Making Your Own Helical Couplers

Jul 21, 2012 5 Replies

How would you tackle it.



I finally got around to putting a motor on one of my rotary chucks and hooking it to a controller. I think I could write the code by hand to cut the helix with a small end mill, and use a combination of hand coding and CAM coding to do everthing else except tap the clamp and set screw holes on one of the mini mills. Then do my tapping with the little tapping head on the bench drill. I do think it would be fairly slow.



Is there a better way. I know. They aren't that expensive. Just buy one when I need it right? LOL. Two problems with that.


  1. I did buy a few of them a while back in what I thought was going to be the most useful size. I have used all of them on one project or another now. Every single one has been modified or I had to make an adaptor.


  1. If I buy them to fit my current application I have to stop what I am working on and work on something else.



I was thinking if I could premake a dozen of them at a time in a couple standard "blanks" I could quickly bore each end to fit my current application when I need one. Maybe prebore them to to one of the smaller standard bores like .250 or 6mm, and leave the very end of the clamps connected until I bore them to the size I need. Then just cut off the end.


I bought a few 8mm x 8mm units a few months back, only $10 each. Its a lot of work for $10.

Well, there is that.... The only place I am finding them that cheap is from importers, and a little cheaper if I buy import direct in bigger quantities through Chinese brokering sites like AliExpress.

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How would that be made? End mill? The cut that creates the helix looks to be about 1mm wide.

I got mine here, they are great:

I also bought some of these (the coupling is very stiff rendering them useless):

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