Problem Solved & Useful Advise

[Russ Hewitt]

I was having a terrible time with threads. Mine were very shallow and would not hold. When using the taps, I was making one assumption that was terribly wrong. I thought that if you left a little extra material, the tap would cut even better and would leave more distinct threads. I was wrong. If you leave too much material, the tap actually acts like a drillbit and cuts everything away without leaving discernible threads. I took good advice and spent the morning and afternoon working with scraps and trying each tap that I had with a succession of drillbits until I found the one that worked best for that particular size. Naturally I saved the data for future use. I am tagging all of my taps with the correct size drill bit so I don't have to guess in the future. I won't tell you the sizes that I came up with. I think it is a great learning experience too check your own equipment as I did.

I was having a different issue with dies. I was getting threads that were very chewed up and shallow. I know the tenons were right because I'm using a tenon cutter and size gauges so they are pretty precise. What I didn't realize was that if the tenon was too long, It would bottom out in the die holder. When that happened, any additional force applied while trying to cut the threads would just chew up the threads that had already been cut. Now I don't make the tenons any deeper than the width of the die plus 2 mm for the thread stop.

I won't call it wasted time since I learned an awful lot, but I spent three days in the shop and had no pens to show for it because they all had defective threads. I am looking forward to my next free day in the shop. I think I have this problem licked. I also hope I saved some other people from going through the aggravation that I went through.

 

[Joebobber]

Yeah using the right drill bit for the right sized hole is important and it differs between wood and metal.

 

[TDahl]

Thanks for the information Russ. I think by sharing this info, you have made us all better pen makers.

I also agree with figuring out solutions on your own. It's one thing to be able to follow step-by step instructions, but it is better to understand the logic behind each step.

Thanks again for sharing!

 

[JamesC]

I was having a terrible time with threads. Mine were very shallow and would not hold. When using the taps, I was making one assumption that was terribly wrong. I thought that if you left a little extra material, the tap would cut even better and would leave more distinct threads. I was wrong. If you leave too much material, the tap actually acts like a drillbit and cuts everything away without leaving discernible threads. I took good advice and spent the morning and afternoon working with scraps and trying each tap that I had with a succession of drillbits until I found the one that worked best for that particular size. Naturally I saved the data for future use. I am tagging all of my taps with the correct size drill bit so I don't have to guess in the future. I won't tell you the sizes that I came up with. I think it is a great learning experience too check your own equipment as I did.

I was having a different issue with dies. I was getting threads that were very chewed up and shallow. I know the tenons were right because I'm using a tenon cutter and size gauges so they are pretty precise. What I didn't realize was that if the tenon was too long, It would bottom out in the die holder. When that happened, any additional force applied while trying to cut the threads would just chew up the threads that had already been cut. Now I don't make the tenons any deeper than the width of the die plus 2 mm for the thread stop.

I won't call it wasted time since I learned an awful lot, but I spent three days in the shop and had no pens to show for it because they all had defective threads. I am looking forward to my next free day in the shop. I think I have this problem licked. I also hope I saved some other people from going through the aggravation that I went through.

Russ, Been through the same thing. Also figured out all drill bits are not the same. And drilling a perfectly straight hole is as important as not moving the piece until everything you can do is done. I'm having a lot more fun now that my success ratio has improved. I'm with you on the learning experience. I got very good at mixing epoxy.
Jim