PM 3520 spindle nut

[Paul Gallian]

I have search the turning forum without good results. Maybe used the wrong key word(s).. so please be gentle.. I TRIED. :cool:

I can not find a source for the 1 1/4 X 8 Nuts for the 3520 PM.

any help would be appricated -- do not want to buy a gross - only a few.

thanks paul :)

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Paul,

Which nut are you looking for? I am unaware of a nut used on the spindle of my PM3520B.

Are you talking about the one that goes on after the handwheel?

[Paul Gallian]

Let me try again -- I want to buy a nut that will fit my PM spindle.

i.e. to make a chuck -- a vacuum chuck and many other projects.

Not a replacement part! for that I would go to WMH tool group

don't want to but a gross just a few..

[george wilson]

We have a place near here that sells fasteners,not Fastenall. Now I can't remember the name. If you google fasteners in your area,you may be able to find an industrial outlet that sells big nuts,among other things. MSC co. sells large nuts,but at the local place I got several for the price of 1 from MSC (Manhatten Supply Co.). Actually,you might give Fastenall a try. I got some nuts larger than the ones you need for about $2.50 each IIRC. In the MSC catalog they were something like $12.00 each. It's been several years,so I can't give accurate figures.

P.S.!!! I just recalled the name: York Bolt Co. in Tabb,Va. I googled york bolt co.,tabb,va. came out right at the top of the listings. Try them.

[Paul Gallian]

Thanks George,

I will give them a try!:o

[Jason Clark2]

McMaster-Carr 5/$12.50:

http://www.mcmaster.com/#90521a275/=26z1ot


Jason

[Chris Stolicky]

McMaster-Carr 5/$12.50:

http://www.mcmaster.com/#90521a275/=26z1ot


Jason

I just ordered these last weekend. I glued up two yesterday for vacuum chucks. They seem to be fine. Just degrease them before you try to glue them.

[Jeff Nicol]

This is what I use and it works great and it will make hundreds of threaded inserts to make any type adapter you would like for you spindle. I use good solid hard wood (maple, white oak,hop hornbeam etc) to make the threads in. Then spin the chunk on the lathe true it up and make the rest of the vacuum chuck or whatever. Give it a try, for at $12.50 a nut that gets pretty pricey real fast!

http://www.newwoodworker.com/reviews/beallspindletaps.html

Jeff

[Burt Alcantara]

Jeff,
Do you coat the threads with CA or something?

[Ken Glass]

Paul,
I do the same thing that Jeff does. I have found that the Beall wood taped fitting leaks less around the spindle than the metal nuts do. You can make any size fitting you want. I coat the threads with bees wax to make it easier to screw on the spindle of my Mustard. I have made several face plates and vacuum chucks.

[Paul Gallian]

Ken, Jeff,

Thank you! I think that is the way to go. I was real impressed with the "how to movie" at the site.

[Reed Gray]

For waste blocks that seems to work pretty well. The problem with finding 1 1/4 x 8 tpi nuts is that the industry standard is 1 1/4 by 7 tpi. You have to specialty order to get them. I have a bunch for my mini lathe and use them for the threaded boxed I do. You need the locking type with a nylon insert in them because they sit farther out and will not need a spacer piece. Box of 10 is about $27 from a local fastener company. About $35 from the local Ace store. The 1 1/4 by 8 tpi can be found at Grainger, or Fastenall. I think other places may have them.
robo hippy

[Jeff Nicol]

Jeff,
Do you coat the threads with CA or something?
Burt, If you us hard wood that has tight grain there is no need for CA, but it would only make the threads stronger. Then the light wax to ease the threading on the lathe. I have been doing it with 1x8tpi for years, I make wasteblock face plates for smaller turnings and have used one or two over quite a few times by using double stick tape to hold on pieces for small plates and bowls. The taps are first rate and should last a lifetime just cutting wood.

Jeff

[Tom Steyer]

Paul,

I got 2 nuts from Fastenal - about $7.00 each if I remember correctly. Be careful trying to use these. Structural steel nuts are not made to any where near the tolerances that you are used to with lathe tools and accessories. One big problem I had is that the two faces of the nut were not parallel to each other, and the faces were not exactly perpendicular to the center line of the threads. My advise, use a faceplate, buy a vacuum chuck, or use the Beall tap.

Tom

[JerHall]

Maybe I am missing something, but it seems to me that untrue faces are corrected by the normal, routine, truing up whatever fixture you have attached to the nut. The nut should register consistently at the end face of the spindle for repeated use such as reverse turning. In any case it is good practice to true a wooden fixture each time anyway. I have used big washers welded to these nuts for large hollow forms, works fine, and trust me they are not true, or symmetric or perpindicular to the spindle! But it all comes out round in the end. Except for my eccentric turnings where I move things around. Just a point of view...

[Jim Kountz]

Give it a try, for at $12.50 a nut that gets pretty pricey real fast!


Jeff


Actually Jeff its 5 for $12.50. Not bad at all really!!

[Dennis Ford]

I have made a number of faceplates with the nuts from McMaster-Carr, they work great but there are a few tricks. The bore of the nuts is often not quite perpendicular to the face (as has been mentioned), this can be cleaned up on a metal lathe.

A more important issue is that you must cut away about 1-1/2 threads inside the nut so the nut will not lock up before it reaches the spindle shoulder. If you do not do this the threads of the nut will be deformed when it tightens up and then when you take it off, the spindle threads will likely be damaged.

Long story short, if you don't have access to a metal lathe the nuts are more trouble than they are worth.

[JerHall]

does the job to make the nut stand off and not bind. I keep a stack on a hook nearby. I also use them on my chucks to keep them from binding if they run out of threads or if they bind on the end face of the spindle. The mdf is very flat and makes a nice washer, and receives the rough surface of the nut well.

I find these nuts very useful, and the problems mentioned not an issue in practice. You can make up a special fixture in no time.

See picture for some rough examples. Polyurethane glue works fine. 10 minute epoxy of course is better. I drill a forstner bit hole that is just shy of maximum nut dia and use rubber mallet to seat the nut. The glue fills the spaces and the nut is not going anywhere. I leave it overnight. Then true it on the lathe, and complete the fixture. The one on the right has been used for years as a jam chuck. When the wood runs out (I use the turned "V" as a warning line) I just glue another piece on a clean face and turn it true.

The fixture on the left is for bottle stoppers. It has a 3/8" D by maybe 2" long piece of threads-all that can be adjusted in protrusion and locked down with a machine screw on each side. The little washer between the stopper and the fixture is to give me a template and sacrificial access to turn a bead. The machine screw threads itself in slightly small hole to lock down the threads-all. Remember, this is "wood" turning not metal working.