a little fig jam is sufficient.