Wadkin ags 10 Lock Nut

[Amplidyne]

I agree square threads are a PITA. I did one on an eight inch machine vice a while ago and ended up making my own tool, based on careful measurement of the male thread.
Worth it to me as I picked up the vice for very little and it was in good condition apart from the nut being worn out.
But if you just want a working machine then much easier and cheaper to just replace it with something more widely available, if of course you have the means to do it. If you had to pay someone then the £90 nut might well be cheaper.
The joys of old machinery

Never actually cut one, but everything I've seen, both online and in Machinery's Handbook point to the tool having to be just right, and that the threads are a pain to cut.

 

[Fergie 307]

To be fair once I had made the tool actually cutting the thread was pretty straightforward.
Fine tuning the tool wasn't!
Very difficult to get the shape just right so it doesn't bind as you get further into the cut.
What I ended up with was something very like a parting off tool but shallower and with the section supporting the cutting face angled to follow just inside the cut thread, if that makes sense.
And you have to clear the chips constantly.
I ended up having the coolant firing straight down the bore.
I had a couple of test runs on aluminium before launching into a big lump of phosphor bronze.

 

[samweb132]

I agree square threads are a PITA. I did one on an eight inch machine vice a while ago and ended up making my own tool, based on careful measurement of the male thread.
Worth it to me as I picked up the vice for very little and it was in good condition apart from the nut being worn out.
But if you just want a working machine then much easier and cheaper to just replace it with something more widely available, if of course you have the means to do it. If you had to pay someone then the £90 nut might well be cheaper.
The joys of old machinery

Yeh I completely agree. This wadkin was to be my own first table saw, after moving out another shop. However still need to replace the start stop box. Get it wired in to 3 phase, replace fence, fit it in my shop, make a cross cut sled, sort out riving knife assembly. Contemplating buying one of those wee portable saws until I get this one fully ready to make accurate cuts. But I would problably agree if I'm honest with the price. I have realy struggled to find anyone bar Canadians who have the ability and willingness to machine these nuts for me.

 

[Fergie 307]

Our friends over the pond are still imperial, so you can buy the tools to do it, but a fair old price for a one off, especially when you add shipping.
I went down the rabbit hole of making my own in HSS. In hindsight I should really have got the nearest metric size tipped tool, which are not too expensive. I have a diamond lapping disc so could have then fine tuned it.
The main problem I had was that the tool cut well, but wanted to produce a ribbon rather than chips, not helpful in a bore! So I had to take a lot of fine passes with a good flow of coolant to keep the tool clear.
The commercial tools have a profile which is better at breaking up the material removed.

 

[Fitzroy]

Yeh I completely agree. This wadkin was to be my own first table saw, after moving out another shop. However still need to replace the start stop box. Get it wired in to 3 phase, replace fence, fit it in my shop, make a cross cut sled, sort out riving knife assembly. Contemplating buying one of those wee portable saws until I get this one fully ready to make accurate cuts. But I would problably agree if I'm honest with the price. I have realy struggled to find anyone bar Canadians who have the ability and willingness to machine these nuts for me.

I’ve had a few of those project tools, have to buy other project tools to fix the first one, eventually via circular tool fixing you return to the first and get it running!

 

[Billy_wizz]

I think a commercial retail price of £90 is very reasonable. It’s a square thread, so, I don’t believe there is an available insert to cut it, it required grinding a HSS blank to form the correct shape. Equally couldn’t find a commercially available checking jig for grinding the tool (they are available for say Acme or Trapezoidal). So there’s a fair bit of messing around to get a tool to make the nut. Next, it’s a square thread which is hard to cut, harder than say an Acme. If it’s made in a CNC you’ve a program to write and a tool to setup.
So, although it’s ‘just’ a simple nut, it’s not so simple to make one or two off.

Why Wadkin would choose an odd standard square thread for the shaft I cannot understand. After all, it carry’s no real load at all. A standard imperial if metric thread is more than adequate.

There was probably a reason a few hundred years ago when they first started using it and then everyone used it because it was what they had always used lol