Dane: Very stout and impressive jig setup. Is that an urn the you're putting threads into?Originally Posted by Dane Riley
What is your lateral slide (y-axis - if the leadscew is x-axis) made of? It sort of looks like a drawer slide mechanism.
[OP]
Contributor
Dane: Very stout and impressive jig setup. Is that an urn the you're putting threads into?
What is your lateral slide (y-axis - if the leadscew is x-axis) made of? It sort of looks like a drawer slide mechanism.
Maker of Fine Kindling, and small metal chips on the floor.
Embellishments to the Stars - or wannabees.
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Yes. It was so tall I needed the steadyrest, usually I don't.
The Y slide is some sort of extrusion I found at the local scrapyard. I lock it with the screws at all four corners. I went to a lot of trouble to eliminate backlash from the screw mechanism.
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For XY axis movement the best I have found are the CNC printer kits of parts on eBay. The easiest XY axis to convert for woodturning jigs are the camera macro sliders.
The first ones come in various lengths, contain a lead screw with mounts, and 2 rods with equipment and end mounts. The lead screws come in 8mm through about 16mm diameter screws, same with the support rods. About $30 for a 8mm kit that has about a 10 inches of movement.
The latter have pretty tight tolerances, but I would consider them an NOT heavy duty. The tiny knobs are a pain to operate, but that issue can be fixed with homemade knobs. Even though I have a Sherline mill, my mill of choice is my homemade mill using 2 macro camera sliders and scraps of aluminum. It uses a Foredom handpiece for a power source. The 2 macro sliders cost me less than $40, the aluminum from the scrap dealer about $10 and the Foredom I already had and I can remove for other uses.
Contributor
I just bought an X-Y drill press cross slide for around $40 (free shipping). I was considering casting and/or machining the equivalent to this. But the price of this unit seemed low enough to skip all of that other work. Unless it is terribly sloppy it should work for the base of a threading jig. Now I need to get a threaded rod and nut/coupler. Fortunately, I have a metal lathe and could make my own rod and/or nut if necessary.
Mark, you were the person who inspired me to take this step towards my own threading jig. I post results as I travel down this path....
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Some of the better drill press cross slide vises have gibs that you can adjust the "sloppiness" out of the cross slide. I believe the one I had was a Grizzly tools version.
[OP]
Contributor
UPDATE: I did make another threaded box yesterday. The base is nice tight Osage Orange (Bois D'Arc), and the lid is kiln dried Poplar. I made the thread sections approximately 1/2" long, to get about 5 threads of engagement. I did notice a bit of eccentricity on the leadscrew assembly, so once I got the threaded connection to work (tedious, at best), I screwed the 2 parts together and re-turned the whole assembly as one piece. Here's some pictures of the finished pieces.DSCN0837.jpgDSCN0839.jpgDSCN0840.jpg
My x-axis adjustment is fine (just loosen the knobs underneath and slide, but then my y-axis reference is lost. I have to re-square the base to the bed, and find the approximate relation to the cutter. I also use the banjo for a dead stop. Kind of finicky, but I can re-think my design options, an solve these issues also. So far, I think I have $85 invested and a lot of thought process and design and fabrication time.
I will try again today, and try to get a single piece of wood to have the grain match up, top to bottom.
NOTE to Administrator - can you please change the title of this thread to DIY Threading Jig?
Maker of Fine Kindling, and small metal chips on the floor.
Embellishments to the Stars - or wannabees.
Member
I have a piece of aluminum that sits between the bed ways. This maintains the Y axis position and the square alignment. Notice the twist mark that reminds me which way to take up the small amount of slop.
X axis realignment can be done by eye. If you are off a very slight amount it will just take off more material from one side of the thread.
[OP]
Contributor
I checked my lathe for center to center of the spindle and tailstock, and it it dead on center. So I put the jig up on the bed of the lathe, and it appears that the leadscrew is centered against the spindle drive center, but is high by about 1/8" on the tailstock side. Luckily I can make the right hand side slots longer, and effectively drop the tailstock end. I figure I'll have to check parallelism each setup because my carpentry skills may not be so great at achieving a 12" tall pillar that plumb and square in 3 directions. Oh well. Shooting at a moving target. PULL - Shoot.
Maker of Fine Kindling, and small metal chips on the floor.
Embellishments to the Stars - or wannabees.
Member
My cross feed drill vise had way to much play to work for threading. When I saw this video I tried to readjust mine. One axis was fine already, the other one would not turn with a reasonable amount of force without excess slop. I ordered a new lead screw and nut from Grizzly. Now I can adjust it so no slop and I can still turn the handle.
I should have complained when I first go the thing. At least the parts were cheap, Way less than the shipping.
M
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