Replies

1. 
   SCFrankland | Aug 04, 2003 11:55pm | #1

   I have a few old ones that I don't use anymore over preferance to new metal ones.  You can buy the Beall's Wood Tapping & Threading from several different suppliers.  They can make the process a lot easier.  The Workbench book as a few pages on making our own bench screws out of wood also if have a copy kicking around.

   Check out the link below to Lee Valley's website showing Beall's Wood Tapping & Threading Kit.

   http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.asp?page=41791&category=1,43000,42998&ccurrency=1&SID=

   Scott C. Frankland

   "This all could have been prevented if their parents had just used birth control"

1. 
   ron61 | Aug 06, 2003 03:41am | #4

   Is the tool used to make the old wood vise screw called a Screw Box?

    Has anyone made one of these? I  have seen a few but the biggest was a 5/8 in. I'm wanting 1 1/2 or bigger screw dia.

   Thanks Ron 

1. 
   IMERC | Aug 06, 2003 07:49am | #5

   Look as I might I can't find the the plans a jig to cut ANY sized Acme thread with a router. Whole sale tool has what you need. The price will stagger you.

2. 
   RANGERP75R | Aug 06, 2003 07:52am | #6

   Ron

      Highland Hardware has the wood-tapping sets also. They have them from 1/2" to 1 1/2". Capable of both the screw an nut. Has a do-ma-gigi for through holes an flattening the bottom of blind holes.

   http://www.highlandhardware.com

   Good luck...

   sarge..jt

3. 
   eddiefromaustralia | Aug 06, 2003 03:27pm | #7

   Ron,

   They're called screw boxes and they come in 1 1/2" - I got mine from a local Aust supplier, but they're made in China - look up 38mm, 6tpi screwbox in google and see what transpires.

   Cheers,

   eddie

2. 
   user-302616 | Aug 05, 2003 12:07pm | #2

   An easy way to do it is to go to an Ikea outlet. They have a stool that can be adjusted in height by means of a wooden screw. I think the wood used is birch and is 1 1/2 in diameter. The stool can be reused by gluing the seat to the legs. Take the screw and buy some thin cyanoacrylate glue ( superglue eg ZAP ) drip the glue onto the threads and it will set very hard and wear like stone.

   Shane

1. 
   IMERC | Aug 05, 2003 03:49pm | #3

   The super glue is some great idea.

   Bet it will work on more than screws.

   Thanks.

2. 
   Mainemarc | Aug 06, 2003 06:50pm | #8

   quote:

   An easy way to do it is to go to an Ikea outlet. They have a stool that can be adjusted in height by means of a wooden screw. I think the wood used is birch and is 1 1/2 in diameter. The stool can be reused by gluing the seat to the legs. Take the screw and buy some thin cyanoacrylate glue ( superglue eg ZAP ) drip the glue onto the threads and it will set very hard and wear like stone.

   end quote

   You mean this?

   http://www.ikea-usa.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10101&storeId=12&productId=11339&langId=-1&parentCats=10105*10188

   I have to admit, that is a really interesting idea. 

   Marc

1. 
   user-302616 | Aug 07, 2003 02:50pm | #9

   Yup, thats the one...they have it in 2 heights - one's a bar stool and the other is normal height. The screw is held on the seat by a large metal pin that comes in useful to secure the screw to a new handle. The round piece at the top of the legs is the nut. It can take a person's weight so the it should serve as a vice pretty well. I just soak the threads in thin cyanoacrylate super glue ( ZAP is the brand I use ) and it should hold up to wear. Sorry I dont have a picture but I've ...err....been slow in building my dream bench...

   The stool can still be used if you glue the seat to the top of the legs and replace the round piece after jigsawing the nut out of the middle. It does need to be glued because the stool loses its stability without the central screw and can be twisted when you sit on it. Its pretty apparent what I mean when you sit and move around.

   So you get a good wooden screw with nut and a stool too! Is that a bargain or what?

   Shane 

   Edited 8/7/2003 7:56:43 AM ET by shaneyee

   Edited 8/7/2003 8:01:48 AM ET by shaneyee

2. 
   Mainemarc | Aug 07, 2003 03:31pm | #10

   Shane:

   So is it going to be a tail vise?  What are you using for the rest of the design?  I'm trying to visualize the rest of the mechanicals to keep everything in alignment and prevent racking. 

   This might be something I would be interested in attempting, but it would be nice to see what you are using for a design.  Any chance of emailing a drawing, or alternatively, posting a link to your inspiration?

   Hardening the threads with glue is another really intriguing idea.  Don't you need a lot of it to cover all the threads?  I'm guessing the Zap you are using is packaged in something a little bigger than those tiny squeeze tubes.

   Thanks,

   Marc

1. 
   user-302616 | Aug 08, 2003 12:06pm | #11

   I look at a tail vice and I worry about racking and the fit getting sloppy after a while. Think its more suited for fabrication in metal. I am first going to do a leg vise from the Shaker Workbench featured in the Workbench book then I am going to do the double screw vise on the cover. I have everything but time! I am not a full time woodworker but a common banker and I have 2 school going kids, volunteer church work and the standard issue 24hr day! I have been thinking about this for 2 years and bought the stools a year ago! Chances are you'll get there before I do.

   ZAP is a cyanoarylate adhesive coomonly known as superglue - http://www.zapglue.com/

   It is used extensively to build model aircraft ( my other hobby ) and there many forms -thick, thin, odourless, fast, slow etc. You just need the Thin formulation ( pink bottle ). It comes in 1/4oz to 4oz bottles but 1 oz should be plenty for a screw and nut. Just drip it on the threads of the screw and the nut. Takes a few minutes to cure. After that you can appply a bit of beeswax for lubrication.

