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THREAD MILLING

HI ALL

I need to make a dozen ball nut adapters, requiring a 15/16 - 16 tpi internal thread

first thought was a single point, small diameter rotating tool. Graduated to what was on hand

a 3/8 - 16 tpi tap, then I ground off all the other flutes except for one untouched row.

mounted this in a mill, did a circle command & included Z - .0625

on each pass the entire hole was threaded @ once as Z moved down 1 pitch.

8 passes later the part mates great!

I always wanted to try this & now I'm enthusiastic.

My question is, What other tooling besides the correct tap & what seems expensive Thread milling tool

or methods do you use, I could have done this on the lathe semi manually but this would take more time as

I could not just let it run & walk away. ;-)

I also want to do 1/4 - 20's & 3/8 -16's but I guess that's really pushing it.

Is there a recommended way?

Peter

Reply to
Peter Kiproff
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You can buy a 15/16-16 tap for not much money

Reply to
Randy

suggest posting this to alt.machines.cnc

i know that they make thread mills for really small holes

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Reply to
WILLIAM HENRY

Very innovative solution. Doing an unusual job with what is on hand shows real use of the old gray matter. Cheers! Bugs

Reply to
Bugs

Thread milling cutters are expensive, as you said. But you can buy thread milling inserts pretty cheap. And make your own cutter body. However, a 1/4-20 inside thread will need to be done with a cutter and not an insert. ERS

Reply to
Eric R Snow

Hey Peter,

Does the mill have a threading option? Or how did you get the same entry point on each of 8 passes? If you were using a taper tap, why did it take so many passes?

Take care.

Brian Laws>HI ALL

Reply to
Brian Lawson

Buy a _single point_ threadmill. One size will do several diameters and pitches. It just takes longer than a full profile threadmill.

Fred

Reply to
ff

HI BRIAN

I used the G02 arc command and had it start & finish each pass on the 6 o'clock position I could have done it in less passes, but since this was my first try I wanted to trial fit as I went.

One thing that also came out was the thread is always starting @ the same place, also the part I'm mating to... I can set it so the part, a ball nut, always has the return tubes pointing the same way.

Peter

Reply to
Peter Kiproff

Hey Peter,

Good trick. Thank you.

Brian

Reply to
Brian Lawson

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