Extending the lead-screw of my small vertical mill

This guy extended the shaft.

A lead screw can be cut on a lathe. The setup would be with a lathe dog, Acme threading tool bit, follower rest and turning between centers. It would be preferable to use some fairly tough material such as drill rod. I recently made a short one for a vice I overhauled. Real P.I.T.A. I would look around for some ready-made lead screw stock. HF won't have it and they probably won't help you find it. Try McMaster - Carr.

Yup. They have it for about $35 (3 foot piece).

Thanks.

Gary

I cut the end off the leadscrew, and made an extension, just a tube with the ID matching the leadscrew's OD. I drilled it on the leadscrew and then threaded the hole in the screw, and drilled the extension tube to clear the 10-32 bolt. So, the bolt acts like a shaft pin, only it is easier to remove. You can use a taper pin, which is really designed for this purpose, or use a small bolt like I did. It makes no sense to make a whole leadscrew unless you want to extend the THREADED part of the screw. (I did this on a Bridgeport that had a power feed that reduced the table travel considerably. I extended the screw and put a block of aluminum between the table and the power feed unit so I got the full table travel back.)

Jon