I need some half-height 3/4x10 nuts. A regular nut sliced in half would be just about perfect, but I dunno if it would ruin a bandsaw blade or not (dry blade, no coolant). I also have an angle grinder w/cutoff wheels, but the bandsaw would be somewhat of a more-controllable cut to do.
I also have some scrap metal and a 3/4-10 tap, but I have no method for ensuring the tap enters perpendicular, and I need the nuts to sit flat. I am guessing that the already-made nuts are straighter than what I could manage to do...
Do you have a drill press? If so, several people can tell you how to do it -- even me.
I have a question here about nut and bolt grades. A lot of folks seem to know their fasteners, so my question is this: When you talk about "Grade 2," are you talking about SAE Grade 2 or ASTM Grade 2? The yield strength of a SAE Grade 2 bolt runs from about 40,000 psi to 60,000 psi, depending on diameter. Proof stress is about the same. That's means a soft bolt. An ASTM Grade 2 *nut* runs three times higher -- medium-high strength.
I'm not aware of an SAE grade for nuts, but I assume there is one. And I'm not aware of an ASTM bolt grade comparable to their *nut* Grade 2. In terms of strength, though, that would be ASTM Grade B.
There are people I could call about this on Monday. But does anyone have a Sunday answer?
These bandsaws cut steel fine with blades rated for it at a blade speed of around 100 feet per minute.
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that speed you can just about see the individual teeth. Woodworking blade speed is a good 10 times faster and will burn the tooth tips off instantly.
Sure you do. Run a nut onto the tap first, then sandwich another plate (or big washer) with a clearance hole, the tap & nut, and the piece to be tapped together with clamps.
I mean hardware-store Grade 2, the generic unknown-strength ones you can buy on Sunday afternoon to fix your riding mower. If I care at all about the strength I'll use Grade 5, or metric 8.8.
Do you have a Dremel (or a die grinder) and cutoff wheels?
Doesn't cut as fast as an angle grinder and the kerf (if you're careful) is about the same thickness as a band saw blade. Might go trough a few wheels and if you can make some kind of jig or fixture to hold the Dremel in alignment with the part you'll get a cleaner and more even cut.
If you're in the boondocks, you could do it that way. Most halfway decent hardwares will have jam nuts or check nuts, which is what you're looking for. I've even seen them in some Lowe's in the over- priced hardware section with the drawers. See if there's a Fastenal around, too.
What about with the kerf from your bandsaw blade taken out. Would they still be good? Or would you only get one usable nut out of it?
And how do you plan to hold these while you cut them?
I would at least use the dry wax lube, and run the blade slow. Better the high sulfur oil used for threading pipes.
What about a milling machine? With a parallel to hold the nuts just the right height -- part above the jaws, part below, and the direction of cut to force a side of the nut into the fixed jaw.
Or -- with a home-made arbor in a lathe -- threaded right for the nut, with a shoulder, so you could turn off the needed height -- and even bevel the corners a bit so they are not nasty to work with.
Do you have a drill press? If so -- drill the holes first for all of them in the sheet, then replace the bit with a 60 degree center, lower it to center the hole again, raise it, put the tap between the hole and the center (a 3/4" tap should have a female center in the shank end, so you can use the center reaching through the tap wrench to hold the tap vertical, while you start it into the hole.
Then again -- what about "jam nuts". MSC has them in case hardened steel, black oxide finish for $1.24 each, and a minimum order of 5. They've got 393 in stock at the moment according to their web page. They are 27/64" heigh, to compare with your needs. (That is
0.422" height, compared to a standard one at 0.640" height.) The jam nut gives you 4.22 complete threads (minus whatever internal beveling may take away. I don't think that you really want much less for strength.
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