lost webpage - using weedwhacker string for "thread locking" - ie nylock

I haven't seen that webpage, but what also might work is Vibra-Tite VC-3. It is a thread locker you apply before assembly and let dry. It dries to a soft plastic coating that lets you adjust the scew but keeps it from vibrating loose.

========== That sounds like the KFR Omnipost tool holders. They use this method on the vertical adjustment screw and it seems to work well on the few holders I have made.

see

-- Unka George (George McDuffee) .............................. The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there. L. P. Hartley (1895-1972), British author. The Go-Between, Prologue (1953).

I don't remember a website -- but I do remember posting here the advice to another regular's question the suggestion that he try that technique. I've seen commercial screws with such inserts, and when I've needed a locking feature in existing screws, I've used the technique. I simply would find some nylon string of a reasonable size for the screw size, drill a hole perhaps between 1/2 and 3/4 the diameter of the screw, shove in the nylon, and cut it off flush with the crest of the threads. For really small nylon string -- try either fishing line (leader perhaps) or Classical guitar strings.

For somewhat larger -- aside from weed whacker strings, you might get some scraps from a place which restrings tennis rackets.

The other regular tried that, and it did what he needed.

Why do you need a web page to do this? Just do it. :-)

Setting a sinebar on jacks? How do you get the precision you want? Normally, I use a stack of cheap Chinese gauge blocks -- though I might try an adjustable parallel if I needed a variable which I would set to a given dimension (usually using a micrometer). I certainly would not use machine jacks.

Enjoy, DoN.

Hello DoN. Nichols,

Thanks!!! _ I was pretty sure the string went through the bolt (as opposed to the nut) but wanted to be sure... Why do I want the webpage? - I like to give credit for where I borrow ideas

- simple as that. When I write up this project, I'd like to be able to point out this little tip and say where I got it from.. right now I can say it came courtesy of the folks at RCM, but it'd be nice to say where else it came from.

The machine jacks will be used to set a sine bar because until I have sets of guage blocks, etc, machine jacks set to a vernier caliper will be better than nothing.

Thanks, Des

Normally -- you don't want the string all the way through. It is too likely to fall out the other side. I would probably use a minimum of three or four times the depth of the threads for larger bolts, and if there is a lot of load on the bolt, you want it to engage near the outer side of the nut so you don't weaken the bolt too much.

O.K.

Well ... *I* got it from screws illustrated in the PIC catalog (they make precision gears and such) and seeing some used in aircraft style construction (my employer was making flight simulators).

I passed it on in the newsgroup.

Others probably have as well.

But it seems to be semi common practice in certain fields. (There were also aircraft anti-vibration nuts with a nylon washer captive in the top of the nut under a rolled lip.)

Hmm ... Chinese gauge block sets are cheap enough. Look at eBay auction # 180546181693 ($40.00 buy-it-now for a 36-piece set, which should be sufficient.)

The Chinese sets (which this may or may not be) are supposed to be accurate within 50 u" (micro-inches -- 0.000050"). I would not use my good B&S set of "Jo" blocks under sine bars, except perhaps for precise gauging setups, not for machine setups.

A space block set may do just as well -- depending on how precise you are trying to be.

At the moment, the search string which has the least clutter on eBay for this is:

gauge block set* -hoses -manifold -"sight glass"

the last three '-' entires are to keep air conditioning manifolds out of the search.

If you want a cheaper way to go -- to continue transferring settings from calipers to the sine bar -- do another eBay search for:

adjustable parallels

Which can be adjusted to various sizes within their range, and at least will have contact surfaces like a gauge block -- if not as smooth. A machinist's jack does not have the flat level surface which a sine bar expects to rest upon.

Look carefully at the photos in auction # 300457608090

You will see that each parallel is split in two along a diagonal line, (and are held together by a dovetail between the two, not visible from the plain view but marginally visible by the angled view at the ends.

Each has a screw (or sometimes two, depending on size) to lock it as the selected setting.

While these are made for transferring measurements, you still have a loss of accuracy with every transfer.

And you at least want a micrometer to set them to, not a vernier caliper if you want accuracy.

Enjoy, DoN.