How Does One Bend A 3/8" Bolt?

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crokett

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Dec 4, 2012
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Mebane, North Carolina
somewhat rhetorical. This past weekend I went to turn a couple bottle openers as gifts. I have a mandrel that normally mounts in a morse taper drill chuck. It's not fancy, it's a 3/8" bolt with the head cut off and a stop pressed on by a machinist friend. Full history here is I'm spinning up (pun intended) my turning after a multi-year hiatus and most of my stuff is/was still in the boxes from when we moved.

Anyway, I couldn't get a blank to run true and figured out the bolt was bent. I can't imagine what happened to it in the box that it bent.
 
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Go to the hardware store and get the grade 8 bolt as suggested. Our local Ace hardware store has things that Lowe's and HD don't carry. Also, a fastener or industrial supply house would have them. It would be almost impossible to bend a 3/8 bolt packed in a box.
 
Tractor supply also has them and for basic hardware they are the cheapest around.

A nice touch is all bolts nuts and washers are sold by the pound. I've bought a few grade 5 1/4" bolts to use as mandrels. I'd get grade 8 but they don't carry them that long.

Tractor Supply is also where i found a 3/4" 16 nut so I can make custom faceplates.

But OP make sure its the bolt and not something worse like a headstock bearing.
 
chartle said:
But OP make sure its the bolt and not something worse like a headstock bearing.
Click to expand...

It's the bolt. I was worried about the headstock too, when I first realized there was a problem.

I ordered a 3/8" mandrel that attaches directly to the headstock. I wasn't crazy about the bolt in a chuck setup for longer items like beer tap handles.
 
crokett said:
chartle said:
But OP make sure its the bolt and not something worse like a headstock bearing.
Click to expand...

It's the bolt. I was worried about the headstock too, when I first realized there was a problem.

I ordered a 3/8" mandrel that attaches directly to the headstock. I wasn't crazy about the bolt in a chuck setup for longer items like beer tap handles.
Click to expand...

Yes less stuff between the headstock, either MT or threads, the better. I've seen a few posts from people looking for the direct thread connection stopper mandrel versus the drill chuck setup. Also without a draw bar holding the drill chuck bad things can happen.
 
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