More plane questions

[Mike Holbrook]

So I have put together several planes from parts I got from Steve Knight before he closed up his shop. I also bought a couple planes from a fellow Creeker that were made by Steve back in the day. The planes Steve made have small screws in the side of the plane that work like the screws Lee Valley puts in the sides of many of their planes, which is to say they help hold the blades in place. I am interested in adding this type screw system to the planes I built.

I am not sure these screws are entirely needed but, I have some better plane irons made for HNT Gordon planes (HSS?) that I would like to use in the planes I built. The HNT Gordon irons are just a little smaller than the 2" irons my planes were designed for, maybe 50mm. The screws I see used for this function typically have allen wrench heads for adjusting them. My plane bodies are purple heart, which I am not sure is a great wood for holding screws that may be moved a fair amount. I imagine the wood is hard enough but small pieces tend to chip and it is very difficult to thread screws into it. I have no idea what the metal screws are called or where I might find some? I would especially like to have metal threaded inserts that I could place in the sides of the plane to hold the screws.

The planes I made have movable (IPE?) mouths which I am holding in place with 1/4" bolts that thread into metal inserts in the purple heart. The 1/4' bolts have worked well for me so far. I thought about using these same bolts to hold the blades in place but, the fit would be very tight. The sides of the plane may be a little narrow and the screw heads would need to be countersunk. I certainly don't want to do anything to the sides of the planes I have worked so hard on that might cause weakness in the sides.

Thoughts and or leads on places to obtain small screws with threaded inserts would be appreciated.

[Jim Koepke]

The screws I see used for this function typically have allen wrench heads for adjusting them.
...
I have no idea what the metal screws are called or where I might find some?

They are commonly called set screws. They are often used in knobs for electronic equipment to hold them on shafts. For some applications they have plastic tips. They are also available made of nylon and other plastics.

jtk

[Hilton Ralphs]

or grub screws depending on where you are. Not sure why you think tapping a thread for these won't work? You often find them on the table saw insert plates for levelling the insert to the table. The plastic ones also work pretty well.

[Mike Holbrook]

Good info guys. I had no idea that type screw was available in a plastic. So I can search using set screw or grub screw then.

After having to hand thread the receptacles for the 1/4"bolts in the adjusting mouths I was not excited about trying to match threads to screws or bolts in smaller sizes. I think I finally went up a size for the holes I bored for the 1/4" bolt receptacles. I bought brass receptacles at first but they were bending up before I could get them into the purple heart so I switched to steel. I still bent up a couple steel devices before I got them to work.

[Hilton Ralphs]

I think the smallest hole I've tapped in wood was 3mm.

[Mike Holbrook]

Hilton I think my issue is, I have been drilling holes with a regular drill bit and threading inserts into them. The inserts and bolts I have been using are designed to be used in holes drilled with standard bits. I don't have tools designed to make threads in wood. I think the tapping sets I have seen are more designed to cut threads in metal for machine screws/bolts. Maybe I should check out threading devices for wood at Lee Valley and a few other places?

Still purple heart tends to break off in small pieces when filed with rough rasps sometimes. I am concerned that threads created in it would be very brittle. Harder sometimes also translates into more brittle when the substance is very thin.

[Hilton Ralphs]

Mike the metal taps are the same thing you use for wood. You get two types, one for HSS and the other for mild steel and the latter is for one cheaper and also suitable for wood. They are not expensive at all and you can use your 1530 or a small brace to hold the tap. It's dead easy. You don't need a whole set but if you think you may use taps in the future then check out the set offered by Lee Valley which comes with drill bits for both the tap hole and clearance hole (for pass through) as well as a tap handle. It's about $40.

Tapping MDF works really well as normal wood screws are useless in that composite.

[bridger berdel]

drill to size, soak the hole with thin superglue, run the tap through carefully retracting often. soak it again and run the tap through again.

[Jeff Heath]

They are also known as "threaded inserts".

[Hilton Ralphs]

They are also known as "threaded inserts".

Nah, those are something else. Set Screws are screwed directly into a tapped hole, whether it be wood, metal, mdf, plastic or whatever. Threaded Inserts on the other hand are also inserted into wooden (mainly) holes but they then become the thread in which bolts are inserted.

Set Screw
273080


Threaded Insert
273082

[Frederick Skelly]

Hey Mike, you should be able to find both set screws and threaded inserts at your local hardware store.