new member new project

[Kevin Day]

hello everyone

i'm new to the boards but i've been doing wood working for about 2 years maybe, anyway i'm gitting ready to start a new project i thought i would share with all of you

i posted a wanted add to buy a beall threading tool with no hits so i've decided to come up with my own using there basic idea using a router to cut the threads and a tap to cut the internal threads for taps(nuts).

ive order the taps after looking for about a week on google (i have very little time about an hour each night) 1/2" X 8tpi, 3/4" x 6tpi, and 1" x 6tpi
all are high speed steal and i got them pretty cheap at $15.00 for the set

so i went to usplastics.com and bought some hdpe(High Density Polyethylene) total cost for 8' pc of 1 1/4" rod was $24.11 which i will be drilling out and taping to cut the external threads which i will only be using about 6" which roughly is a $1.50

i have a neighbor that has a sawmill and i'm taking a piece of Osage Orange(or hedge the local name for it around here) to be sawn into 1 1/2" slabs for the base of threading tool for a cost of 7.5 cents for a pc 3"Wx12''L for 3 pcs a total cost of 22.5 cents (but remember i'm suppling the logs) does seem alittle cheap hmmm have to check into this again

mounting the router i'm going to find a pc of 3/16" X 3" x 12" pcs of steel
and mount it using a couple of screws so i can change to differnt size dies
cost $0.33 /lb shouldnt be anymore then 5 bucks

the peices for clamping down the routher will be made out of 1/8" x 1/2" stock. i havent come up with the length yet but these shouldnt cost any more then a $1.00 to make

i'm going to order the bit from lee valley for $22.99 its a special 60 deg carbide router bit(the most expensive part)

Misc.
4- 1 1/4" wood screws $0.40
2- #6 machine screws $0.54
2- #6 wing nuts $0.50

so after looking at a few major retailers and dreaming about someday buying the beall small size kit which is $134.99 from lee valley
i've made my own for around $46 saying everything goes as planned

i'll try and have some pictures up over the next couple of weeks
untill then share your comments
later kevin

[Kevin Day]

update sat. 5/5/07

hi there

alittle update on my project, i received the 1 1/4" hdpe rod from usplastics.com using there standard shipping i got it within 2 days of ordering i wood highly recommand them to anybody wanting HDPE stock
i'll post a pic on sunday

still waiting on the taps should be here soon (i hope)
Sunday should be a busy day i'm heading to my neighbors to saw up a pc of hedge 7' L and about 20" in diameter should make some nice boards
also on the list is a few white pines, a big leaf maple, 3 white oak logs,3 red oak logs and honey lcost log

got a great deal on the oaks and the maple, last year a saywer from wisconsin came down and sawed a bunch of trees for a guy afew miles from my house and left them to rot so being the ever courios soul i am i went and asked about them and he said your welcome to them but you have to take everything they left so i got me some freebies!

thats all for now see ya sunday night i'll have pictures
later kevin

[Kevin Day]

hello fellow woodworkers

i woke to find a very disappointing day its rained all day here so i wasnt able to get the logs sawed this weekend will have to wait another week

[Bill Neely]

Hi Kevin, welcome and be sure to post some pictures when you get this put together.

[Matthew Hindman]

I'm very interested to see how this plays out. Please post pics as you go detailing the process!

[Doug Whitson]

Would love to see some pics. Sounds like you have it well under control.
Keep it up and keep us posted.

Doug in AZ.

[Kevin Day]

i just got back from my neighbors with the sawmill, i droped off the hedge log and it will be done by this weekend, usually i've been there anytime he saws the logs for me but i havent the time to spend doing it this time, the hedge log has been cut for 3 years so i'm not to worried about the moisture should be ok

while at work today i talked to my neighbor about milling me my alignment tube should be done by this weekend too

everything is coming along pretty good right now but i was hoping to have the logs sawed yesterday(sunday) and i still havent received my taps yet
and i ordered them on the 1st of may

untill i get something more happy sawing
kevin

[Kevin Day]

hey

when i got to work this morning i found that my neighbor had gone and made me my alignment tube, i had him make it longer then what i needed so i used my 41/2" grinder to cut it down to the right length pic #1 and 2

