Knobbing About

[Richard Findley]

Interesting job today: A chap sent me a Mahogany knob which he wanted copying (8 of):

So I did:

8 times!!

The recess was required to hold it while turning due to a slight lack of planning on my part With more fore-thought I would have probably glued the boxwood threads (hand cut) into the blank first and then held it by this. I needed to get the job done before the weekend though and guess what... it's Friday already!!!

So I cut the blanks and the recess was cut with a 35mm forstner bit in the pillar drill, and 15mm hole down the centre of that to take the threaded box. I turned the knobs then made the "nuts". I used a small board of Beech and drilled and tapped some holes then cut rough discs and mounted on the lathe then turned to little domes.

I then cut some 50mm pieces of Box and threaded and fitted them into the knobs. Job done!! Packed and sent by 3 o'clock!!

Hope you enjoyed my little thread (apologies for the title, but it got you looking though didn't it :lol: :lol: )

Cheers,

Richard

 

[cornucopia]

excellent work richard- what tpi thread is that?

 

[Doug B]

Great job Richard,

The threads look really well cut.
Matching 8 i imagine is very difficult, well done.

 

[mattcullum]

Super job, I'll bet the guy was pleased. But I just do not understand how threads and nuts are made, all looks very tricky!

Matt

 

[wizer]

all looks very tricky!

It is. It really is.

Well done Richard. I can't believe how quickly you did it! Doesn't seem to me like you'll ever be out of work at that speed!!

 

[Turn It In]

Hi Richard,
Youv'e made a nice job of those, at a guess the thread looks about 8 tpi.
They should certainly please the client.
Regards,
Ian.

 

[stevebuk]

hi richard
think you have done a cracking job mate, hope they are pleased with them.

ps what wood is the threaded bit???

 

[boysie39]

Richard you dont need a Striking heading to get me to look at your offerings. As usual stunning work and all sounding so simple. Cliant has to be impressed congrats. REgards Boysie.

 

[John. B]

Most impressed. Very professionally done =D>=D>=D>=D>=D>=D>=D>

John. B

 

[Richard Findley]

Thanks for the comments guys.

The threads are 8tpi and the wood is Box. My thread chasers are 16tpi which I decided was too fine for this job so I bought one of those tap and die sets from Axminster but I just couldn't get on with it :evil:

Luckily I had spotted an ad in this month's Woodturning mag of a company that sells all sizes of thread chasers. The company is called Tracey Tools and their service was excellent. I ordered the chasers on Monday at 3pm and had them delivered in the post next day!!! They come unhandled but they are great tools. Only £25 for the pair so I'm well chuffed!! (they have a website but it's rubbish so just call them if you're interested)

The other reason I chose 8tpi is because it's the same as the thread on my headstock and I have an idea that it could be handy to make some attachments that thread straight on to the headstock. No idea what yet but at least I now can do it.

I have ground the female chaser down somewhat with the plan of chasing the nut part for this job but luckily I found that the tap from the Axi kit is also 8tpi so I just used that and it worked a treat!!

Cheers,

Richard

 

[johnny.t.]

Those look great

Is the threading hard to do? I've never seen any of those thread chasing tools being used.

JT

 

[Richard Findley]

Hi Johnny,

There's a deffinate knack to thread chasing. The male thread is the easier one of the 2 (I find) so being able to use the tap was a real bonus. The only bad thing about thread chasing is that there is a very limited number of woods that you can do it on. Box is fantastic though!!!

Richard

 

[Bodrighy]

We had someone demoing thread chasing at the club last week. He was good in that he p[ointed out the things that can go wrong as well as the methodolgy. H stressed that the only way to get good at it was practice. He also said, as Richard, that you need hard, close grained wood, especially when first doing it. He suggested starting by doing small threads such as 24TPI to start as they were a lot easier han the bigger ones.

Pete