Radial Tap issue (new to repairs)

JoeyInCali said:
X to
Radial is trademaked so they have to use ball screw tap to avoid a suit.
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They are not the same, the difference has clearly been articulated. Good job to the OP for making it work.

I have two of the Uniloc taps, one is standard size and the other is for a tight fit. No matter which one, I can see the threads inside.
 
Lubricate the hole before tapping and the tap with good quality carnauba wax you should be good to go. I prefer to tap by hand rather than under power for wood especially, but also with inserts... JMPO.
 
I took the time to shoot some pictures of the stages. I skipped a few pictures to make it clear what I'm doing.
Step one is obviously to make sure you true up your workpiece.
Step two is face off the work piece.
After that you see the steps and result in the picture. After reaming I verify with a .312 gauge pin that the hole is to the correct size. The pin should make a popping sound when you take it out.
In the picture I used a regular 60 degree countersink. Personally I use a 60 degree bit i my Kress router as it leaves a nicer finish, but that's just a detail.

All the the details of a Radial pin installation or Radial shaft threads can be found on the Uni-Loc website.

radial pics.jpg
 
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Kim Bye said:
I took the time to shoot some pictures of the stages. I skipped a few pictures to make it clear what I'm doing.
Step one is obviously to make sure you true up your workpiece.
Step two is face off the work piece.
After that you see the steps and result in the picture. After reaming I verify with a .312 gauge pin that the hole is to the correct size. The pin should make a popping sound when you take it out.
In the picture I used a regular 60 degree countersink. Personally I use a 60 degree bit i my Kress router as it leaves a nicer finish, but that's just a detail.

All the the details of a Radial pin installation or Radial shaft threads can be found on the Uni-Loc website.
Click to expand...

What's the reason for the countersink step? Are you facing the end again after pin installation?
 
Kim Bye said:
1. Do you use solid carbide drill bits?
2. Are your runout within a thou or so?
I'm guessing you're using a HSS drill that wanders and gets exaggerated due to lack of concentricity.
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The problem with carbide drills is that they don't wander, so if your tail stock and spindle are not aligned perfectly then the drill will always drill over sized holes. Less experienced users should use HSS or cobalt drills and keep them engaged and pressure loaded to force them on center. The drills are designed to do just that.
 
Renegade_56 said:
The problem with carbide drills is that they don't wander, so if your tail stock and spindle are not aligned perfectly then the drill will always drill over sized holes. Less experienced users should use HSS or cobalt drills and keep them engaged and pressure loaded to force them on center. The drills are designed to do just that.
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I make the assumption that the tailstock and headstock are aligned. That's basic lathe setup stuff.
 
Renegade_56 said:
The problem with carbide drills is that they don't wander, so if your tail stock and spindle are not aligned perfectly then the drill will always drill over sized holes. Less experienced users should use HSS or cobalt drills and keep them engaged and pressure loaded to force them on center. The drills are designed to do just that.
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And will that hole be concentric ?
Drill.it undersized and then bore it.
 
Just a quick update to close the loop. I got the carbide 5/16th bit and everything went perfectly.

Thanks again for all the discussion on this thread, it was very informative.
 
surffisher2a said:
Just a quick update to close the loop. I got the carbide 5/16th bit and everything went perfectly.

Thanks again for all the discussion on this thread, it was very informative.
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Good to hear it worked out. I was pretty sure it was the drill wandering that was the issue.
 
CuesDirectly said:
That is the Ball Screw tap.

Uniloc radial is different.

Spend the $175 and you will be set. If I am wrong and the $60 model works out, let me know.
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So are the threads the same, the same depth for the joint pin, and the shaft bore depth? The reason I'm asking, my radial shafts aren't interchangeable, one is about 1/4"-5/16" short of a face-to-face connection.
 
surffisher2a said:
I got my cuesmith lathe in February and started doing repairs on cues. My friend has a shaft that he wanted retapped to radial. So I drilled / bored it out, installed a phenolic plug that I got from Unique (followed their directions for install). That went perfect and got a real nice fit with the plug. My problem now comes getting the correct size hole to run the radial tap through (also got from unique (so its not an official uni-loc). So before I drilled into my nice new phenolic insert, I tested on a couple dowel rods just to make sure everything goes OK. So I started with a 5/16 bit that uni-loc recommended for tapping the radial shaft and then ran the tap through it. It went really easy but I barely had any thread depth. I did this a couple times really being careful but still had almost non existent threads. The dowel did screw onto my cue though, so there was at least some thread there. So I thought the 5/16 bit I had was just a tad over sized, so I bought an "N" bit, which is just a tad smaller than 5/16th. I did another test in a dowel or two and i am still no happy with the results, just slightly better than the previous attempts. I did try the "N" bit on an old broken maple shaft, thinking that the dowel wood was too soft and was just tearing the threads. I didn't see any improvement with using hard maple.

So I was just going to purchase a 19/64" bit and try that, however I don't want to keep wasting money on these bits and I feel like I may be missing something since the recommended size is 5/16th. Going a couple sizes smaller than that just doesn't seem right too me.

So I am just curious what size pilot hole everyone is using with their radial taps (specifically the ones from unique).

I did measure the pilot holes I been drilling with my bits and they all seemed to be withing .001 of spec. (measured using digital caliper)
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Get a split point bit it won't walk on you, sounds like you bit is walking
 
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