pic #3 is the hdpe stock

pic #4 3 test pcs hdpe i think i'm going to see about gitting another pc of stock to use i think 1 1/4" is to small should of bought 2" maybe

pic #5 is a jig i used to hold the hdpe stock for drilling

pic #6 is my first test pcs drilled out for 1" doweling

pic #7 is the first test pcs drilled thru with a 3/4" hole ready for threads
when cutting threads you should drill your hole 25% smaller so i am told

pic #8 is the hedge log waiting to be sawn should be some nice boards
besides using it for pcs on my thread tools i'm going to make my MIL a nice little rose flower box for M-day

thats all for today
kevin

[Kevin Day]

here are the rest of the pics

[Kevin Day]

hey everybody

well heres a small update on my progress. i went to my neighbors and got the hedge log sawed into 6' pcs total of 10pcs or 60 BF(estimated) for $20

not to bad of a price at woodcraft in des moines for a 6' pc they wanted $125 or $21.00 BF.

i still havent recieved my taps yet so i'm on hold till they arrive

thats all for now
thanks blame

[Kevin Day]

finaly received my taps today had to try them out they work great in soft wood but in hard woods they leave alittle to be desired also i figured they work well in cutting the threads in the hdpe rod but there lacking in that department to .

the new 1/4" 60deg solid carbide router bit from pricecutter.com also came today thats all the bit i will be using to cut the treads in the back ground you can see where i made a template for the drill bit size for the taps

3rd pic is a test pcs of hdpe plastic rod drilled for the 1/2" threads installed in a pcs of 1 1/4" white oak
i first thinking i would use the hedge for durability but after working with it its almost to hard to work
the taps didnt make very deep threads in the hedge wood

4th pic is the router base, i had an older 1/4" router with a 1/2hp motor just sitting around so i thought i might as well just make use of it since i'm only using 1/8" of the bit it plenty of power for the task so i just drilled out the the pcs of steel to mount to the base of the router then drilled 4 more holes to mount the base to the white oak base

5th pic is the router sitting on the white oak base when i measured for hole the router bit sits i measured wrong and put the hole in the wrong spot so i'll have to wait till this weekend to finish it up have to start painting a house for another neighbor tommorrow

later

[Kevin Day]

sorry for the long delay in posting been very busy with alot of stuff

after working and trying to get the hdpe rod taped for the 1" taps i've hit a stumbing block in my progress

i figured that it would be pretty easy to just use the taps to tap the hdpe but they leave alot to be desired in cutting threads

i've tried to make the die for the 1" taps 3 differnt times and each time i did they wouldnt cut even using a 7/8" hole and 15/16" hole there wasnt enough thread to pull the dowel thru on the 15/16" hole it just made a mess

i now have 3 choices either buy a new set of taps from beall $35 for the 1" tap or use there inserts which may not match my taps $11 or get ahold of a friends dad to machine the insert for me from my stock $??tracking him down is like trying to find a needle in a large haystack

thanks for reading i will be back with a finished threading tool oneway or another

kevin

[Jesse Thornton]

Good stuff, Kevin. I'm happy you're sharing this, as the exact same idea occurred to me quite recently - right after looking up the price of the full Beale kit.
Keep us posted!

[Kevin Day]

hey jesse

if you decide to build your own threading kit be sure you have someone with a metal lathe that knows how to cut threads also if i had to do it again i would of just bought the taps from beall the quality of the taps are 100 times that of the cheaper ones i bought but paying 35 bucks for a 1" tap just seems to be a waste of money

one of these days i'm either going to make or purchase a metal lathe so i can do my own taps and other stuff i need to have

i have this complex about paying for somebody elses work plus i just like making everything i need

but one can dream

kevin

[Kevin Day]

hey guys

well i made my first threaded dowel tonight

what i did was just tap a pc of hedge insted of using the HDPE rod then on my old lathe i made a 1" dowel out of hedge also (hedge aka osage orange)
i have a pic but cant upload it becouse my youngest son took off with the cord for my computer
i'll try to upload new pics tommorrow when the LOML finds the cable

i still have some work to do on it the first 1/2" of threads are not being cut right
more to come

later kevin