That looks spectacular. I’ve cut countless threads in steel/aluminum/nylon, etc on the lathe and mill over the years and never would I have considered doing it on the 4’th. Not that the idea didn’t cross my mind, I apparently just dismissed it a little to fast. @Bstanga , thank you for sharing those pictures!
All the threads I cut have to be a certain spec. Usually for AN screws. I think the longest outside I have done on the AvidCNC was 50.8 mm or there abouts. Same for internal threads. So when people talk about threading I never have control of what is either being threaded into or onto the what I am machining.
That tut from the NYCNC guy is actually pretty good. John Saunders drives me nuts sometimes but he does have content for the new folks that is valuable.
@Bstanga , thank you for sharing thouse, I’ll check them out. The two larger threads I end up working with commonly are 1.5in-4tpi and 2in-4tpi. Both of those are ACME, although 2In-12 UNF and 1&1/2-12 UNF both pop up from time to time. I’ve got a set up taps and dies that run up to 2in for both UNF and UNc, but only a handful of bigger ones that are mostly for pipe threads. IE 2&1/2-11 NPT for both tap and die sets…
Below is an example of a 20-in long section of 1&1/2-4 ACME that I turn on the lathe pretty regularly. I had ruled out the idea of spending an afternoon on a D-Bit grinder to make a cutter and going at it on the 4’th axis, but you’ve got me thinking about this…
Of course this is a reasonably specialized application and I send both of these out for hard anodize. The aluminum piece I am threading has a 3/4in through-hole in the extrustion, but the stock has a reasonable number of stresses that the follow-on rest on the lathe helps with. I “may” have to make something like that for the 4’th axis setup, but I can see where cutting this with a spindle and a custom cutter in 2-passes, could save tons of time over doing it on the lathe since I run this pick-up job for a friend a few times each year and usually end up making 5~10 each time. I made the first set of these for myself personally and my frined has gone on to produce and sell quite a few of them in the years since. The hollow extrusion allows for the passage of wires through the screw joint in a protected / constant length manner so the cable assembliess don’t flex.
Thank you for the input. If this turns into anything I’ll definiely post back here and share.
-Kenneth
Wow that looks great, the whole time I was reading I was thinking what could a AL lead screw be used for? I’m glad you explained, wires through the center. Back to the 4th you could make a follow rest attached to the linear rails that could be very precise
