Threading a Steel Rod
- Thread starter toxcrusadr
- Start date
toxcrusadr
Omelette au Fromage
Ha, sorry I didn't get the reference!
If I was making that much, I'd recycle the yeast into the next batch like the big boys do.
If I was making that much, I'd recycle the yeast into the next batch like the big boys do.
Alice's Restaurant ?
biscuithead
Me likes the eargasm retroplasm...
It's part of a home-made lab apparatus. Who knows where the one plain rod actually came from - could be lab supply stuff or could be from a metal supply shop.
Remember the stands in Chemistry lab? A vertical rod in a base that you could attach clamps and rings and such to. Well this one was from a soybean oil processing plant lab, used to distill the solvent off oil extracts to measure the amount of oil. It has two different rods, mounted onto a 3-ft piece of 2x12. One with a round base that's screwed into the wood - clearly from a lab supply house - and the other was just a rod pressed into a hole in the wood - that's the one I want to put threads on. I want to make a new wood base for the whole thing so it can be disassembled for storage, because it's quite cumbersome all assembled. Thought I'd embed a nut or two into the wood and put threads on the rod, and voila, easy disassembly.
I don't want to use threaded rod because you don't get a very good surface to clamp things onto.
BTW I'm not using it to test soybean oil. Theoretically, it would make a highly accurate and precise distiller for refining crude distillates of grape fermentation products (and similar materials).
With the history of "Chem lab equipment" are you sure the rod isn't stainless... Even a dab of Chromium and/or nickel and it gets impossible to thread.
Cut off the end of a 1/2 bolt and tig it to the end of that rod. Wire wheel for pretty...
toxcrusadr
Omelette au Fromage
Deffly not stainless as it has a surface rust coating. Those usually weren't SS in my experience - if you worked with any acids in the lab they were ALWAYS rusty.
I took a file to it when I had a spare moment and it does scratch easily so I think I just have to taper it a bit more (and all the way around) on the stationary grinder. All I did before was run the handheld angle grinder on it a bit and it's nowhere near an even taper at the end.
I took a file to it when I had a spare moment and it does scratch easily so I think I just have to taper it a bit more (and all the way around) on the stationary grinder. All I did before was run the handheld angle grinder on it a bit and it's nowhere near an even taper at the end.
depends what stainless we're talking about. I have a chunk of stainless that was a lab stand, it cuts like butter. I made 3 different indicator holders from it simply because it was a hunk of metal the right size for what I needed to do. 303 is easy to machine. 304 and 316 are a PITA.
if you've got a cordless drill, chuck it in that and spin against the bench grinder. It gives pretty decent results as long as you hold the drill still.
if you've got a cordless drill, chuck it in that and spin against the bench grinder. It gives pretty decent results as long as you hold the drill still.
Shadowdog
Super Member
Some of the SS alloys will rust some in my experience, but not nearly as bad as plain steel as I used a short piece of maybe 304 SS (to the exhaust manifold) that was easier to put a flange on (didn't split) at an exhaust shop yrs. ago, & the rest of the system was hard to bend , but never rusted 308 alloy (if I remember right).
toxcrusadr
Omelette au Fromage
Hey I thought I should report back on how I found the solution to this seemingly intractable problem of threading a piece of steel rod.
It turns out I'm an idiot.
It sat for awhile and I finally came back to it. You know, sometimes giving something a rest will clear your mind. I decided to try the next larger size die just to see what would happen. I have these dies that I got on closeout at Habitat Restore, really nice stuff, brand new for pennies on the dollar. Just grabbed a bunch of sizes. Anyway this gave me an opportunity to look at the size I was using to see if I had the next one up.
Well, the die said 1/2-13 or whatever it was. And then I noticed, across from that, "LH".
I was trying to thread this damned rod with a farking left-handed die the whole time. No wonder it wouldn't start going right handed. Giant epic eyeroll!
I found the right one and all's well that ends well. I had no idea I even owned a 1/2" left-handed die. Arrgh..
It turns out I'm an idiot.
It sat for awhile and I finally came back to it. You know, sometimes giving something a rest will clear your mind. I decided to try the next larger size die just to see what would happen. I have these dies that I got on closeout at Habitat Restore, really nice stuff, brand new for pennies on the dollar. Just grabbed a bunch of sizes. Anyway this gave me an opportunity to look at the size I was using to see if I had the next one up.
Well, the die said 1/2-13 or whatever it was. And then I noticed, across from that, "LH".
I was trying to thread this damned rod with a farking left-handed die the whole time. No wonder it wouldn't start going right handed. Giant epic eyeroll!
I found the right one and all's well that ends well. I had no idea I even owned a 1/2" left-handed die. Arrgh..
savatage1973
Addicted Member
DrumminDaddy
Hit it, Baby !!
Righty tighty-lefty loosey
simplynuts
Super Member
Don't forget to back off a bit after you start to thread and wipe off the debris then go further , then back up again and clean. I find the cuttings bind the die and cleaning it out helps.
toxcrusadr
Omelette au Fromage
Righty tighty-lefty loosey
Unless it's not.
Definitely!
Well you all know who has one you can borrow if you ever need it.
We can check back on this thread in 10 years and I bet I will not have used it in the meantime.Let me guess, you used to drive a MoPar or Studebaker?
See above. 1/2-20 though not 1/2-13.
hi*ball
Records & Coffee
Ha! No, just work in a refinery.
Old Ears too
Super Member
As an ex-machinist, this thread gave me a good laugh.
Glad you got it threaded finally.
Glad you got it threaded finally.
