Ferrule thds-live tooling

ken ken quarter

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
What dimentions work best to get crisp clean cuts? OD of the unthreaded tennon...depth of the plunge pass...single or dual passes...spindle speed and direction of rotation...size of thd mill...Dremel with modified 1/8 shank or PC with 1/4 shank thd mill...I'm using the Dremel/modified shank set up...reverse spindle rotation like DZ shows on his website but the thd tops are fuzzy requiring hand fitting prethreaded ferrules(Atlas). May need to switch to the PC/1/4 shank setup to reduce vibration at the cutter head...or dull cutter...bought it used.Logan Powermatic 11x36 lathe with Aloris QCTH and QC thd gearbox for turning platform. Yes I've got Unique Products thd dies that work but they are not pretty (LOL). All feedback will be tried.

Thanks,
Ken Ken Quarters
Q-Spot Billiards
Tulsa, OK (918)-779-6204
emailqspot@tulsacoxmail.com
 
Ken:

I cut my tenons to .295 then I use a PC with a thread cutte on it. I cut my threads to .05 depth in one pass. I cut it in reverse at 50 rpm. If I have a problem with the ferule threading on I chase it with a 5/16x18 die.
 
Try running the spindle forward, and cut right to left. That is a little tougher because you have to stop the lathe in time and then back out your crossslide sort of quick to try and minimize your undercut up against the shoulder. I run my lathe as slow as possible, which is 60. The slower the rpm, the easier it is to disengage half nut and dial out cutter. When you set up for cutting the threads, move your cutter all the way to the shoulder and set zero on a dial indicator or travel indicator against the side of your cross slide. (I don't have anything as fancy as a trav-a-dial.) Then when you run the carrriage out past the end of tenon and dial in for your cut and engage, watch the indicator and aim for disengaging half nut and dialing out cross slide 10 thou short of your zero.

I have a good router, and I use the travers thread mill that DZ uses as he made a post about it. The reason I suggest running the lathe forward is for some reason with my setup running the lathe in reverse cutting the threads from left to right leaves a very rough cut, terrible threads. I checked cutter alignment, cutter height, slowed my router down, etc, and could never get the threads clean enough for my liking. If I cut from right to left though, threads are great. I could never figure it out, so gave up and resorted to getting good at timing stopping the cut.

I have never used a dremel for cue work so I can't speak to them, but a good concentric cutter and accurate router are needed AFAIK.

Kelly
 
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Ken,

I turn the tenon to the full nominal diameter of the thread. Using a smaller diameter defeats the whole purpose of machining your threads with live tooling. On a 5/16-18 thread, I make the diameter .3125. I touch up with my cutter and plunge .040/.042 deep in 2 or 3 passes. This gives a thread with a sharp V form & the ferrule will screw on smoothly with no wiggle or slop. And when your glue dries, the installed ferrule runs nice & true.

Hope this helps.
 
Ken,

I turn the tenon to the full nominal diameter of the thread. Using a smaller diameter defeats the whole purpose of machining your threads with live tooling. On a 5/16-18 thread, I make the diameter .3125. I touch up with my cutter and plunge .040/.042 deep in 2 or 3 passes. This gives a thread with a sharp V form & the ferrule will screw on smoothly with no wiggle or slop. And when your glue dries, the installed ferrule runs nice & true.

Hope this helps.

Tat tap tap.
You forgot the shoulder. :)
I leave a 3/16 long shoulder at the bottom.
Also since the threads on capped ferrules don't really bottom out, bullet-nosing the tenon on top is not a crime imo.
 
Tat tap tap.
You forgot the shoulder. :)
bullet-nosing the tenon on top is not a crime imo.

Hi Joey,

I didn't forget the shoulder, I just answered the questions asked. Since I machine all my own ferrules, I use a bottom tap which allows me to get away with minimum chamfering while still permitting maximum depth on a capped ferrule. The OP made a reference to my ferrule page so I assumed he saw my advocation to use a shoulder.

In the interests of making this info available to all, I just added some details about machining a 5/16-18 tenon on that page.

http://dzcues.com/ferrules.htm

off topic: is there a way I can convert text , e.g. "ferrule page" into an actual hyperlink so I don't have to post the link separately?
 
sorry for this absurd question, but What it means "PC"? my poor technical English can not follow the thread:sorry:
 
off topic: is there a way I can convert text , e.g. "ferrule page" into an actual hyperlink so I don't have to post the link separately?


For the most amazing pictures and videos created by the most amazing fellow, go to DZCues website.

Kelly

Type your message, then highlight the text you want to hyperlink, then click on the blue url icon above, and then type in the url.
 
Type your message, then highlight the text you want to hyperlink, then click on the blue url icon above, and then type in the url.

Thanks, Kelly. I tried that but didn't notice I had the popups (scripted windows) turned off.

This post was only a TEST. If there was any real, worthwhile information here, you would have been advised by your local, on-air broadcast media.
 
Porter Cable router most likely.
Kelly

Thanks¡¡¡

True, your site is very good and has much information about their work.

Bob always available for any questions also,

I have other question, You cut thread with lathe machine in automatic or manual feed?? Is possible do a perfect thread in manual feed?
 
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Thanks¡¡¡

True, your site is very good and has much information about their work.

Bob always available for any questions also,

I have other question, You cut thread with lathe machine in automatic or manual feed?? Is possible do a perfect thread in manual feed?

Manual feed is doable on a belt driven lathe.
Release the spindle, open the lid, and hand crank the chuck.
 
Thanks¡¡¡

True, your site is very good and has much information about their work.

Bob always available for any questions also,

I have other question, You cut thread with lathe machine in automatic or manual feed?? Is possible do a perfect thread in manual feed?

I trust you know that was not MY site, but Bob's site I linked. I was demonstrating how to hyperlink text.

I don't think it is humanly possible to manually move the carriage of a lathe at the correct and consistent speed to keep it in time with the spindle speed for threading. I know I could never do it.

Kelly
 
Manual feed is doable on a belt driven lathe.
Release the spindle, open the lid, and hand crank the chuck.

I did not think of that, but that is still an automatic feed, you are just manually turning the spindle/chuck instead of a motor turning it.

Kelly
 
Manual feed is doable on a belt driven lathe.
Release the spindle, open the lid, and hand crank the chuck.

I don't think I am understanding this correctly. Anyway, the way I do most of my live tool threading is to set the correct tpi, determine my depth, engage my half/nut, bring the cutter to the dowel by turning the lathe chuck by hand and continue on until the threads are cut to the proper length. If I need to make more than one pass to get proper depth I just leave my half/nut engaged, back the cutter away from the material and reverse the lathe past the start place and then repeat the previous procedure at the new depth. It's exactly the same as power feeding the lathe but just slowed way down so there's no worry about feeding to far.

Dick
 
I did not think of that, but that is still an automatic feed, you are just manually turning the spindle/chuck instead of a motor turning it.

Kelly

Correct.

It'd be impossilbe to spin and feed the carriage manually at the same time unless you are Chuck Norris.
 
Correct.

It'd be impossilbe to spin and feed the carriage manually at the same time unless you are Chuck Norris.

Data from Star Trek TNG could do it!

Kelly

P.S. Spock could do it also, but he wouldn't quite hold .001.
 
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