Homemade die holders

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G

GRadem

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Oct 28, 2011
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I am just going to attempt my first kitless pen and just received metric dies from E-tap to do the threading on the pens. I needed a 1 inch and 1½ " diameter die holder, neither of which I had. So I grabbed a scrap piece of rusted pipe and spent the day making the holders. The bodys are of mild steel from the pipe in the background. I bored the openings to fit the dies then knurled the middle of the bodies.. I have only knurtled things a couple of times so the larger one is not quite a perfect knurling job but the smaller is perfect.
I drilled and tapped 10-24 holes for set screws to hold the dies and then drilled and tapped ¼ -20 holes to be able to insert the handles.. the handles were threaded on the metal lathe ¼ -20 and are made of Stainless steel.. the knobs are turned from a 3/8 inch piece of brass. All and all, I think they turned out pretty well. for a days worth of time.
 

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Now you are ruined, soon you will be making more gadgets, then more gadgets. Soon you will be tool maker instead of a penturner! LOL I know, I have been there.

Great job on the die holders! Will the next stop be a "tap holder" that twists?
 
Yep, I have started making a ratcheting tap wrench.. I think it will be nicer than the ace hardware one for $4.99 It may take a little time though. Not my design, I found an old picture with all the measurements, I am just going to try and duplicate it.
 
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The die holders looks nice...but I can't see how you plan to mount them on the tailstock so they are aligned when you begin threading.
 
Gilrock said:
The die holders looks nice...but I can't see how you plan to mount them on the tailstock so they are aligned when you begin threading.
Click to expand...

It looks like the same design as the TS holders that LMS has....the die holders slides on a tenon with a MT sized for the TS.....at least that's how it appears from my monitor.
 
Gilrock said:
The die holders looks nice...but I can't see how you plan to mount them on the tailstock so they are aligned when you begin threading.
Click to expand...

I had not noticed that but Gil makes a good point. Is there a straight shaft that you mount in the tailstock, that the die holders slide on, to align them to your work?

Mike
 
The die holder will slide on a #2 morse Taper shaft placed in the tailstock. The straight part of the shaft has to be machined to fit each individual holder. The internal bore is different on both.
I could have made the holders just a little longer, but to thread pen sections and barrels I only seem to need a very short travel.
 
The before and after comparison with the stock and the finished tool is almost vulgar! VERY nicely done. This is one of those things on my to-do list that I can never quite get the time to get around to. Maybe this will encourage me to do so. Mine won't turn out that nice, though, I'm sure about that.


-Matt
 
My die holder

I think you have done an amazing job on your die holder. It looks precise and clean.

I myself was going to make a die holder, but never got around to it. So I bought one from LittleMachineShop.com
https://www.littlemachineshop.com/products/product_view.php?ProductID=2314&category=

I have a metal lathe. It is a Grizzly 7 x 12 mini lathe Model # G8688.

By the way I am new here and thought I would try my hand at pen turning as I have already completed a few metal projects on my lathe and my lathe is about 5 years old now.

Here is one of my completed projects made on my Grizzly lathe.
Dispenser
 
I made the die holders on a 1963 Monarch 10EE I purchased from a guy in Florida.
I picked it up in January an have spent a couple of months getting acquainted with it.
I posted a picture of it a while back.. It is one heck of a lathe. old but very high precision.
 
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