Anyone with experience building and using the Milkman's workbench?

[Derek Cohen]

Not long ago I posted a portable bench I built ...



One of the features was threads turned on a router ...





There are videos on Youtube that will guide you through this process: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ZmnGLpqAGI

Regards from Perth

Derek

[george wilson]

Well,yours is more like the milk maid's work bench,Derek!!

[Derek Cohen]

Regards from Perth

Derek

[george wilson]

Not that I have ANYTHING against milk maids!!

[Jessica Pierce-LaRose]

The beal kit does not look like it's more than 60 degrees, either. The router bit that's used in their video is not 90 degrees.

I just watched a bit of their video instructions looking for a better image of the thing, and a couple minutes in he mentions the router bit included with the kit is a 60º bit.

You can use the inexpensive taiwanese threader kits fine, and maple dowels don't cost too much. The only thing you have to do is sharpen the cutter that they come with, because like anything else, they come with OK geometry but they aren't sharp. With a little bit of rudimentary sharpening, they work extremely easily, and I had no problems with maple dowels and a 1 1/2 inch kit. I'd be willing to bet 95% of the problems people report with them being difficult to use are due to a dull cutter. The cutter is actually very good quality once you sharpen it - it's like file steel.

Many of the complaints I had heard had been about the cutters failing, regardless of sharpening - edges crumbling and breaking, and if you end up trying to regrind them, ending up at soft, unhardened steel pretty quickly. I had also heard about complaints at one point of the pitch of the threads not quite matching between the tap and the die, but I believe that was a small set of cases with a particular manufacturing run.

They work fine in a moxon style vise, the only quibble is the fact that the threads are 60 degrees makes me have to turn them more than I'd have to if they were 90.

I'm probably just missing something, but wouldn't the speed of the in/out be more a function of the TPI than the pitch of the threads? I mean, if you have X number of threads per inch, and it's the same on two set ups, doesn't the screw move the same amount whether the threads are 60 or 90 degrees?

My vise is a router table fence, so that's a pain when I want to take the front part of the vise off and use the fence on a router table - which isn't very often, but it's like a forearm workout when you use it.

What about embedding a nut or something in the end of those screws, so you can chuck a socket in a cordless drill and spin it out with speed?


I seems to me if one could get their hands on a proper tap and some skill, and the ability to harden the cutter knives, you could make the thread box part . . . ( I suppose even the tap could be made, but would probably be a lot more involved . . . )

[David Weaver]

Josh, you're right. It's the pitch that makes the determination. A given thread height will have fewer threads per inch at 90 degrees, though. That's something I was just assuming but didn't elaborate very well.

I'm surprised the cutters are bad, but if they are crumbling, etc, I'd probably try to temper them, and if they didn't work, make another one. I know most people wouldn't be thrilled to make another one, though. It's too bad they aren't all as good as the one I have.

In terms of the nut on the end of the vise - that's coming the next time I use the vise (I don't use one of those types of vises unless I have long stock). I've got a couple of other things where I keep a cordless drill around and use it to do the work where a lot of turning is required. Sounds lazy but I love it!

[Jessica Pierce-LaRose]

I'm surprised the cutters are bad, but if they are crumbling, etc, I'd probably try to temper them, and if they didn't work, make another one. I know most people wouldn't be thrilled to make another one, though. It's too bad they aren't all as good as the one I have.

Well, the thing is, it's the sort of item where you see a handful of articles about using one, but you don't hear a lot of "user reviews" unless it's completely terrible. If it works, but it's not amazing, you get on with your life. Unless it's stellar or terrible, folks aren't going to make a lot of comment. The folks with problems are going to be the loudest and most vocal.

I've probably made a bit of assumption about the quality of the things based on some of Chris Schwarz's writing; he's mentioned in the past the same advice that you have, that the biggest issue with them is making sure that the cutters are sharp. But he's also mentioned off and on the issues he's had with them, simply because he's used a whole heck of a lot of them at some the day-long classes he's taught at various woodworking schools over the years. So I imagine he's worked with a larger sample size than many folks, but I have no idea how well that translates to what the current offerings are really like.

Every now and then I stumble across something where it might be nice to have, but I can never think of anything else with that size that makes it worth the investment . ..

[Derek Cohen]

Every now and then I stumble across something where it might be nice to have, but I can never think of anything else with that size that makes it worth the investment . ..

Joshua, that is exactly right.

I am not sure what the work around is. I am very reluctant to invest in an expensive tool that will be used once. The Beall kit is expensive. The cheap Chinese threading kit I have, used previously for a couple of Moxon vises ( one for my own and a few for friends), did a decent job while the blade was sharp, but is incredibly fiddly to reassemble after sharpening. These need to be seen as one-off tools. Hence I looked for an alternative. In my case I could use a router as I already had a tap. No wonder others turn to threaded steel rods.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[george wilson]

I know how fiddly those screw boxes can be!! If you don't get them sharpened and set just right,they'll shred the threads off down to the core.

The old Marples thread boxes had correct size threads for wood. They turn up on Ebay sometimes. They have the old,completely tapered cast iron looking taps that are a pain to thread straight with,but the threads at least are correct when done.

[Daniel Sutton]

I made this after seeing the blog on the milkman's bench. I'm going to start on a "real bench" this week. It has worked for me for about a year. It is limited compared to a bigger bench. If you aren't sure about handtools then it wouldn't hurt to build one to try them out. You will probably want to upgrade very soon though