   Any leftover can be used for gluing Inlay for marquetry. Great for small bits but dont stick your fingers to your work. Put your hand in a plastic bag, a drop of ZAP on the surface, place the Inlay in position, adjust with a pin or tweezers and apply pressure with your plastic bag covered hand. Count to ten and you're done. If the vapors bother you,  get the odourless variety.

   Shane

1. 
   SCFrankland | Aug 08, 2003 01:36pm | #12

   I can relate there Shane I am a police officer by day and night, dad to a 17 month old and all the other things that go with life.  I have to find time to wood work some where in all that mix.  I also do a fair bit of modeling and run a hobby group where we put off one show per year and several kid orientated model builds. 

   There are several other companies that make cyanoarylate adhesive and if I do recall one is for woodworkers.  I will see if I can dig it up.Scott C. Frankland

   "This all could have been prevented if their parents had just used birth control"

2. 
   Mainemarc | Aug 08, 2003 03:27pm | #13

   Shane:

   Sitting in my basement is the fully constructed skeleton of a Sig Kadet Sr.  A breakup, meeting my wife, marriage, child and a new job intervened.  Now woodworking projects associated with the house and family are easier to justify than finishing an RC aircraft.  Someday I'll get back to it.

   So I can relate to your troubles finding time for your projects.  This hobby sure calls for long term planning, doesn't it?  My workbench is about 50% complete but keeps getting put aside in favor of other more pressing projects, most of which are not strictly woodworking.  Still, I keep plugging away at it as I'm finding the lack of a solid workbench more and more of a hindrance. 

   I'd love to see a picture of your bench with the Shaker leg vise.  The older designs intrigue me -- I'm spending more and more time with hand tools and hang out at the Neander forum at Sawmillcreek.org.  I've posted a recent project there.

   Thanks for the thought provoking ideas.

3. 
   mitch | Aug 08, 2003 05:17pm | #14

   you win this week's "Creative Cannibalism" Award!  I love doing stuff like that!  my wife laughs when i'm walking thru some store- of any type- and i say, "you know, that would make a great part for a whatever- i'd just have to drill out the pin, then turn a minor diameter on it so it could be sleeved to mate with the linkage....etc"  i especially like your idea because you still end up with a useable stool sample- so to speak.

    ;-)

   m

4. 
   user-302616 | Aug 09, 2003 06:45am | #15

   Oops, looks like we've unintentionally hijacked Ron's thread. Sorry :-)

   Seems like that there are many of us amateur woodoworkers who have more dreams than time to make them reality....we're all going to be real busy when we retire!

   Marcmaine, Consider flying electric parkflyers... charge up a couple of packs the night before, got 40mins to spare, hop over to the local park and get 3 flights in before the next chore....

   Shane

5. 
   ron61 | Aug 09, 2003 08:45pm | #16

   Sorry to get you guys side tracked  on making wood vises.

   Has anyone made the screw and nut the old way where you turn the screw then cut the helixe with a saw and carve the threads. Then put a steel cutter in the end of the screw and use it for the Tap ?

   I'm thinking of using Osage for the screw and nut - I'm not sure what pitch and how beefy to make the threads - I'm thinking about a 2 in. dia screw

   I want to make a twin screw - leg and maybe an end vise.

   Thanks Ron

6. 
   SCFrankland | Aug 09, 2003 10:22pm | #17

   Ron I have done it and it is not a easy thing to setup and get right.  I ended up going out and buying a steel bench screww after a day playing with my setup.  I will post a picture of what I did once I get home.Scott C. Frankland

   "This all could have been prevented if their parents had just used birth control"

7. 
   SCFrankland | Aug 10, 2003 12:50am | #18

   I went to take a picture of it but could not find it anywhere.  All I could locate was the blade I made to cut the profile.Scott C. Frankland

   "This all could have been prevented if their parents had just used birth control"

8. 
   IW | Aug 11, 2003 03:31am | #20

   Ron,

    You don't need to 'carve' the threads for the tap.  You make a spiral saw cut which rides on a piece of thin flat steel angled to suit, in a jig which is clamped to the nut you're threading.  There is an excellent article on how to do it in a very old FWW, by Richard Starr.  There is another short article on how to make a screw-threading jig using a router, whose author I can't remember.  They appeared in the early 80's.

   I made a tap using hard Maple by chasing a thread with a home-made cutter, then tapering it off and driving in about 6, #14 screws which were cut off and filed to make scrapers matching the thread profile.  It works, but needs a lot of backing out and clearing, as there isn't much space for the waste to accumulate, but it tapped nice threads in hard Maple.  At the time, I was procrastinating, had very few $$s, and desperately wanted to make a tail vise, so the couple of weekends it took were not a problem.  I ended up making several sets with the setup, and at least two of them are still going strong 18 years later.  Four TPI seems to be a good choice - it tightens well, is relatively quick to move, and the threads are good and beefy.

   A properly-made tail vise shouldn't wrack. They do wear and droop a bit in time - i.e. 50 plus years or more of constant use.  I've tried a couple of different designs to counter the drooping tendency, but am almost certainly wasting my time, as my original is still working perfectly, so it will see me out!  I was taught on benches with with a front vise and a bench-stop, but now I can't imagine a bench without a tail-vise - mine gets used for 80% of the holding jobs on the bench. 

   Here's a picture of one of the original tail vises made with my home-grown tap and threading jig.  The wood was mostly recycled, hence the couple of extra holes you see.

   
3. 
   TomS | Aug 10, 2003 04:11am | #19

   In a recent issue of Fine Woodworking there is an article on 'Making Michael Dunbar's Bench'.  He uses wooden screws for his vise and gives a source on the purchase.

   If you need specifics, let me know and I'll see if I can still find the issue.

   TomS