A source for a decent thread cutting burr?

[Joshua Dinerstein]

I have been working on my own home-made thread cutting jig. So far things have been going well and I am now to the point where I need a decent burr/cutter for actually cutting the threads. I have run tons of google searches and I have found only 1 that matches the pictures I have seen with other's jigs. It was however a very very small cutter for a Dremel tool. I was uncertain of it's effectiveness for my purposes so I didn't buy it.

Anyone ever done this? Anyone have a source for a decent cutter be it HSS, Carbide, or watever? Anyone ever seen one for sale?!!? :)

I would love a heads up if you can point me in the right direction.

Thanks!
Joshua

[Allen Neighbors]

The sell them at Woodcraft. I saw them at the Woodcraft store in Fort Worth, and again in OKC. I don't remember what they're called, but IIRC they cost in the neighborhood of 40 bucks.

[Joshua Dinerstein]

Ah ha! I found a resource when I stopped looking for the keyword burr. Apparently that term is completely incorrect. That are called:

60° Double Angle Cutter

Who knew?!!? :confused:

But now that I have the proper terms I have found them in many places including use-enco and mscdirect etc... No luck with the Woodcraft reference though I even found a part number online it just doesn't reference in their online catalog. But I will try them tomorrow as they are close to work.

Joshua

[Allen Neighbors]

I wish I could find on with a 1/4" shank. I have a little router I'd like to use on a threadiing machine, but the only cutters I can find have a 1/2" shaft.

[Andrew Derhammer]

I wish I could find on with a 1/4" shank. I have a little router I'd like to use on a threadiing machine, but the only cutters I can find have a 1/2" shaft.
Check witih a local machine shop, might be able to turn it down for you.

[Jim Underwood]

Most of the ones I saw were 3/8 shaft, and you needed a 3/8 collet to run them in your router. You can buy such things, but it can be tricky because it depends on your router. I eventually gave up and made my own... (I'm pretty cheap I guess :o)

[Jack Brown]

Allen,
You can get router bits with 1/4 shanks at www.routerbits.com or Whiteside router bits. Sometimes you can get them at Lowes or Home Depot.
Jack

[Jason Hallowell]

There was somebody making 1/4" shank small diameter 60 degree cutters for cuemakers to make small internal threads with, but I can't seem to find them anymore. They had them with 1 through 6 teeth, and I found the 2 tooth version made the cleanest threads when cutting coarse threads with a laminate trim router.

[Allen Neighbors]

Jack, I've tried them before. They don't have the 60* angle cutter. When I had my Router Table (Before I quit flatwork), I used exclusively Whiteside bits. But I no longer have a large router. The only one I have is a small 1/4" router.
Jim Underwood how did you make your own? What bit did you grind down? :o)

[Joshua Dinerstein]

So I was puttering around on ebay the other day. That place has cost me more money for wood than you would believe possible. :)

Anyway I found a 60degree double angle cutter bit. So I bid on it thinking "Hey! Why not?!!?"

So now I have my double angle cutter for my threading jig. Cost me a whopping $0.99. hehehe. Sweet. It if works I get to make my entire jig for about $9. (You just gotta love local surplus stores...) If not then it was worth the buck to try it out and I get a real one for about $30.

Joshua

[Jim Underwood]

Allen, the smaller router is probably better. You don't need lots of horsepower to cut threads, and the smaller the router, the easier the setup.

I made my cutter bit from a piece of cold rolled steel that I chucked up in smaller chuck jaws, and faced off the end with a scraper. Then I drilled a hole in the end with a tailstock mounted drill chuck, and then tapped it for a quarter inch bolt. Then I bolted a piece of 1/16th inch thick air hardening spring steel strap (that's some really hard stuff- it takes carbide to drill a hole in it) to the end of the shaft and ground it to a round shape while it was spinning on the chuck. Then I used an indexing wheel to to locate the notches cut by a die grinder.

It's not that great, but you get the idea. I intended to make another, better one after I got my "wobble" cured.

You can also use a sharpened allen wrench mounted in a chuck for a cutter.

[Allen Neighbors]

You can also use a sharpened allen wrench mounted in a chuck for a cutter.

Jim, how do you use the sharpened allen wrench? Do you have the piece mounted on your lathe to cut the threads? If so, how do you move the piece past the cutter, rotating it at the same time?

I may just be dense as heck. Sorry for all the questions.

I'm thinking about making one of those threaders where you have the cutter in a stationary, horizontal router, and you have the piece chuck-mounted where a threaded rod rotates it, and moves it passed the cutter.

Is that something like you were talking about? Hmmm.... I wonder if I could chuck up a sharpened 1/4" allen wrench in my 1/4" router....????