bottle stoppers

[Bill Clark De]

I order some of the stainless steel bottle stoppers from ruth .
I am now struggling to under stand the drilling and tapping procedures.
The instructions on the web page don't seem to work --eg a 3/8 lag and a 3/8 carriage bolt certainly do not share the same thread ... also 9 mm drill bits seem a bit large any suggestions -the product look good but as i said matching up that stud isn't working ...
thank you
Bill

[John Fricke]

I ordered her complete starter kit including mandrel with threaded tap and drill bit. It works very well in hard wood. I've found that I need to use a slightly smaller bit in softer woods.

[Bill Mitchel]

Hi Bill
I just received her kit last week, it's the one for $80 with the bit and mandrel. I just find the center of the stopper blank, drill the hole to depth, put the mandrel on your lathe, and thread the stopper blank on the mandrel by hand (dont turn on the lathe to do this) and start turning.
I found that I needed to put a bolt through the headstock to keep the mandrel from slipping out but she has the back of it tapped for this.
I guess I should have asked first, do you have her mandrel? It makes it very easy.

Bill

[Jim McFarland]

I followed the 1st two paragraphs in the "#301 ..." section only and seemed to work fine. The other paragraphs describe some alternatives to using her mandrel (which is included in the introductory kit). I also put the mandrel in a chuck to turn rather than using the Morse taper connection (per 2nd paragraph).

Worked great for me with acrylics/resins -- I did have to be careful to avoid stripping the threads with the one wood (Madrone burl) I tried.

Process I used:
1. Mount blank in 4 jaw chuck and use a parting tool to ensure flat surface for mandrel (and eventually, stopper) connection
2. Mount 9mm bit (included with the kit) in a Jacobs chuck in the tailstock
3. Drill the pilot hole with lathe running, advancing bit through tailstock wheel (depth of mandrel threads plus ~1/4" to ensure no bottoming)
4. Remove Jacobs chuck and install mandrel in tailstock
5. Advance mandrel/tailstock to the just-drilled pilot hole and thread the mandrel into the blank by hand (I turn chuck and advance the mandrel at the same time)
6. Remove mandrel/blank from chuck & tailstock
7. Mount mandrel/blank in the chuck
8. Install cup center in tailstock and advance to blank for a bit of extra support while roughing
9. Turn the blank (backing tailstock off near the end of the turning to smooth the stopper tailstock end)

[Charles Murphy]

I order some of the stainless steel bottle stoppers from ruth .
I am now struggling to under stand the drilling and tapping procedures.
The instructions on the web page don't seem to work --eg a 3/8 lag and a 3/8 carriage bolt certainly do not share the same thread ... also 9 mm drill bits seem a bit large any suggestions -the product look good but as i said matching up that stud isn't working ...
thank you
Bill

Bill,

The stud on the stoppers is 3/8" x 16 tpi.

[Bernie Weishapl]

I made my own manderal out of a 3/8" by 16 tpi bolt. I use a 3/8" X 16 tpi tap to thread the blank.

[Richard Madison]

Same as Bernie. If you are going to tap the hole (with a 3/8-16 tap) the hole size can be smaller (5/16 IIRC). Test fit the finished stopper before adding glue. The blank may move a bit and might need to make one extra pass with the tap to be sure the threads are clean.

[Bill Clark De]

I do not have the "kit" now i suppose i need to pay more attention to detail with the tapping procedure.Being dumber than a chunk of wood ain't helping. ..Thank you for your help ...

[Frank Townend]

I made my own mandrel out of a 3/8" by 16 TPI bolt. I use a 3/8" X 16 TPI tap to thread the blank.

As do I. I tapped a piece of Delrin at 1" X 8 TPI (for my Jet Mini) using the Beall tapping system, drilled through for the bolt, and made it a snug fit.

I use my metal tapping set for the 3/8" X 16 TPI.